Post Turkey Day

Here we are, Friday morning in the Possum Kingdom. JM, Maggie and I have celebrated our second French Thanksgiving. This year, it was just the three of us, but we still decided to go with our traditional favorites.

Our menu was turkey breast (no whole turkeys here until Christmas), spinach with créme fraiche, garlic potatoes roasted in goose fat, sausage cornbread dressing, onion-banyuls gravy, cranberry sauce and apple tart. There was supposed to be pumpkin pie, but everyone has a disaster now and again.

I suppose I had never thought about it, but up until now, I've only ever cooked with canned pumpkin (thank you Libby's!). It never occurred to me that it was actually a kind of different thing than fresh. Or, it may be that the pumpkins they use in the canned kind are slightly different than the pumpkin I used. Whatever the reasons, although the pumpkin I cooked and pureed a couple of weeks ago was perfect in my pumpkin quick bread, it did not make an outstanding pumpkin pie. It came out kind of soft and watery and didn't have the intense "pumpkiny" flavor that I associate with a pumpkin pie. After a taste, I realized that it wasn't good enough to share with friends and that I wasn't going to enjoy eating it myself. So, as much as it pained me to do it, I had to toss it out.

I was much luckier with the item I thought was going to be the most difficult: cranberry sauce. Now, cranberries are not all that well-known in France, although they're starting to be. You can't (or at least I couldn't) find fresh ones. I have bought a mixture of dried cranberries and raisins, but even those were unfindable this week. However, I was surprised to find a jar of "airelles" (French for cranberries) in the canned fruit aisle of the supermarket. I figured, "what the heck," and bought them to try. They were unsweetened and packed in water, which turned out to be perfect for making cranberry sauce. I mixed them with a bit of orange juice, sugar, and taking a hint from that raisin/cranberry combo I'd bought a few times, I threw in some golden raisins. Then, I cooked it until it thickened. It made the best cranberry sauce I've ever had! What a pleasant change from the great pumpkin disaster.

For the turkey, I tried something new. I used a dry rub on it for 24 hours before cooking. I'd seen an online article in the L.A. Times about it, and since it's a technique I often use with beef, I thought it was a great idea. Even though this was a skinless, boneless breast, it came out with tender, moist, good textured meat that has an excellent flavor throughout. I think I'll definitely be doing that again in the future.

As usual, by the time I finished cooking the whole meal, I barely felt like eating it, so I will look forward to leftovers today. And, after all, isn't that everybody's favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner?

Ciao for now and the best of all things to you and yours.

Randy

Culture Shock

Yesterday turned out to be one of those days that results in a sudden jolt of deja vu.

We drove to Toulouse to have lunch with friends Jean-Claude and Regine (delcious, btw!) Afterwards, we had promised to attend a local comic book convention. It wasn't a true convention, in the sense of having panel discussions, signings, etc., but rather a semi-annual book sale.

Most of the vendors were, clearly, selling French bandes dessinee, but there were two tables selling American comics. That was our destination, as we had said we would do a mini-signing for anyone interested.

So, after lunch, we drove to an industrial park where the convention was being held in a community center. We had never been there before, so were following another friend.

As we pulled into the industrial park, we had our first bit of culture shock. To all intents and purposes, we could have been in an industrial park in Canoga Park, California. Indeed, it looked EXACTLY like the one in Canoga Park. The same buildings, same business (Ricoh, etc.), same layout of the streets. If there hadn't been a round about (something that is rare in California) and if you didn't look at the traffic signs, which are different, you would have had absolutely no idea where you were. We felt as if we had suddenly beamed back across the ocean.

We found parking (another L.A. experience, as there wasn't enough) and walked up to the floor where our friends were located.

As we looked around, once again we could have been at ANY comic book event in America! Same t-shirts, same jeans, same obsessed fans, same conversations. Completely and utterly spooky! And, unlike at these things in years past, smoking in the building wasn't permitted, so we actually wound up spending a day without coming home blasted by tobacco smoke. Another American export?

It wasn't until we were back on the road heading for the Possum Kingdom that we felt as if we had not landed back in L.A. for the day: we didn't get caught in a traffic jam on the way home. And what a relief THAT was!!

Ciao for now.

Randy