Plat du jour: Turkey! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

The French don't do Thanksgiving, which isn't that big of a deal since Thanksgiving is a family and close friends event- not like a huge festival really. But me and my American buddies felt like the tradition shouldn't be thrown out just because we're not in the US. So we decided to bring our traditions to Paris and have Thanksgiving dinner at my friends Emily and Ashley's place!

Setting up for dinner!




In case I haven't talked about it before, this is Ashley and Emily's apartment. We had Thanksgiving here since they had the table for it, but we had to start dinner early because when they originally signed their lease they agreed to be quiet from 9pm onward because the tenants above and below them have babies that have to sleep. This wasn't a problem for us though since most of our families start Thanksgiving in the early afternoon anyway (I know my family does more of a Thanksgiving lunch). But in the French culture you eat dinner anywhere from 8pm at the earliest to 10pm, so the timing was a little bizarre to the French people we invited to experience our holiday.





Here are some of the guests! From the left: Ashley, Shannon, Kitsy (another American who's on exchange from Boston), William (from Tech), Dorian, and I forgot the last guy's name (these were the French people, and I just met them at the dinner). I hope the last guy doesn't know about my blog! (ha ha)





Here we are having some champagne before dinner.




Emily cuts the turkey!





I know they sell whole turkeys here in Paris because I've seen them in the butcher shops, but they're really really expensive (maybe because they don't do Thanksgiving?). But they found this kind of turkey, which I think came pre-seasoned with pork fat or something wrapped around it. It was really good! Nice way to improvise too.






Emily baked her grandma's apple pie for dessert. We also had pumpkin pie, ice cream, and Shannon and I brought petit fours too.





Thanksgiving plate! Mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce (that's right, we found it in a can here!), green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, fruit salad.... I'm getting hungry again. I ate way too much that night.






Everyone ready to eat! We all went around the table and said something we're thankful for, and most of us Americans said we were thankful for being in Paris. The French guys said they were thankful for being invited to experience this (I think they secretly loved Thanksgiving).

After we were all sufficiently stuffed, we thought it would be a good idea to get some exercise by walking around Paris to see some of the Christmas decoratons.

I was a little tired from the turkey, but I guess I was the only one.






We started at the Place de la Concorde and walked down the Champs-Élysées towards the Arc de Triomphe. Remember when I talked about the ferris wheel that was set up at the Place de la Concorde? It's working now and it costs 9 euros for a ride. We didn't ride it that night, but it's a possibility later on.







We did a jump shot!





Avenue des Champs-Élysées decked out in Christmas lights! You can see the ferris wheel down the street.





Shannon, Ashley and Kitsy posing in front of the lights.





Arc de Triomphe!






The Champs-Élysées was like a mini-Christmas carnival; they had a carrousel and those little white houses that I mentioned seeing before were open too! Here's William petting a tiny horse that was pulling Santa's sleigh!!! Santa (I think they call him Père Noël here) was sitting in the sleigh greeting little kids.






Little white houses! These were so cute- most of them had things to sell inside like Paris souvenirs or crafts, and some others sold crêpes and waffles and hot chocolate. Some had games for little kids, like fishing for prizes in a mini river.





Here's the inside of one of the white houses that sold food. You can see the lady making crêpes on the left. I liked the polar bears on top- they were robotic so they moved their heads around!
(Side note: gaufres = waffles)






This white house sold cookies and gingerbread!






It looks like this one was selling little cakes, but they were actually hand towels! The vendor just wrapped them up to look like cakes. Everyone who saw it had the same reaction: first we all salivated over the fake towel cakes, then we realized slowly that they weren't edible, then came the confusion over what it was, then disappointment that they weren't cakes. There was a rollercoaster of emotions going on- I felt it too.






This white house sold Christmas ornaments and Santa hats.





Another view of the Champs-Élysées facing the Arc de triomphe.





View of the Eiffel Tower from where we were on the Champs-Élysées.

In all, it was a very successful Thanksgiving, because we spent it with good friends and lots of food (I was surprised we found all the ingredients here for the American recipes), and we mixed it with some Parisian culture by walking around the Champs-Élysées afterwards.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I wanted to say how thankful I am for everyone back home who is keeping up with my blog and giving me tons of support. Even the smallest encouraging comment makes me feel so loved!

So to all my family and friends back home: thank you and I love you all!!

Bisous XOXO