Last week, many of our friends in the States were asking us whether they celebrate Thanksgiving in France. The answer is no, the French don't, but the Americans definitely DO! In fact, many French and Europeans have little idea about Thanksgiving or they have a vague notion that it's just a day for eating!
It's a great opportunity for us to tell the story of one of our nation's oldest and best traditions. Who can't relate to the idea of being thankful for what we have!? They also greatly enjoy hearing about the Pilgrims and their First Thanksgiving with the Indians, which, being from "Pilgrim Land" we are always happy to share. Nick, Sarah and I, like many of our expat friends here in Aix, really looked forward to celebrating Thanksgiving, but were also mindful of the fact that we really miss our own families at this time. We feel fortunate to have "family" to celebrate with here in Provence, but it isn't the same as being with our REAL family in the States.
Last year we celebrated at our friends the Pancoasts' house, but this year, we were able to host a group of friends, including the Pancoasts, chez nous. Our group included 10 adults and 7 children made up of 1 French and 4 American families. Normally in France, Americans celebrate Thanksgiving on the Saturday after the real holiday because no one has the day off on Thursday but this year we did it on the real date and everyone took a half day from work and school. Due to our smallish oven, the turkey had to be roasted off site. Our guests, the Rapps, cooked it at their home and it arrived safely, with them, triple wrapped in foil, a garbage bag, and a finally a quilt!
In our family, it is a tradition to give each Thanksgiving turkey a name and that name always begins with the letter "T". Since the Megan and Teal Rapp cooked the turkey, it's name obviously had to be.....Teal!
Once Teal unveiled the turkey, everyone set to work carving the bird, preparing all the side dishes, making the gravy and sampling some of the wines our French friends, Fabien and Cecile, brought. Guests began arriving after 2pm and with all the excitement of coming together and getting the meal ready to go on the table, we didn't sit down around 5! However, it was a jolly time of organized kitchen chaos!
Nick and his sous chef, Teal, made the gravy..in between kisses!
You don't even want to know why these men are laughing so hard!!!
On the other hand, look at this happy and relaxed looking bunch of kitchen chefs...
Cecile had a clever idea for the wine: being foreigners to this Thanksgiving feast, she and Fabien chose foreign wines! They brought red wines from Corsica, Spain and Sicily, Dorothy brought a wonderful California Cabernet Sauvingnon (which I wish I remembered the name of...maybe Robert Burns?!) which she bought at Trader Joe's in Santa Barbara and Darrin and Julie brought some lovely French wines from a favorite nearby winery, Chateau du Seuil. So we had a real international wine tasting to go with our American feast!
We had all the appropriate dishes: mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, brussels sprouts, corn bread stuffing and REAL homemade cranberry sauce. Best of all, we had pumpkin and apple pie with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. These were not all easily had. The cranberries, the pumpkin pie mix, corn bread stuffing mix were all bought in from the States just for the occasion! Those items are taken for granted in the States mais ils n'existent pas ici!At last, everything was ready and we sat down to enjoy our meal together. Darrin said grace and afterwards many around the table gave toasts, recounted stories of memorable family gatherings and shared the things for which they were thankful...and they were abundant.
Teal, Cecile, Nick, Sarah and Megan
Megan, Darrin and Dorothy
et les enfants; McKenna, Sarah, Olivia, Maele, Lexi, Sawyer and Eduard
Although we ate plenty of food, everyone managed to find room for the apple and pumpkin pies! Sarah had been looking forward to Dorothy's homemade pumpkin pie WITH whipped cream all day...
After dinner, a major kitchen clean up and some time relaxing by the fire the last guests left around 10pm. We then called the States to wish our families a Happy Thanksgiving and hear all about the activites of their day. Happy Thanksgiving to one and all!!
2 comments:
That looks like an excellent repast and a very happy dinner party.
What is the "red" on the turkey's skin? Paprika?
Kerry
all the excitement, cameras and attention made him blush!
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