Last Thanksgiving in Paris

Sounds a lot less sexy than Last Tango in Paris, huh? But it's true that we are only a few months away from our departure from Paris, and this will be the last time (at least for a while) that I need to track down a specialty store across town to buy canned pumpkin (for 5 euros no less!). Actually I didn't even bother this year - I didn't feel like fighting the crowds (crowds because of strikes, obviously, not because of the holiday) - and also it feels nice to not "have" to cook, because for the last month I've been doing practically nothing but: making soups, stews, casseroles, tarts, cakes, and so on. I guess you could say I've become more "French" in this sense: with big, well-planned meals now the norm, rather than the variation. So in a way I'm doing Thanksgiving in reverse: I'm spending the day differently than I usually do by not dealing with food that much (in spite of ambitious menu shown here - which I thoroughly enjoyed planning and might use next year, who knows?).

But I am going to make cranberry sauce. Every year, no matter what, I make cranberry sauce (notice it's the one thing circled on the list). Even if I don't really like it (I think I've eaten less than a tablespoonful in my entire life), and no one else seems to like it much either, because there is always exactly the same amount that I made left over. There's just something about watching those bright red berries bulging and bursting in the pot - perhaps it's a metaphor for the abundance of the season (not to mention for what happens to our abdomens after too many mashed potatoes and gravy!). Anyway, I have frozen ones from last year that I need to use. There is no "use by" date printed on the label, but what the heck! Livin' dangerously...just call me Marlon.