Thanksgiving : a long way from home

Pumpkin pie. They say you either love it or hate it. When I was a kid, I remember distinctly not liking it. But as I’ve gotten old, and the US has grown further away as I implant myself more and more in France, I look forward to my annual pumpkin pie. Weird.  

So as Thanksgiving approaches, and I began planning my now annual Thanksgiving extravaganza where 30+ Franco-Americans embark on my still unfinished house, I felt like an old pro. I knew where to get the turkeys and once again called the Ferme Avicole Bauduin in Rosult, I was able to get fresh cranberries via a German collegue, dried cranberries at Carrefour and cornmeal at the organic store (thanks to all the gluten free baking I’ve been doing recently). And, I even delegated more than usual. I am trying NOT to bake a pie, but I’m not sure I can hold out…

Yesterday I baked 4 dozen mini pumpkin-cornmeal muffins (a mash up of the Joy of Cooking's pumpkin bread and Brooke Dojny's Shaker Corn Pumpkin bread) to bring to school and the crèche so my kids have some sense that it’s a special day.

This morning, I accompanied my 5 year old to school where I explained Thanksgiving to her class in a way that avoided religion and colonial power and God (there’s a Jehovah’s Witness in the class who has been innocently indoctrinating the other kids about God watching them from his perch in the sky). I told them that a long time ago, before planes, the English came to America and met the Native Americans. The English found new food they didn’t know about and celebrated with the Native Americans. So today in the US, it’s a holiday where people eat pumpkin, cranberries and turkey. The kids devoured the muffins and dried cranberries; and the brave few even ate some raw cranberries. There were some interesting questions like: did the English sleep on the boat? Did they eat fish? Why didn’t they take a plane? And then, P (who happens to be very sweet but is the class menace) said “it must take you a long time to get to school from your house since it’s so far away.” And it made me realize that home really is where the heart is...

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

 

thanksgiving is for....

eating, drinking and, oh yeah, giving thanks (at least that's what Suzanne's book says).

This year's Thanksgiving was a success. Yes, I think I can say that in all fairness and give myself a pat on the back.

This was a very special Thanksgiving because my sister and her boyfriend were visiting. On Friday, we all piled into the car (me squeezed between the 2 kids in the backseat) and drove to the farm to get our Thanksgiving turkeys which are actually Christmas turkeys with a shorter lifespan. Unfortunately, we could not see any live turkeys but we did see fat geese, ducks and some ostriches. Max loved the ostriches. But I always find them kind of distrurbing because when I look at them, I see a person inside holding up an arm as a neck and the hand as the mouth. Max said "tookee" and I said, nope just an ostrich. Suzanne wasn't impressed with the smell.

But she was impressed with the turkey army featured above. They were a huge hit, frosting and all which goes to show that the American spirit runs deep since French kids find frosting to be pretty offensive and flat out dégoûtant. Obviously the trick is to make the cupcakes as disgustingly sweet as possible so that the kids don't even see the frosting.

We had 24 people in our humble home. Since I am currently training to not be a control freak, I delegated all activities except turkey. My sister and I spent some time making rodanchos (Greek Jewish pumpkin strudel), one of our family favorites. We had food from all corners of the US : green bean casserole and corn casserole from Ohio, stuffing and veggie platter from Michigan, sweet potato casserole with marshmallows from South Carolina , Pumpkin Pie and Mashed potatoes from Pennsylvania, Cornbread and kickass chocolate cupcakes from Missouri via NY.

As with many expats, Thanksgiving is still the one time of year when I get homesick. So being able to come together to ex-pats and other franco-Americans helps bridge the distance. And the kids had fun too. They performed a hari krishna type concert for us complete with tambourine, recorder and shofar. There was no American football game on TV (hell, we don't even have a TV), but it was an awesome day.

Next year though, I'm thinking of renting a place to hold the bash. Cause at the rate we're reproducing, there won't be enough space in my house!

Re-entry

The first thing I did when I got home last night after 2 weeks in the US - after vaccuming in a moment of manic sleep deprived jetlag - was check the phone messages to see if the turkey farm had called back about my Thanksgiving turkey. They hadn't...

When I called them earlier today, they knew me by name and said, "no we haven't forgotten you. In fact we have other people who have asked for Thanksgiving turkeys. You told people about us?" I wasn't sure if they were annoyed or please so I politely said, "yes, I did some publicity for you. I hope you don't mind." They don't...

So to all you going to get your Thanksgiving turkey at La Ferme Avicole Bauduin in Rosult, I send you a hearty gobble gobble. And don't forget to get some of their delicious duck rillette!

A list of mercis

Thanksgiving in France...it's the only day of the year I still get systematically homesick. And it is a complicated affair here. You can't just open up a can of libby's pumpkin or buy a bag of ocean spray cranberries. Or go to your local A&P and use your points to get a free Thanksgiving turkey.So I am thankful for many reasons this Thanksgiving meal.

Once again this year, huge thanks go to the Ferme Avicole Bauduin in Rosult (near St. Amand) has specially slaughtered 2 turkeys for me. I stumbled upon them 4 years ago when I couldn't find a turkey at the butcher's and have gone back ever since. Not only is it much cheaper (2 turkeys for 60€ which is half the price in town) but they are delicious once you get past all the blood and guts. These are definitely not my mother's Empire turkeys.

This year, it seems the cranberry craze is over and fresh crans are impossible to find (except 4€/pint at my expensive green grocer) so let's thank Picard for their frozen airelles direct from Sweden.

And double thanks to Picard for their frozen purée de potiron 'cause let's face it, making pumpkin purée is a pain in the ass. I feel bad since pumpkins are cheap, plentiful and in season but I have other fish to fry (or turkeys to roast).

I also owe some thanks to Suzanne's teacher for bringing Thanksgiving into her classroom for the first time. Despite what I thought, she is not anti-American, only anti-Halloween. When I told her Suz wouldn't be in school today because we had to get our Thanksgiving turkey at the farm, she asked me to bring in something traditional food (I made pumpkin-cran-chocolate muffins hold the cloves and nutmeg for 30 3 year olds). I gave her an easy history of TG in French I'd found on the internet, not expecting her to tell the kids much. Suzanne came home last night and said to Jerome, "avant les américains, il y avait les indiens." It made me chuckle. No hand turkeys or head dressed though.

I'm actually starting to get a handle on this Thanksgiving in France thing and really enjoy the drive to the farm to see the birds (Suzanne wasn't intersted in the ostriches or geese, only the kitten in the farm store!), the preperation and the warm smells of my mom's rodanchos and carrot pudding throughout the house.