What are sweet potatoes?

I had the privilege of celebrating Thanksgiving twice this year.  Once with Benoit and four of our friends and a second time with Benoit's family.  Both celebrations left me with wonderful memories that I will never forget of my second Thanksgiving spent away from home.

I arrived at Benoit's parents' house early Saturday morning around 9:30am in order to help his mother prepare the Thanksgiving lunch.  Much to my surprise, I was astonished by the fact that Madame Roblin told me to come over around 9:30ish or whenever I was ready.  We would be preparing a lunch for 9 and were scheduled to eat around 1pm or thirteen hundred hours.  Maybe it's just the "French way," but I know that in my house, Thanksgiving preparations start well before 7am; so needless to say, I was praying with all my might that things would run smoothly and we would have everything in the oven on time.  For indeed I was feeling the pressure of being "grande chef" for the first time in my life while in France, home of some of the best cuisine.

Benoit wanted to sleep in and test out the new version of the video game, Call of Duty, that he recently bought.  I agreed and nodded my head unwilling for I always feel a bit uneasy arriving at The Roblin's "sans Benoit" (to use your phrase, Dad).  I was greeted at the door by Benoit's little sister Nélogwuen and she directed me into the kitchen where I saw Madame and Monsieur Roblin formally dressed in their aprons.

We started with the pumpkin pie.  Everyone was amazed by the number of "strange" spices were mixed in with the pumpkin.  Again, we had to make the pie from scratch, yes with a REAL pumpkin, because canned goods are rather limited here in France.  We ended up making enough filling for two pies and it was a good thing because everyone thought it was "DELICIEUSE!"

celery root/bulb

celery branches

Moving on to the subject of celery.  Whenever the French think of celery, they automatically think of the celery bulb itself and not the branches.  Luckily, Benoit had already explained to his mother beforehand that it was the branches that we need in order to make the stuffing and not the root itself.



Benoit's father was in charge of cutting up all of the vegetables for the stuffing and he himself was amazed by celery branches.  What surprised him even more were the sweet potatoes.  "They are so big and ORANGE!" he exclaimed while slicing and preparing them for the mashed sweet potato dish.  "Yes, I too am amazed by the color!" Madame Roblin commented.  "I was so lost in the supermarket the other day when I went to buy them.  I had no idea what a sweet potato even looked like!  I had to ask one of the workers to help me find it and when we did, I noticed the great big sign that said, "Comes from U.S.A.  I then knew I was buying the right thing."

Everything went rather smoothly except for the fact that we had to call Benoit and ask him to bring over his oven--yes, he had to detach his oven from the wall, put it in his car, and carry it to his parents' house--so that we could bake the pumpkin pies and the turkey at the same time in order to have them all ready for 1pm.  This is when I discovered that French ovens are not exactly fully equipped to cook a Thanksgiving turkey "american style."

Benoit's grandparents were invited to celebrate with us as well, and they were both very excited to have the opportunity to be a part of such a famous American holiday.  His grandmother admitted to me that she has been waiting weeks to taste the famous turkey and told all of her friends about such an occasion.

Although Americans usually do not host an "aperitif" before a meal, Benoit's father insisted on having one, accompanied by foie gras (duck liver made into a mousse and the luxury of all big occasions in France) with a sweet white wine.

Dad's coleslaw, Pittsburgh Perfect Stuffing, a 3.3 kg turkey (about 6.5 pounds), mashed sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce (made with REAL cranberries and orange liqueur thanks to a French recipe I found to make American cranberry sauce with a French twist; which, I must admit, was absolutely amazing) a cheese course (also at the request of Benoit's father), and pumpkin pie with whipped cream.  Everyone RAVED about how delicious it was.  And no matter where one celebrates Thanksgiving, the after-meal nap is universal and very much essential; however, not exactly on the living room floor lol.