This post should have been done about 2 weeks ago. There’s been a lot of excitement around here lately, and I’ve found that when I’m in my tiny little apartment I am prone to veg out in either my bathtub or bed with a book as opposed to doing anything even semi-productive such as writing a blog entry. This excitement has included weekend trips to the countryside, friends coming to visit and of course, the inevitable end of term rush. There’ve been so many papers and notebooks to mark, evaluations to prepare and lessons to plan. Outside of my work at the elementary school I’ve had more tutoring gigs than usual and have generally been rushing around. And the most exciting thing of all is that my nephew was born last week. He’s the first baby on our side of the family, so it’s been a big to-do. I arrive in New York on Thursday to meet the lil’ guy in person.

Welcome to the world beautiful, beautiful Rowan

So, with the mantra “better late than never” repeating in my mind, I will describe last months’ Thanksgiving festivities. Similar to last year, Thanksgiving this year was an international affair. There were 12 of us all together, representing several states in the US, England, Ireland, Uruguay and France. Everyone was charged with bringing a different dish and I am happy to report that each and every dish was a réussite (success). We had all the traditional trappings of Thanksgiving: roasted root vegetables, brussel sprouts, cranberry sauce, sweet and mashed potatoes, stuffing and last but not least, a gigantic, succulent turkey. While we’re on the subject of the turkey…when I was at the market this Saturday I went to my usual vendor to get my eggs, the same vendor who sold me the turkey the last 2 years, and his assistant whom I’ve never really spoken to before asked me “Et Thanksgiving, ça a été? (How was Thanksgiving?)” I left thinking that maybe I go there too often…Living in France is a constant reminder that I am nothing if not gourmande.

But back to the meal. Once again, I was in charge of the turkey and once again I solicited the wisdom of Lynne Rossetto Kasper, my favorite foodie. Her turkey recipe is foolproof, and delicious. Anything with white wine and a hoard of herbs is good in my opinion. Frighteningly, I was also in charge of carving the turkey, and miraculously I did a decent job of it! I don’t say miraculously lightly…there were 14 bottles of wine consumed that night and only 11 of us drinking it.

For dessert we had pumpkin cheesecake, apple pie and ice cream, but by that point I was too warm and fuzzy and full to document it (I dropped my poor camera in the sweet potatoes earlier, hence the lack of photos). All in all it was another very successful International Franglish Thanksgiving!