“Bonswa, welcome and bon appetit,” bid the servers of the annual French club diner on Jan. 28th, as guests filed into the sold out diner to snatch themselves a seat.
The diner served four courses reflecting a traditional French meal. The twentieth annual dinner was a packed house, breaking a record of attendance even selling enough tickets to add 
extra seating.
“It was more than great, usually we sell about 120 tickets but this year we had a lot of people wanting more,” said French Club President Amy Anne Layton, “it is a milestone event, it’s the 20th anniversary so this year we figured we could accommodate a little more.”
Usually the diners organizers will ask for tips for the hard working staff, who are volunteers, but this year they took a more selfless route. Instead of taking tips those who attended were asked to donate to Carry the Future. An organization aimed at donating baby carriers to Syrian refugees on their journeys to asylum, in Europe or America.
“They did a pretty damn good job…everyone came here and made it such a great experience,” said SOU French professor Madame Golding.
I was lucky enough to be seated next to three German exchange students who attended the dinner to compare the French club’s version of a French meal to the real thing. Their names are, I kid you not, Sabrina, Sabrina, and Salina, needless to say addressing the table became difficult. For clarity’s sake the Sabrinas will be labeled Sabrina 1 and 2 respectively.
“Its really good, there’s a spice to it that I wasn’t expecting,” said Sabrina 1 on the first course which consisted of French onion soup.
After some sorbet to cleanse the pallet, the second course consisted of a French quiche lorraine, loaded with ham cheese bacon and spinach. “They did a great job this is really close to the real thing,” said Sabrina 2 in between mouthfuls of quiche. Patrick Mcnulty an SOU student attending the event said that the second course was “palpable.”
After a serving of mixed greens with vinaigrette and an assorted cheese platter, attendees had the choice to eat either a chocolate mousse or apple tart with coffee for dessert. With one exception the entire eight person table ordered the chocolate mousse, which was very rich and incredibly filling.
After dinner was complete and diners were drinking coffee or having a cigarette, in true French fashion, we asked around to see what attendance thought of the evening.
“It was really very good,” said Salina.
“The bread was amazing,” added Sabrina 1, “So much bread in America is to sweet but they got it just right.”
