Thanksgiving Abroad

The task of making Thanksgiving here initially seemed overwhelming and it really was!  I made many trips to the store and had a friend help me with some of my translations, she was a great help.  I couldn't find canned pumpkin so I made my own, which really wasn't hard just time consuming but I think it was worth it because the pie was delicious.  I planned my week accordingly and Derek was in charge of the turkey!

Making a Pumpkin Pie

Start with a pumpkin

Then gut it

Cook it

Puree it

Then make a pie but after all that I forgot to take a picture of one!

The Food

Ben had school on Thursday but he came home for lunch so I made the boys "turkey sandwiches," and we had pizza for dinner.  Not very traditional but we had some great family time and we got to skype both of our families.

We celebrated traditional Thanksgiving on Sunday with two families and had a great meal.

Our turkey, we also had stuffing, potatoes, sweet potatoes,

cranberry sauce, green beans, pumpkin pie and apple pie

They are gobbling like turkeys!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Bonne Journée 

How Life has Changed Part II

The Weather
It is now fall but most days don't seem like it, we did have a few weeks that seemed very rainy and dreary.  Today is very sunny 68 degrees Fahrenheit and I took the kids to the park.  I love the weather don't get me wrong but it feels wrong for the weather to be so nice when I am so used to freezing this time of year.  I am just going to enjoy it and stop feeling sad for the fall I'm missing in the states!

Bread
I read on the internet that 9 out of 10 French people buy fresh bread daily.  Fresh bread is a big deal and it is very delicious.  I myself don't buy ours daily but I am going to make an effort to buy more fresh bread in the future, it is so worth it.

Wine
Oh the wine!  I don't know what else to say about it except that its good.  We also need to try the Champagne, after all we are in France.

Cheese
I don't know much about cheese and just recently ventured to the very intimidating cheese section at the store and I had no idea what to buy so I just picked a few.   Some of my favorites so far are the Camembert, Gouda, Saint Albray and  P'tit Basque.  The boys love cheese too except Derek isn't as crazy about it as we are.

Bonne journée