Thanksgiving in a Toaster Oven

Yes, that's right. The first Thanksgiving I've ever cooked took place in a middle school in the middle of France, with one toaster oven, one hot plate, three American girls, three women from Russia, Tunisia, Togo, and a French guy.

The Menu:

Green salad with a beet bought in Prague, goat cheese, pistachios and an orange vinaigrette

Crudites with home made hummus

Balsamic-Honey roasted sweet potatoes

Wild Rice stuffing with baguette bread crumbs, golden raisins, walnuts, toasted pine nuts and orange/beet dressing

Steamed garlic green beans with toasted pine nuts

Togolese hot hot hot sauce

A roasted chicken stuffed, with a thyme pepper butter rub underneath the skin

Pumpkin pie, exotic Libby can of processed pumpkin imported from the Unites States

Baguettes galore

Umpteen bottles of locally made hard cider

Yum.

I'm still in disbelief that our dinner went so well. Everything was delicious and perfectly cooked. Mady, Laura, Kendra, and I all worked wonderfully together, sharing the responsibility of creating a magnificent feast. We were joined later by our friend, Elena, who is also an English assistant and a couple who lives in La Souterraine, Melek and Benjamin.

We did our best to explain to Melek, Benjamin, and Elena the history of Thanksgiving, and what it means to us now. I also got crafty, after realizing that I didn't know how to carve a chicken, and told Benjamin that is was an American tradition for a man to carve the bird. Success!

After dinner, comatose and drunk, Kendra and I decided to put on a little concert. Her on the guitar, and us both singing "American Pie," and "Anyone Else But You," (from the Juno soundtrack). There is a video.

I am so grateful for the people in my life. How lucky am I, to find myself here with two of my closest friends from home, along with new ones, and truly enjoy each other as we are?

Happy Thanksgiving.