Thanksgiving

Thanks to H. who sent us from Ann Arbor an insight into a traditional meal on the fourth thursday of november, for Thanksgiving.

Even though nobody celebrates any longer the good crops of summer time (especially since summer has become a period of holidays instead of harvesting in western culture), the pleasure of meeting, cooking and eating good food together instead of fast food prevails.

Here are some pictures and recipes H. sent to us.

Below, you will see photos that I took of the Thanksgiving dinner that I had at the house of my friends D. and T. Most of the guests were their relatives. They were each married before and the children are from their previous marriage. I have been going to Thanksgiving at their house for many years. D. and T. prepare the turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes and everyone else brings a dish. I made cranberry sauce and two pies : my great-aunt’s recipe for pecan pie and also decided to try a recipe that I’d seen in our local newspaper for a chocolate pecan chess pie.

The turkey out of the oven, for 20+ people T. and his daughter carving the turkey with an electric knife

Turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing Salad, roasted vegetables, sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top

Three tables for guests and buffet table with food

A guest’s plate : Turkey meat and wing, mashed potatoes with gravy, cranberry sauce, sweet potates, roasted vegetables, Brussel sprouts with chestnuts

Desserts : chocolate pecan chess pie, apple pie, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, (brownies in back), peach pie, berry pie

The pecan pie uses some ingredients that may be hard to find in Bordeaux, namely Karo corn syrup and dark brown sugar. The measures for both are not metric ("cups" = 8 ounces, teaspoons, tablespons) and the oven temperature is in Fahrenheit. I "cheat" and use a frozen pie crust instead of making my own from scratch since it’s easier and just as good as a homemade crust. In case you’re interested, here’s the recipe I used :

THANKSGIVING AND HISTORY : THE PILGRIM FATHERS

Model of a 17th century English merchantman ship of about 400 tons

Here is a link to a film H. advised us to watch, which I enjoyed a lot : The Mayflower and their landing in New England instead of Virginia :

MC showed us pictures from the museum about Plymouth Colony and insisted on the first laws edicted by the Mayflower’s captain.

The Book of the General Laws of the Inhabitants of the Jurisdiction of New-Plimouth. Boston : Samuel Green, 1685. Source : American Treasures of the Library of Congress, Law Library

Port St. Louis (Plymouth, Massachusetts Harbor). Original map drawn by Samuel de Champlain in 1605. Modern place names added by the author ; star is the approximate location of initial English settlement at Plymouth

The first Thanksgiving between the Indians and the so-called Pilgrim Fathers sharing turkeys and corn, by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (1863–1930) : The scene depicted here is a romanticized (idealized) version and not historically accurate. The clothing worn by the Pilgrims is incorrect, the Wampanoag did not wear feathered war bonnets, nor would they have been sitting on the ground.

History in French on Wikipedia

Cape Cod and the islands, NASA