For instance, David recently went to a luncheon with a British group and was asked about Thanksgiving. He mentioned several things he’s thankful – family, health, etc., etc. After they continued to press him for additional answers, he finally said we are thankful we’re no longer British. Fortunately, they saw the humor in his response, and I’ve heard he will be invited back again.
Since Estelle, our “French daughter,” has spent a year in the US, she knows about Thanksgiving. So she was quite receptive when we asked if we might prepare and serve a Thanksgiving dinner to her and her family at her house. Our kitchen is minimal so we asked if we could do most of the cooking in her real kitchen with David and me doing ALL of the prep, cooking, serving, and cleanup. She agreed, and we began planning.
Our first hurdle was a turkey. We watched various butcher stores and grocery store meat sections for turkeys or even a turkey breast to roast. We found none. It seems that turkeys are considered Christmas dinner fare here (makes sense since they don’t have a Thanksgiving). Also, we had heard several horror stories about Americans special ordering a turkey for Thanksgiving and getting a dead turkey – complete with head, feathers, feet, and all its insides. That was not exactly what we had in mind. So we jumped at Estelle’s offer to order a turkey from her favorite butcher. The turkey we ordered would be headless, footless, featherless, and eviscerated. Or, as Estelle put it, “naked and empty.” First problem solved.
Our next hurdle was a pumpkin for pumpkin pie. Forget a can of Libby’s – we’d happily settle for a pumpkin. Pumpkins came and went for Halloween (they are getting into Halloween, trick-or-treating, and jack-o-lanterns over here). Then the pumpkins disappeared. We checked regular grocery stores, specialty “green grocers,” public markets, everything we could think of – no pumpkins. So we settled for apple crisp with whipped cream.
Here’s our final menu:
• Stuffed mushrooms, celery with cheese, and potato chips(Estelle’s two boys are crazy about chips)
• Turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, green salad, cranberry sauce, fresh bread and butter
• Apple crisp and whipped cream
• Champagne, Crozes-Hermitage, Beaujolais Rose, dessert wine from Bordeaux (similar to Sauterne)
• Coffee
(Estelle provided the bread and coffee.)
Saturday
We actually prepared dinner in stages. I had been cutting and drying bread cubes for some time for the stuffing and prepared the ingredients to the point of the actual baking to take to Estelle’s. I also had the “overnight mashed potatoes” and apple crisp ready to take for baking in Estelle’s real oven. We took all of these, the cranberry sauce I had prepared, the whipped cream, the corn, and the wine to Estelle’s on Saturday. (Side note: Estelle lives in St-Genis-Laval, a suburb of Lyon that’s about 45 minutes and one transfer from our apartment via public transportation. Fortunately, most people around here, including us, have what I call “wheelie carts” for transporting heavy or large loads.)
We also went with Estelle to pick up our naked, empty turkey. Two very envious, attentive cats supervised my every move as I prepared the turkey so Estelle could put it in the oven Sunday morning.
Sunday
The load we brought Sunday was much smaller and lighter, so we were able to forego the wheelie cart in favor of two large bags. (Laurent, Estelle’s husband, had just come off a twelve hour shift at 7AM so we were a little surprised to arrive at the house and find him raking leaves. Amazing!)
The turkey was filling the house with delicious aromas when we arrived. We got everything else cooked, prepared for serving, and ready to go. I cooked, David cleaned, and we both shooed cats out of the kitchen. (We did have to insist several times that Estelle and Laurent should act as our guests and not worry about preparing, cleaning, serving, etc.)
Everyone had a good time, ate a lot, and Estelle, Laurent, David and I enjoyed leisurely after-dinner conversations. Then it was time to divvy up the leftovers, do the final clean up, and head back to our apartment. Thanksgiving was a success – the dinner had been all we had hoped it would be.
PS-Almost forgot to tell you...after dinner Laurent brought out their prized bottle of Calvados (apple brandy) to share. This particular bottle is special not only because of its size and age, but also because it was one of their wedding gifts and is inscribed with their names and wedding date. It is well over 20 years old and still definitely has a kick to it. Estelle says it had more apple taste to it when they first got it. What a perfect end to our Thanksgiving dinner with them!
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