The entire Thanksgiving-in-Paris experience proved to be stupendous !

It started with several imported goods (i.e., imported in our luggage)… fresh cranberries, boxes of stuffing, turkey bags, recipes, Turkey napkins (thanks Mom for reminding Pamela)… then a trip to the American store here aptly named ‘Thanksgiving’ for a pumpkin pie & the ever-necessary MARSHMALLOWS. Finally, I ventured into a boutcherie & ordered a fresh turkey (in French of course…) The couple who owned the store were very lovely, & seemed delighted to help an American with her Thanksgiving turkey. At 12.95 euro per kilo, it is no wonder! I had no idea how many ‘kilos’ I wanted (since in the States ‘kilos’ is only used to describe cocaine measurements!!!) , but when I explained I had 10 guests coming, the butcher happily showed me the size of bird I would need… complete with some feathers/wings & the head still attached. I explained with some alarm that I would like MY turkey to be prepared “sans tete, sans plume” (without head, without feathers); thankfully that translated well. The wife wrote my name in her order book, & we decided on a time when I would pick it up the next day. She kindly told me how long to cook it, & at what temperature (in Celsius). That information came in VERY handy later! Finally, I had to pick up several kitchen utensils & even a cooking dish for my apartment’s ‘fully-stocked-kitchen-for-a-bachelor-who-eats-out-all-the-time’.

Due to the limitations in the size of my apartment, I was only able to accommodate 10 guests, & that was pushing it! I could have (& would have liked to) invite several more people, but that wasn’t possible, so I kept the guest list basically limited to my immediate classmates. Even so, we had many people sitting on the floor on pillows eating at the coffee table.

We had a very good delegation system for the day. Stefan did an incredible job at supplying us with fabulous wine & champage for dinner (Veuve Clicquot..mmmmm). Via text-message, I assigned James the task of finding whipped cream… leaving him the challenge to figure out how either to say ‘whipped cream’ in French, or more likely, to have the opportunity to mime it out in the store. Soenke picked up disposable plates & utensils for everyone, & very kindly arrived early to help in the kitchen. We know what it means when men try to ‘help’, so we went out to buy baguettes instead. [Soenke I’m kidding! I appreciated your help a lot.] Pamela was my kitchen lifesaver… we were a tag team & getting all the dishes cooking (& not burning) at the right times. She also is excellent at cleaning up as you go, which was imperative in a kitchen of this size.

We discovered quickly that French electronic thermometers were not designed to remain IN the oven with the turkey. 28 euros down the drain in about 4 minutes.

The guests arrived with a lovely array of hostess gifts that both greatly surprised & touched me! Chocolates…room fragrance… ROSES. A very nice start to the evening.

Just before dinner, I was very happy to have a phone call from my family back home, who had just gotten together to enjoy Thanksgiving day. I spoke with my Mom & brother, then my 5-year-old nephew got on the phone to say “I love you Aunt Sis”!

All the dishes turned out quite well (except for a bit of dryness with the turkey). I had a difficult time convincing my guests that marsmallows-on-mashed-sweet-potatoes is NOT merely an eccentricity of my family, it is a national dish! Tim made my night by saying that it was the best meal he’d had since he got to Paris. Mirjam also delighted me by asking for the sweet potato recipe!

Everyone seemed to really like dinner. Now…things got interesting when I served the pumpkin pie. This was a new experience for everyone. I topped it with the whipped cream & sprinkled ground nutmeg. We had a roundtable discussion regarding the pie, where I asked each person’s comment. Here is what I got:

“It’s not awful.” - Soenke
“It goes down.” - Stefan
“It’s not too pumpkiny.” - Noel
“Beautiful, mate” - Irene
“Smells like soup.” - Stefan
“It looks good.” - Mirjam
“I’m eating it aren’t I?” - James
“I need some orange juice.” - Tim
“No!” - Alex
“It’s interesting, or rather… fascinating!” - Tim

I guess next year I will try apple pie ???????!!!

In conclusion, it was a very fun experience, & a great time was had by all !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mom, Here I am holding GIBLETS :

Pamela works on the bird:

Our guests (except Mirjam):

James & Miriam:

Roses from Stefan:

Here go the marshmallows!

Eating Indian style (??):

More eating:

And then the triptophans kicked in…

Didn’t seem to affect Stefan…

Saying goodnight !!!