Thanksgiving in Paris

Saturday in Paris was our Thanksgiving celebration. Lisa and I woke up bright and early and went straight to the grocery store to purchase all of our goods. I had had my dad fly in Pumpkin pie mix and semi-sweet chocolate chips for this feast but we still had a lot to get.

Throwing an American dinner party in a foreign country provides challenges one would never imagine. Translating evaporated milk into French was our first challenge. Then finding gravy mix, bread crumbs, and baking powder was interesting. After our first stop at one store, Lisa and I walked everything back to her place. She left me there and went to two more grocery stores to try to find the more exotic items. Meanwhile I cleaned, made the green beans, the salad, and let her friend Susan into the apartment to make her corn bread because her oven didn't work.

We spent the entire day cooking pumpkin pies and various other goodies. Luckily Lisa had a book of conversions for all baking needs, from cups to grams and butter requirements to the labels found here. It was interesting but we did not burn one thing with our programing of the oven from Fahrenheit to Celsius like we had during Lisa's last party where I made cookies.

At five, Lisa had to make one last run to the store called "Thanksgiving" where she had ordered the turkey. I was left behind once again to entertain any guests who arrived early. Lisa's friend, Sarah, was also with me so there was not to much pressure.

Fortunately, Lisa got back before any guests arrived and we began the celebration. We also had a touch of France with our aperitifs of cheese, olives and baguettes to begin the meal. Dinner was fantastic, starting with champagne, good wines, and all the traditional dishes. The apple crisp and the pumpkin pie turned out wonderfully and everyone appeared to enjoy every dish. It was nice to spend Thanksgiving surrounded by other people who were away from home. It was also exciting to give a few people from France and England their first Thanksgiving meal.