This Thanksgiving was a bit more hectic and eclectic than my normal experience, which makes sense because I spent it in France, after all. After 6 hours of class in the morning, I high-tailed it home to start cooking to make my dinner contribution—which finally ended up being the apple pie. From scouring the grocery stores I found out that canned pumpkin doesn’t exist in France (probably my favorite hyperbole), and since I couldn’t find a real pumpkin, I changed recipes in-store, thinking back to the apple galette I posted the video recipe for, forever ago. I tripled the recipe to make 3 apple galettes, put my new Christmas CD on repeat, and got down to business. I love baking, and this recipe was just the right amount of effort and deliciousness. Go make it right now, you will feel so French, I guarantee it. But my host mom tells you to call it a tartes aux pommes, not a galette. Don’t worry, I’m not clear on the difference, either.
My French supplies. Check out my measuring cup, it’s metric! And for liquids… I guesstimated a lot.
The finished produit.
So Around 8, loaded with yet-untested tartes, I headed over to my advisor’s home for dinner. We spent the next three hours with her family over apéritifs and dinner, talking about my time in France, the upcoming Festival des lumières, what I’ll do next semester and even after graduation. They had somehow found everything you could possibly need for a traditional Thanksgiving feast (save sweet potatoes, but I was never their biggest fan anyways, as my mom will attest to). I was expecting a normal French meal, so you can imagine how delicious mashed potatoes and green beans were. And cranberry sauce! I could have cried canned tears of happiness.
The only thing I really missed from a classic Thanksgiving (other than spending it with family, of course) was the tradition of telling each other what we’re thankful for. There was no marathon of thankfulness before we dug into the turkey and mashed potatoes, which is honestly just as well, because I’m not sure I could have thought and put it into French on the spot. But, since no one asked me what I was thankful for during a before-feast reflection, I’m going to share it with you anyways.
Emails—from home, school, and friends abroad.
Knowing random French words, like “frozen.” (Surgelé, if you wanted to know. And surgelé, if you didn’t. :)
Care packages of Christmas ornaments from the dollar store.
Coat hooks in the bathroom.
The discovery of a microwave in the university café to heat up soup.
French blogs—Garance Doré is my fave. I linked to the English version for you reading pleasure.
Conversations with French students in the university café.
Baudelaire’s poetry. I know it’s not for everyone, but it is just too good.
Eavesdropping on French conversations in the metro. And understanding!
Mind-blowing literature classes.
Christmas lights in my room.
The French explication de texte.
Crisp autumn days.
Scarves!
Train rides. Anywhere.
Sugar-free hot chocolate mix.
Le Petit Robert: my lifesaving hunk of a French dictionary. He’s dreamy.
When my internet works through an entire Skype call.
The ability to fend for myself in France on a daily basis.
The running path along the Rhône.
My “good French” days.
Thanksgiving leftovers that took me through a solid three days of meals.
Cooking blogs. All of them.
Nail polish brought from home. It would be so expensive to buy here!
Quaker Oats hot cereal for breakfast. Saveur cassonade. (Brown sugar).
Living in France, which is at once one of the hardest and one of the best things I’ve ever done.
Friends and parents who listen to me verbally process the previous point.
I hope you all had a very Happy Thanksgiving!
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Read my Lyon posts (from packing until now) :
Packin’ It Up
How do you say, “stressful,” in French?
A Saturday in Vieux Lyon
Journées du Patrimoine
Problems with Paperwork
Sittin’ in a Café
At the Movies with Gérard Depardieu
Break for Barcelona
Biking Around Town
Bon Voyage!
No Place Like Home
Finals in France
Wine Tasting
And for the rest of the week, visit my blog, à mi-chemin.