Thanksgiving 2009 in France

This past Thanksgiving we got together with several other American expat families in the area as well as some French, Irish, and Jamacians. France does not celebrate so we tought we'd import it for the day. There were 6 families of which were 11 adults and 6 children and 2 babies. There was one French man, one Irish woman, and one Jamacian woman who celebrated their first Thanksgiving ever with us. I think everyone had a good time. As you can see from the pictures we had the normal Thanksgiving fare complete with a 21 lb turkey.

Christmas Decorations

Since we are going on a cruise for Christmas and won't be home we figured we would not get a tree this year. Instead we decided to decorate the palm tree in our house with Christmas lights and bulbs. We've been watching all of our Christmas movies every weekend since then.

Bayeux Tapestry

After we went to Omaha Beach we hopped over to Bayeux to finally see the famous Bayeux Tapestry. According to Wikipedia, the tapestry, which was completed sometime in the 1070s:

...is a 0.5 by 70 metres (1.6 by 230 ft) long embroidered cloth—not an actual tapestry—which depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England as well as the events of the invasion itself. The Bayeux Tapestry is annotated in the Latin language.

This website explains each scene of this medieval comic strip.

Armistice Day and Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial

France celebrated Armistice Day on Wednesday November 11 . That meant that the kids didn't have to go to school and I didn't have to work. Armistice day:

commemorates the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany at Compiègne, France, for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front, which took effect at eleven o'clock in the morning—the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" of 1918.

So to remember those who sacrificed for our freedoms, we decided to drive to Omaha Beach to visit the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial there. Here are the pictures.

Miss France 2010

Last night we went over to have dinner at our French friends' house (the Launeys). We had a traditional French "winter" dinner called Raclette. They have peeled potatoes which are steamed/cooked with which you serve various meets and pour over it Raclette cheese which is a type of cheese from cows in the mountains. The cheese is melted right at your table in an electric table-top grill with small pans in which you can heat the cheese. The potatoes can be kept warm in the top.



Here is the description of the modern way to do it from Wikipedia:

A modern way of serving raclette involves an electric table-top grill with small pans, known as coupelles, to heat slices of raclette cheese in. Generally the grill is surmounted by a hot plate or griddle. The cheese is brought to the table sliced, accompanied by platters of boiled or steamed potatoes, other vegetables, charcuterie, and perhaps seafood. Diners create their own small packages of food by cooking small amounts of meat, vegetables and seafood on the griddle. These are then mixed with potatoes and topped with cheese in the small, wedge-shaped coupelles that are placed under the grill to melt and brown the cheese. Alternatively, slices of cheese may be melted and simply poured over food on the plate. The accent in raclette dining is on relaxed and sociable eating and drinking, the meal often running to several hours. French and other European supermarkets generally stock both the grill apparatus and ready-sliced cheese and charcuterie selections for use with it. Restaurants also provide raclette evenings for parties of diners.

Then after dinner we sat down and watched the Miss France beauty pageant for about 3.5 hours. It was a blast. We actually got to vote through SMS on our phones which was the first time this happened since 1987 and the first time via SMS.

What is the coolest about it is that Miss Normandie won! After she won we were all jumping up and down and cheering while hugging and kissing eachother. It was hilariously fun. Below is the video from Youtube.