Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, and bimba's birthday !

Who said French TV sucks?  Well, it actually does blow 99% of the time, but tonight after flipping channels for about an hour I stumbled on an interview (in English, to boot) of cutie pie Adam Levine.  For those of you who don't know Adam (yes, we're on a first name basis) he's lead signer of Maroon 5.  There's something addictive about this guy and it's not, I swear, his jewish-ness. I guess I have a thing for tall, self-deprecating, five o'clock-shadowed pop stars. And listening to him talk on the TV as I write this, the boy actually has some depth - can I have an order of brains with that sexy swagger?


On another note, the day kind of got away from me today, especially in the afternoon when MHH and I resolved to go to the local toy store looking for Hanukkah presents for the kids.   Whether it was the toxic paint fumes emanating from the discount section or my brain going into overdrive on its own I'll never know, but within twenty minutes of perusing the shelves, I started feeling seriously overwhelmed by the bright colors, flashing lights, and belligerent parents aggressively trying to grab the last bag of banz (les banz, as they call them here).  Luckily this was one of those days where the shopping stars aligned - the right toys almost chose themselves and landed in the cart, and in the end we picked some good stuff ... a guitar, Lego, and rollerblades for bimbo and a princess keyboard and assorted stuffed animals for bimba. She lives for anything fuzzy.  We also got them walkie-talkies, but come to think of it I wonder if they'll get much use. 


So tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and I've decided to make an attempt at celebrating it.  It'll be the first time since moving to Provence.  The past couple of years the idea of cooking a whole bunch of food for just the four of us (and bimba eats like a bird, so she almost doesn't count) was too daunting.  Plus with Whole Foods gone there also went the Tofurkey.  And if that wasn't enough, I am an very disciplined eater these days (more on that on a subsequent post), so I'd be essentially cooking for MHH and bimbo, the two men in my life. 


Truth be told, Thanksgiving did not make the top of my favorite holiday list even when we lived in Florida.  We mostly celebrated it because MHH's elderly aunt lived nearby and would be lonely if we didn't have her over.  For me, the highlight was reading 'T Was the Night Before Thanksgiving to the kids, and oohing and aahing over the photos of the turkeys we adopted that year from the Farm Sanctuary. 


This year the vibe is different.  Come to think of it, I think I've changed.  I've become compulsively addicted to reading vegan food blogs online, and marking off dozens of inspiring recipes.  So now I have long list of recipes I want to try, and a good number of them are Thanksgiving favorites.  I'm not sure the kids will like sweet potato pie (can't find canned pumpkin here anywhere, so that pie's out), but I'll keep you posted.  For dessert I'm branching out (when in Rome...) and will be trying out this mille feuilles from an amazing new French site I found, Ma Cuisine Vegetalienne.


Happy Thanksgiving everyone!