My roommate Ca is dogsitting this week, so in addition to Bowie the pill of a cat, we now have a friendly, if a bit whiny, little dog. Bowie, in keeping with his essential pill-like nature, stalked him constantly at first. Now he only swats at the dog when he gets bored with his usual pastime of pushing things off shelves. Not exactly the peaceable kingdom, but we'll take it.
On Saturday we had our first party as roommates, hosting my friend Kat Goldman for a house concert. We packed thirty people into the living room, and fed everyone kirs royals (that's champagne with cassis syrup) and canapés. Ju made tortilla frittata (a yummy Spanish egg and potato dish) for the first time. We even skyped the concert to my brother in New York. Very satisfying party, and Kat was of course amazing.
Sunday afternoon it actually snowed for maybe half an hour of flurries. Children all over Paris surely rejoiced, even if none of it stuck and the weather turned to rain.
Today I took the afternoon off to listen to NPR and start the Thanksgiving cooking with stuffing and sweet potato balls. Ju and I made the pie dough after dinner, using the latest tip from Christopher Kimball, the real-life anal-retentive chef: replacing half of the water with vodka. The idea is that vodka, unlike water, does not react with protein in the flour to form gluten. Also, since the alcohol evaporates, the dough ends up with less liquid, which is to say, more flaky goodness. That's the theory anyway. I'll twitter the results.
I know Thanksgiving is not entirely happy for everyone. I do try to inform the kids in the family about the Wampanoag who met the Europeans at Plymouth Rock (amazingly, some survive despite the best efforts of said Europeans). But I don't much care if the mythological Thanksgiving is a nineteenth-century fantasy. I'm ok with Thanksgiving as a family holiday and as a holiday of gratitude.
I am grateful for my friends and family, and for Skype which allows me to see my US friends and family over the internets. I am also especially thankful to have moved in with Ju and Ca and (even) Bowie.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Thursday, November 27, 2008
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4 comments:
Awww, I must have missed the snow. :(
That was a very nice thanksgiving... indeed...
Except for the turkey....
Yes Gavin, the snow was one of these blink-and-you'll-miss-it affairs. Maybe lasted half an hour to an hour here in the 16th.
JD, I'm so glad you came!
What JD is alluding to is that the turkey was a little challenged in the moisture department. It was roasted by the butcher so we could cook pies and other goodies in our half-sized oven. Silly butcher. Plus he had no juice for us to make gravy with, as we hadn't asked for it specially beforehand. Harumph!
Actually, I was saying that thanksgiving in general are not a god time for turkeys... PLus they don't care anymore if they are dry or juicy.
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