Thankful This Thanksgiving

I currently live in a country where Thanksgiving is not celebrated or recognized in any way.  There are no pilgrim figurines in the stores, no cornucopias, and definitely no Butterball turkeys.  I was worried that, like Halloween, it would make me homesick for America and miss my family even more than I already do.  However, this was most of the most memorable Thanksgivings I have ever had, and I enjoyed the whole week tremendously.  I’m sure that it had everything to do with the fact that my friend Cherae Ecalono came to visit. 

Many of you who read this blog know Cherae and what a wonderful person she is, which is why we have remained friends for so long, but did you realize I have known her almost half my life? It surprises me how fast the time has gone, but she has been my best friend for 18 years. She really is my “Gale” if you’ll forgive me for an Oprah reference, and I cannot tell you the gratitude I feel to have her as a part of my life. Before I forget, I must thank her husband Chris for not just allowing her to visit, but for encouraging and supporting the visit as well (it may even have been HIS idea if I remember right!) Not all husbands would allow their wife to travel almost 6,000 miles away during precious vacation time, let alone during such a family-centered holiday like Thanksgiving. Cherae also had her birthday while she was here, and I also thank her three boys for being willing to share their Mom with me and my family. My husband made many sacrifices as well for me to have this time with Cherae, and both husbands have earned some serious “wife credit.”

Though I can’t possibly do this visit justice with a blog post and a few pictures, here are some of the most memorable things of the week in no particular order:


1. Hitting a dog. Not a lot to tell here, but yes, I hit my first animal ever in my life with Cherae in my car. I'm pretty sure it was okay since I wasn't going very fast and it ran away and gave me an angry look. But it freaked me out, and I definitely screamed on impact. In my defense, this dog was running right down the center of the road, and when I swerved to miss him, he also veered the same direction, so impact was unavoidable.


2. Jason’s traffic violation. This was an insane experience. All the kids, Jason, Cherae and I were suddenly pulled over by the French police (Gendarmerie). This cop was super unfriendly, told Jason he hadn’t stopped at a stop sign, and that he must now pay 90 Euros due immediately. Jason asked if he could just be billed in the mail since he didn’t have cash on him, and the policeman said, “No, you are a foreigner. You pay now. There is an ATM up the hill. I will wait with your family while you go take out some cash.” No joke. Jason did as he was told. I guess I will also mention Jason has had three expensive speeding tickets in the last few weeks, and the tickets were all given electronically through the mail with no cop involved at all. The French have cameras all over, and when you speed in certain areas, you get a ticket in the mail a few days later. I don’t fault him at all—it could easily have been me. He was only going 7 km an hour over the speed limit (that’s only about 4 miles/hour over). It’s just another way for the government to get money if you ask me, but we are learning where these cameras are the hard way (remember we pay lots of "stupid tax" in France).


3. Rum Crepe at Eze. Eze is this really cool, old Medieval village high up in the cliffs near Monaco. While we were sight-seeing, we decided to get some authentic French crêpes at a little café. We ordered two, one with vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce and whip cream (which the menu kept translating as “wipecream” much to our amusement), and the other was my choice, a rum flambé crêpe. Sure enough this crêpe came out on fire, which was very cool. It had warm chocolate sauce and banana inside, and looked delicious. I took one bite, and realized a potential violation of the Word of Wisdom in about 16 different ways! The strong taste of the rum was overpowering, and apparently the crêpe was drenched in it. The rum burned all the way down, and there was a very unpleasant, strong alcohol aftertaste, which was terrible. Cherae took one bite, hated it as well, and we both thought it was pretty funny I had unknowingly ordered something so "exotique." At least we liked the one she ordered.

This is Cherae in front of Eze, the village on the hill behind her

All the doors in this village, like the one behind me, were only about 4 or 5 feet tall.  Medieval Europeans must have been teeny!

