I celebrated my first ever Thanksgiving yesterday when my American friend, Jennie, prepared a huge feast for a bunch of us lucky ones. I was so excited because I’d heard and read so much about all the food made and eaten on this day and I got to experience it all, albeit in Paris. There was so much food. Everything delicious. Except the gluggy cranberry jelly out of the can. As Jennie put it, “This (cranberry jelly) is the American thing to have and everybody has it, and that (pointing at her homemade spiced cranberry sauce) is a gourmet version.”
When the turkey was sliced and everybody’s plates filled, there was completely silence. Everybody was focused on eating. Food coma followed.
On the menu in addition to the 7 kilo turkey were:
Green beans with pine nuts
Persimmons with hazelnut oil and toasted hazelnuts
Apple and cabbage salad with mesclun
Cranberry sauce and cranberry jelly
Sweet potatoes with flaked almonds
Scalloped potatoes with fennel
Mushroom and hazelnut bread stuffing
Chestnut, pancetta and prune bread stuffing
Poppy seed cake with a spiced orange syrup
Apple crisp and vanilla ice cream
Pumpkin pie
Needless to say, nobody could move after this satisfying meal and everyone got out of their seat only to be able to catch the last Métro back home.