THANKSGIVING FEAST IN FRANCE

As we have mentioned before, Estelle, our French daughter, spent a year in the US and enjoyed the holidays specific to the US.  Like Thanksgiving!  When we were in Lyon for a year, we prepared a Thanksgiving dinner for Estelle’s family, and since we were in Lyon at Thanksgiving again, we offered to fix another Thanksgiving dinner.  Our offer was enthusiastically accepted, and, so we did it!

Our Thanksgiving was postponed to the weekend to accommodate work schedules, but otherwise was pretty traditional.  Estelle ordered a turkey and prepared a guest list, and Anna prepared the menu (David was in charge of wines):

Appetiser
California Dip (onion dip) with potato chips
Deviled Eggs
Cremant  (sparkling wine)

Main Meal
Turkey (duh)
Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes
Gravy
Corn
Cranberry Sauce
Dinner Rolls

Dehlinger [CA] 2003 Pinot Noir; Pouilly Fuisse, Tavel

Green Salad

Dessert
Pumpkin Pie with Whipped Cream
Lemon Meringue Pie
Coffee

L-R:  Estelle, Victor, Chantal, Paul, Dominique, Laurent, Roger, David

Anna prepared what she could a couple of days before the event.  The day before the event David and Anna transported everything (but the turkey) via subway and bus with roller suitcase and shopping trolley to Estelle and Laurent’s home.  David and Estelle went off to get the turkey while Anna began making pies.  By the end of the afternoon, David and Anna had everything that could be prepared ahead done and in the refrigerator.  Whew!  The next morning, the day of the actual feast, David and Anna put the finishing touches on all the dishes.  Meanwhile, Estelle and her mother, Chantal, had prepared a very impressive, elegant table.  All was ready for the feast!

Paul, Laurent, Anna, David

Estelle, Anna, Chantal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Estelle had invited our good friends, Dominique and Roger, and as soon as they arrived, we started munching and chatting, and the festivities began.  Anna explained the Thanksgiving story, with Estelle translating, so that folks could get an idea of why Americans celebrate Thanksgiving and why certain foods were pretty traditional.  David then announced, in French, bien sur, whatfoods we had prepared.  Then it was time for everyone to get down to the business of eating and more conversation.  As is typical, everything tasted good, and we all ate more than we probably should have.  David and Anna (mostly David) quickly had the leftovers in the refrigerator, all the dishes and glassware clean and ready to put away so that Laurent and Estelle could just sit back and enjoy the rest of their day. 

It was a perfect Thanksgiving dinner with family and friends, and everyone had a memorable and enjoyable time.  In fact, we are still hearing about what a fun time everyone had and how surprised they are at the amount of food we all ate.