Not much happened on Mon and Tues. Andrew has been here working on the house and has made good progress. He fixed the dormer window so it doesn’t leak and laid the floor in the bedroom, amongst other things. We had pasta sausage soup both nights, along with salad and cheese, including Dom’s roquefort, walnut spread that was leftover from the soiree the previous weekend.
We had a scare on Wed afternoon. Andrew was home for lunch with the back of the van open and the cats were playing in it. A while later the Smoo came in, flopped down and started mewling in pain. We couldn’t see anything wrong with him, but noticed he was limping. He wouldn’t be touched and clearly wasn’t happy. I went shopping and during that time, he seemed worse so Will rang the vets and got him an appointment that afternoon. I returned and off we went for an x-ray and exam. The vet couldn’t find anything wrong either, but prescribed some anti-inflamatory / pain meds. He was still bad for a day or two, and has slept a great deal, but is definitely on the mend.
The weather was mild during the week with a high of 15 on Wed. I mowed the lawn that day and the next, hopefully for the last time this year. We managed to grow a few butternut squash this year, and used one on Wed to make risotto, which we had again on Friday.
On Thurs eve we had Marie and Christian over for dinner. Since we were celebrating on Saturday, I didn’t want to do two Thanksgiving dinners. So we had turkey sloppy joes, sweet potato fries and green beans as a nod to the day. Dessert was cookies, brownies and ice cream. This was the second time we’d had them over and it was very enjoyable. They both speak English very well, so the conversation alternated for much of the evening. Will, Christian and I performed a few songs before dinner and Marie gave us some helpful pointers. We had a nightcap after the meal and they left us around 11.30.
I had done most of the shopping for Thanksgiving on Wed, but still needed a few items, so returned to Nontron on Fri am. I arrived exactly at noon and was surprised at the amount of traffic. It only lasted ten minutes but was a mainly startling because it’s so uncharacteristic. I also went to Germaine’s for a bottle of port, part of our thank you gift to Benoit and Virginie. We had a fairly chilled night at home in preparation for the big event the next day.
Andrew worked at the house Saturday while Will and I spent the day preparing the house and meal for that night. The guests were B & V, Lucas, a friend of theirs, Fred the baker and Guillaume & Emily. The latter is Jenny’s ex and his partner, and it was the first time they’d eaten at ours – a long overdue event. All but the hosts were Thanksgiving virgins, so I was slightly stressed about the meal and cooking for nine.
I needn’t had worried, and everything went according to plan, except we ate a little behind schedule. That wasn’t a problem since B&V brought the apero, which was a Thanksgiving cocktail of vodka, cranberry, citrus, soda and bitters, along with some nibbles. Virginie also made the centerpiece, featured in the photo above. If it doesn’t come through, the attention to detail is exquisite. The menu was the same as last year, and I was helped by the notes I made after last year’s meal. For the record, it was turkey pieces (two small and one big leg, two breast roasts), gravy, goats cheese mashed, cranberry sauce, roasted carrot, parsnip and shallots, roasted squash, roasted brussels and stuffing. Fred offered to bring dessert, but I explained that even that was traditional so I had to turn him down (he did bring us some chocolates, so don’t feel bad). Even Benoit enjoyed the sweet potato pie, although there wasn’t much to go around.
We sat down around 9:45 and I explained the “seconds” rule. Everyone obliged, although they were smart and didn’t load up the first time. There wasn’t much in the way of leftovers apart from turkey (intentionally), gravy and stuffing (there is always way too much). After the pie, we moved on to coffee and chilled Zubrovka. It was a really nice evening, and everyone enjoyed the meal. Fred starts work around 3:30 or 4am, and they didn’t leave our place until after 1, so we were worried about the state of the bread the next day. Will and I cleaned up and then decided to have a cleanser and watch a film. He was out after 15 minutes and I didn’t make it much longer. We crawled into bed around 4.
Andrew went to bed a bit before the guests left, but was still up and out around the usual time. He stopped at the bakery in Milhac and then stayed at the house for the day. Will and I slept in a bit, then got up and groggily finished cleaning up. We had band practice that day at four, so cleaned up ourselves up a bit too. The rehearsal went fine, and it feels like we’re making slow progress. We had leftovers for dinner that night and went to bed on the early side.
It was back to work today. Will’s best client gave him a load of work, but it’s mind-numbingly dull and then he has to translate it and do it again in French. I’ve still got 4 or 5 things on the go, so still busy for me too. Andrew leaves us tomorrow and will be back in January. Until then, beau-père.
Addendum: I forgot to mention that the gas bottle died during the meal prep, which always seems to happen on Thanksgiving. Luckily, we had a spare in the garage.