Friday, November 23, 2007

Thanksgiiiiiviiiiiing a Paris

Who says you can't have thanksgiving in france? All the Smithies in Paris were invited to a thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant where a traditional thanksgiving dinner had been ordered for us. There were the requisite turkey (dinde en français), mashed potatoes and gravy (boullion en français) and the other dishes seemed to be what the french thought thanksgiving was about. Don't get me wrong, it was great, it was just kind of funny to see how a country that doesn't even have a verb for "giving thanks" interpretted the holiday. We started off with a fabulous pumpkin soup, bread and some beaujolais nouveau which was pretty fab as well. After that there was turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy and green beens. Instead of slicing the turkey in thin slices, the turkey had been carved into hunks. Hunk-o-turkey for everyone. It was still delicious. Then there was this apple crisp thing that came with what I thought was vanilla ice cream and turned out to be "creme frais" which tastes like sour cream. Gosh but that was a fun surprise.

We also had a fun time explaining the holiday to our grammar professor who wanted to know all about what we ate. When we explained about mashed sweet potatoes and marshmallows, it was a bit too much for her french soul to handle and she looked a little ill, while explaining to us that it wasn't that it sounded BAD, she was just trying to imagine the tastes TOGETHER.

So while the french may be better at cooking the turkey, I'm not sure they really understand the concept of this holiday in its entirety. But I still had a good thanksgiving.

4 comments:

John D. said...

"hunk-o-turkey"? Ooooh la.

YDWBY

Nancy DeCherney said...

I believe "hunko" may be French term applied to meat items. Googling "hunko" I found this (on another blog devoted to food in France apparently, and we thought we were so novel) "The ample board groaned under the bill of fare. The boarders groaned also. Their groaning was very noticeable. The pièce de résistance was a hunko de boeuf boile, flanked with some old clinging stuff. "

Hunter said...

Ah, yes, Thanksgiving in other countries.
To answer an earlier question about where we enjoyed our first Thanksgiving together, Debi and I were traveling on a Rugby tour to Scotland and England. We had played three matches in Scotland and had just arrived in London. Our team, the Frankfurt Americans/Third Armored Division, had reserved a dining room at the American Club, off Piccadilly.
Obligatory turkey,mashed potatoes with gravy (actually, how English), niblet corn, some kind of cornbread, a salad, and NO SECONDS! So, they failed the most basic test of a good Thanksgiving feast, namely the ability to stuff yourself tighter than the turkey and then return for two or three slices of different pies for dessert.
Humph.

ren.decherney said...

I feel Hunter about the no seconds part. I was pissed that there wasn't enough room in the restaurant for us all to lay on the floor and groan after eating like we do in the states....