Will has won the war of attrition although in my defence, I wasn’t aware there was one going on until recently. That is the war over who’s turn it is to write the next blog post and he’s done more than me.
Thanksgiving has come and gone once again. For the first time in my life, I celebrated on the Saturday after, and not on the day itself. I used to be a purist as far as that goes. I remember one meal in London where Mary Carol and I both took the afternoon off but in spite of this, we didn’t get the meal on the table until after 10pm by which point, everyone was sloshed. I caved in this year since I didn’t want to use the holiday and it’s more convenient for guests too.
The meal itself went well with the exception of the guest list. We got a call from Carol on Friday evening around 6pm saying there were at the doctor’s but heading to the hospital in Perigueux. Bryan’s leg had been bothering him for some time and it turns out he has thrombosis. The doctor took one look and ordered him to hospital. He ended up staying there for nearly a week but is now home and doing better.
I made the sweet potato pie and cranberry sauce on Friday night and did the rest of the cooking on Saturday. Before starting that, I cut the grass before lunch. It’s odd to have to do so at the end of November but it needed it and it was a nice day. I moved on to cooking in the afternoon and after a few years out here, I’m happy to say that I’ve now got the hang of doing the meal.
Without a doubt, the most important component of the Thanksgiving repast is the turkey. Since a whole bird is hard to find in November, we make do with pieces. I mentioned this in my conversation group on Thursday and Françoise said she could get one for me, directly from the farm next year. In years past, I’ve braised the pieces, making the meat dry and stringy which requires a lot of gravy to compensate.
This year, I decided to prepare the pieces in the same manner as I would a whole bird and happily, they came out wonderfully. The accompaniments were broccoli, roasted veg and stuffing, although I substituted various french breads for cornbread. Carol was going to do the roast potatoes so instead, Lee and Richard brought some raw and with Richard’s guidance, I did them. The sweet potato pie was equal to last year’s so all in all, this was the best version of Thanksgiving I’ve done out here and possibly ever.
Carol joined us for dessert but didn’t stay too late. Lee has been under the weather so he wasn’t drinking. It’s fair to say that Richard made up for him and Will and I did too. The boys left around midnight and I think we called it a night shortly after.
Will has just informed me that he too will be doing a post so I will leave things there and he will carry on imminently. A bien tot.