Thanksgiving Eve

Rain on Thanksgiving Eve

The apple pie is baked but I am afraid the cranberry relish is going to fall by the wayside; I can't find fresh cranberries. I ordered some from the fruitier on Rue Verdun, but when I went to pick them up, she handed me a sac of dried cranberries.  Not quite what I needed for relish.  Too bad, as I had a great new recipe I wanted to try.  Oh well.  I read that you can maybe substitute fresh cherries--hello???? Cranberries are in season; fresh cherries are not.  Or you could try pomegranate....just how sweet will that turn out to be?  And with onions and rosemary?  Oh dear.  

I will pick up the turkey thigh from Michel Rabat's tomorrow morning.  Nelly was a little surprised when I told her that I wanted it whole--normally I get it skinned, boned and ground.  I am sure that it will be plenty for several meals.

I will make cauliflower gratin, and bake a yam.  I did cube up a stale baguette for stuffing, but I almost never eat it, so I am not sure that I will make it.  If not, the ducks and pigeons along the Aude will get carbs tomorrow afternoon.

  

Rain blows under the streetlamo

I seem to remember potato salad and deviled eggs at Thanksgiving.  I know that may sound odd, but in our family, potato salad was a year-round special treat.  I will not be making either, as one kind of potato is quite enough.  For something green I am having shaved Brussels sprouts with walnuts and Pecorino-Romano cheese with a vinaigrette. 

As I write this, we are in the middle of a string of thunderstormsjust as the weather forecaster predicted.  It's really the first significant rain in a long, long time.  We have had some precipitation, but not enough to make the Aude run high.  I crossed it a couple of times today and while it was swift and clear, it's not high.  I keep thinking of the advice I heard as a youngster to stay away from windows during an electrical storm, but this is not particularly violent and I love watching the lightning from a safe distance.  I even tried my hand at getting a photo of the rain blowing under the street lamp on the corner.  I need to keep practicing.

Apple pie with dried cranberries

I have succumbed to all the cliches about enumerating the things for which I am thankful.  This is actually my third Thanksgiving here in Carcassonne, the first being in 2013.  On that Thanksgiving, I boarded a train on a very frosty morning to go to Paris to meet my friends the Moffits.  We've had nothing like that kind of cold or even frost for that matter so far this year.  There is snow in the Pyrenees.  I am thankful that it's there and not here.  I am thankful that I am here and not somewhere else.