When it comes to the holidays, Thanksgiving in particular, are you a traditionalist or a non-traditionalist? Do you always have to have grandma's apple pie or Aunt Nancy's lumpy gravy? Is the holiday somehow not the same without those familiar comforts?
For me, since I've been married and have been living with a couple of Frenchmen, our Thanksgivings have been anything but traditional. For starters, the French aren't big lovers of the turkey bird. They find it underwhelming and most often dry. And besides, where are the organs? Cranberry sauce in the shape of a can? Quelle horreur! Also, we have, for most of our married life, lived far away from both of our families. So we have always cobbled together our family made up of our various friends and we have made many a non-traditional Thanksgiving meal. And by this I mean we varied what we served, most often choosing NOT to cook a turkey bird. We've had goose (moister, according to the French), we've served duck in the form of cassoulet (truth be told , this dish became our "traditional" Thanksgiving meal. One year I made it when we were invited to a friends house in Beverly Hills for Thanksgiving. The heavily European crowd left the turkey bird untouched and devoured the cassoulet), and I believe one year, we were so bold as to serve rabbit.
Because it is unfair to hog the holiday hosting duties we have accepted many invitations over the years. One Thanksgiving in particular stands out among the others. We were living in the Bay area and were invited by another French/American couple to spend the holiday with them and some other friends, a few other French, a Belgian, and a couple of Canadians.
They asked if we minded a non-traditional meal. Of course we don't mind, we said. In fact, we embrace it! Asked what to bring we were told to bring only wine.
On that Thanksgiving day we arrived at our friends home and noticed that there are no cooking smells wafting from the kitchen. Interesting.....After of couple glasses of wine, unfortified by any pre-dinner snacks, we were seated at the table where we were presented with.........fondue.
You know, the hot oil-cook your own meat-dipping sauces-kind of fondue? After a few awkward glances around the table everyone picked up a skewer and started cooking meat in the oil pit. Yum. After awhile I noticed that alot of the guests were eating very little. Either they weren't too crazy about meat chunks deep fried or they were waiting for the main course. After the hosts assured themselves that the guests were finished with the hot oil fondue, they presented us with the next course.
Chocolate fondue. Dessert.
It's at this point that all the guests started to realize how truly non-traditional this couple had decided to go for that particular Thanksgiving meal. My dear friend from Canada who was recently married at that time and more recently transplanted from her home and family, well, she lost it a little bit at that point. She and I excused ourselves to the bathroom where we railed against the audacity of serving fondue and only fondue at a Thanksgiving meal!!!! From the bathroom, she proceeded to call her mother in Canada and cry into her cell phone about the horror of the holiday dinner she had been subjected to in Sunnyvale, California. At that point I started to cry too.
Fast forward to this year. We are invited to a friends home for the holiday meal. I am in charge of all things sweet and have been dubbed the Pie-master. In keeping with my (still) non-traditional take on the holiday, I am tempted to tweak the pumpkin pie and to put a twist on the standard apple. But because I don't want anyone crying in a bathroom because of me, I will stay true to the standards but bring a few extra desserts for those who want to try something different. How about White Chocolate Bread Pudding or Dark Chocolate Tart with crystallized ginger?
Happy Thanksgiving to the traditionalists and the non-traditionalists!