Thanksgiving right around the corner

I've been trying to get into a Thanksgiving spirit. It's a little harder this year since I won't be having guests for dinner this year. I always grumble and complain about it, but there is something reassuring about this holiday. It certainly isn't the menu--I don't really like turkey all that much, dressing is not usually anything that excites me, and you can certainly forget about marshmallows (with or without the crushed pineapple) on canned sweet potatoes. But I've learned to live with the basic flavors of the season and can adapt a lot of them.

Along that line, I've been reading Immoveable Feast: A Paris Christmas (2008) by John Baxter. Baxter is an Australian married to a French citizen and living in Paris. His experiences with French Christmas and French cuisine in general ,and the preparations for cooking dinner for the 2007 holiday, is both wide ranging and amusing. Perhaps the biggest thing learned from this is to try not to travel in France at Christmas time--most of it will be closed. If you like to eat this is a good way to make yourself hungry.