Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving in France isn’t exactly the same as it is in the States. By that I mean it is not celebrated. Obviously. The French don’t so much care about the discovery of America. Or America in general for that matter. Everyone that I work with though knew that it was Thanksgiving so I was explaining to them that we were going to try and make something traditional for thanksgiving, but there is one big problem. We don’t have an oven. They have much more turkey here than we have at home. At least more turkey breasts and the like for making on the stove top, so that isn’t a problem. They have all the vegetables that we need, we’re going to make stuffing and gravy, but we’re going to have to miss out on the pies. We investigated making a no-bake pumpkin pie, but there is no canned pumpkin. There is also no corn syrup, pecans or molasses. I’m sure they are available somewhere in France, but not readily available in Clermont, so our search ended quickly. At this point we’re at a loss as to how to celebrate Thanksgiving desserts without those ingredients, so we’ll make due. This weekend we are going to make a Thanksgiving meal because unlike at home, we have to work all day here. I can honestly say it is the first time, and I hope the last time, that I have to work on Thanksgiving.

In other news, when I got to work this morning, one of my co-workers wished me “Happy Fete” because Thanksgiving this year is also the Feast of Catherine of Alexandria. She was a noted scholar in the 4th century and apparently appeared to Joan of Arc several times. She was a martyr who was supposed to have died by the “breaking wheel”, an old form of torture, but according to legend, the wheel died when she touched it, so she was beheaded.

Happy Turkey Day!