Strangely enough, we celebrated Thanksgiving -- and ate a traditional meal -- twice in one week!
I have already blogged about the Unitarian Fellowship dinner, but we were fortunate enough to have plans for the actual holiday, as well.
Because nearly all of the students at NYU in France are Americans, the program offers them a Thanksgiving dinner. I RSVPed early so that Bill, Meredith, and my mother (who spent 5 days with us) could all attend. The restaurant where the dinner is held, Sud-Ouest (or Southwest in English), has done so for the past 4 years or so. It's situated a charming old building near the Panthéon, and about 100 of us had dinner together. Well 90 of them had dinner together and about 10 of us were in another room, near the entrance. It worked out fine, actually, since we had room to move around and took Meredith on a couple of tours of the downstairs between courses.
After enjoying a kir (now that's a first for Thanksgiving!), we were served a first course, creamy pumpkin soup that all of us, Meredith included, enjoyed tremendously. Mom and I also chuckled over the retelling of my uncle's infamous pumpkin soup from a Thanksgiving long ago. The short version: it was inedible, and there was enough to choke a horse. We're talking 25 or so years ago now, and it's still part of the family lore.
Following the soup, the main course came out -- turkey with the stuffing rolled inside, doused in gravy, with mashed potatoes and haricots verts (the tiny French green beans).
It was really great! They even brought out little dishes of warm lingonberry sauce, as close to cranberry sauce as they could muster, and a fine substitute at that.
During the obligatory French break between courses (extended due the fact that so many people were being served at once), my acting teacher, Cécile, came up and stole Meredith away for a while. They both seemed to get a kick out of that. Then came dessert -- ice cream! An unconventional end to the Thanksgiving meal, but a light and delicious one all the same. I had never had this type of ice cream before; it was served in oblong slices and had what looked to be candied fruit mixed into it, but all I could taste were some ground nuts and a raspberry sauce that accompanied the ice cream. Very tasty.
By that time is was at least 10:30 p.m. (the dinner was called for 8 o'clock, after all the university classes had ended), so we scurried home to get Meredith to bed, missing the coffee that would have been served last, after dessert. Some things the French just can't compromise on!
On a slightly more serious note, I have been filled with gratitude of late. I feel extraordinarily fortunate to be here in Paris with my family, to have the opportunity to teach a literature course on the University level, to enjoy good health and good times. My life is very rich, and I am trying hard not to take it for granted! May it always be so...
