Sunday, November 23, 2008

Sweet Potatoes for Thanksgiving

When I think of fall, the vegetables that come to mind are all shades of orange- pumpkin, squash, and sweet potatoes. I have come to believe that even in the States, we eat more sweet potatoes in the South than anywhere else in the country. Just an assumption. There is only one store in Albertville where you can buy that wonderful vegetable. So, if we’re to have sweet potato casserole for Thanksgiving (which we’re celebrating with the other students on Wednesday because we have class on Thursday), it requires a bus trip to ED’s, a store across town. So, Friday during our lunch break, I caught the bus (in the rain) and made a quick 45 minute trip to load up on sweet potatoes so that I can make a huge casserole. It’s a bit of a whirlwind trip to do some shopping in my 2 hour lunch break (without a car), but well worth the effort.

Now, what about turkey? Well, the French only eat turkey one time a year- at Christmas, and they don’t cook the whole bird like we do for Thanksgiving. So, one of my classmates has been working on ordering all the turkeys (special order) for the big meal. Unfortunately, there’s been a mix up on the exact cost of the bird and she found out on Friday that we were looking at more than 700 Euros (more than $900 US) for 8 turkeys. Wow! I would be sad to not have turkey for the Thanksgiving meal, but not that sad. I think she’s worked it out to buy fewer turkeys and add some other types of meat. Regardless, it’ll be fun to share a common meal with our classmates and the staff here on Wednesday.

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