4.   Thanksgiving meal with some French twists.  Cherae brought me all kinds of things from the States that I can’t get here, like French fried onions for the green bean casserole, and canned pumpkin for a pie, which I never even ended up making until after she left.  Our feast turned out pretty well, even though it was a little unconventional.  For example, I cooked our turkey (just two turkey breasts) in a crock pot with butter and herbs de Provence.  It was tender and delicious though.  We had some French cheese (Brie) with our cheeseball and crackers, and then had French tarts for dessert instead of pies.  I think it’s ridiculous that I cooked for at least 5 hours when my kids barely touched their dinner, but oh well.  At least the adults liked it.

Maisy, Jason, and Jocelyn on Thanksgiving Day

Cherae and my girls on Thanksgiving Day

Don't these tarts look delicious?  I would have felt too sad for pumpkin pie's self esteem to make it sit next to these beauties, so I made it several days after Thanksiving where it could be a superstar all on its own!

Here's our feast, and yes, I was a little tired after cooking for so long.

5. Going the wrong way home to France after a day trip to San Remo, Italy. After about 20 minutes of driving the wrong way, deeply engrossed in conversation, I suddenly said, “Shouldn’t the ocean be on the other side of us?” Cherae says, “Yeah, it should be.” So then we had to drive another 15 minutes to the nearest exit in order to turn around. We were half way to Genova! Whoops!


Cherae overlooking the Mediterranean Sea in San Remo, Italy

 6. Cherae teaching Jocelyn all about “sea glass." Every time we go to the beach, my kids search non-stop for all kinds of dirty, broken shells. Cherae showed them a new thing to look for, which is rarer and much harder to find (thank goodness). It’s “sea glass,” which is simply broken glass or pottery that has been sanded smooth by wave action and erosion. Very cool. Jocelyn found three pieces of it, and now asks to go to the beach every day to look for more.

Jason and Cherae on a beach in Mandelieu.  See the kids in the background searching for sea glass?

Too bad it was so cold at the beach!

Maisy and Cherae

 7. Jocelyn posing with child mannequins. While Jocelyn went to a clothing store with Cherae and me, she kept seeing these small mannequins, and then wanted her picture taken with each one. She was so funny about it, and these poses were completely her idea. She wasn't quite sure what to think when one of the hands fell off while she was holding it, though. 

8.   Tempura zucchini flowers.  For Cherae's birthday, Jason and I took her out to dinner. Jason chose the restaurant, since he eats out a lot more than I do, and he picked “La Petite Maison,” a Provencal French restaurant at one of the top 3 hotels on the famous croissette in Cannes. We had the place all to ourselves on a Saturday night by making a reservation at 7:30, which is laughably early by French standards. It was a very nice place, and I loved our meal, but especially the appetizers.  I am learning more and more what French food actually is, and what I have realized so far is that while it is definitely pretentious and expensive for my tastes, the French chefs go out  their way to make sure the food is very fresh, prepared with high-quality ingredients, and that it looks as good as it tastes.  I love the presentation and the creative ways they think of to serve food.   This time the show stoppers for me were these beautiful tempura zucchini flowers, and I could have eaten 20 of them.  Who knew you could make an orange zucchini flower into a delicious appetizer? 

They are hard to see, but the lightly crunchy zucchini flowers are on both the left and right side of the platter.

We took a walk along the coast after dinner, and this is Cherae on the steps of the red carpet (it's the building where the Cannes Film Festival takes place).

And here she is being silly in a "feed me grapes" pose.  French people were staring, and Cherae just didn't care!  Or maybe she was acting out a cinematic murder mystery?  I'm actually not sure.

Here we are in front of the hotel lobby of where we had dinner.

9. Cherae at Carrefour in Antibes. I will take everyone who ever comes to visit us here to the giant grocery store just for the experience. I usually complain about what the store doesn’t have, but Cherae helped me to appreciate what it does have. Here were some of her exclamations:

• “I love all this fresh produce. And look at the size of those leeks!”

• “Wow. Check out all these beautiful cheeses. We just have to get some Brie or Camembert to try!” (I had never bought either of those cheeses, but I have to admit they were delicious.)

• “You’re so lucky you can get pancetta and chorizo so easily!  I have to really hunt for it in Utah.”

10. And finally, I loved watching Cherae’s face every time she ate either a croissant or the amazing rich and creamy yogurt they have here.

Thanks for such a fun visit, Cherae. We already miss you and can't wait until you can come visit us again!