More Noel

On Christmas Eve day JC and I went off to the local supermarket L.Leclerc to pick up some last minute items for the evening. Family was coming over to have dinner and hope for a visit from Père Noël.

Part of the dinner plan was foie gras, roast capon, sautéed fingerling potatoes and of course a bûche from Jouvaud for dessert. Those are candied chestnuts (marrons) on top of the bûche...it was delicious!!!

At the supermarket the displays for holiday food items were everywhere. This stand is for a special Provençal bread which is part of the 13 desserts of Noël...it is a pompe à l'huile which is made with olive oil and flavoring of orange. It has a slightly sweet flavor and you are not supposed to cut it but rather tear a piece off the loaf which will give good luck in the year to come.

These are specially made breads for foie gras...they have a variety of these, some are toasted, others are like gingerbready and these were soft.

It was really so interesting to see what was on offer that is different from what we are used to in the USA. I should have taken more photos but the place was buzzing and we were checking off our list. By the time we got to the registers I didn't want to go back.

A few days earlier, as part of the "Noëls insolites" in Carpentras, we went to see a play at La Charité.

This place is like a more ancient, larger Multnomah Art Center with classes in music, art, dance and theatre among other activities. We went upstairs to see the "Ice Queen".

That afternoon it was time to bake some sugar cookies for Noël. 

They turned out pretty good...got a little bit of decoration and were eaten in almost a blink of an eye!!! More to bake next week!

Père Noël made a visit to our house!!!

Here is what he brought for JC...a special, personalized apron.

I hope that means he is going to be doing more cooking?? Maybe if we get the marvelous Thermomix?

Here is another interesting present someone got...grow your own mushrooms in 10 days at home!? I am wondering how that will work out.

On Christmas Day we went to Pauline's house for a great noon meal. Here is the beautiful table setting...we were 15 at table.

Here is the foie gras and the cheese platter

We had a great time with lots of time to chat and watch the children open presents. And take some goofy selfies too.

A bientôt!