"big Chickens like Peacocks with Feathers as a kind of Wool...."

...is how the turkey was described by early Spanish conquistadores who brought it to France from the New World in the 16th C.  Turkey quickly became a favorite in the courts... and it was first served during a meal in France for the wedding feast of King Charles IX in 1570, and the first turkey served at a Christmas dinner in France was at the table of the sovereign Holy Roman Emperor Charles VII. Wouldn't you loved to have been a fly on the walls at those meals?

Now as we begin Thanksgiving week here in America, much thought is given to The Meal of the Year...our Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday. Many are already madly preparing for the feast, and have been for the last week or so.

If you are not lucky enough to have four culinary geniuses descending upon you for Thanksgiving, having also offered to do the entire meal for us (yes!! it's true!! Lisa, Steven, Dani and Andre are ALL cooking for our crowd...heavenly!) you might want to run (don't walk, RUN!) over to this wonderful site (Saveur) I just found and play the slots with your Thanksgiving menu! Look, I got the Lobster Macaroni and Cheese on my first spin!!

click over to Saveur for great menus; 
almost as much fun as Pinterest for whiling the time away!

And if you are just a little hungry, feast your eyes on this close up of the Lobster Macaroni and Cheese side dish... I would probably say the heck with the turkey, THIS would be my main dish! Recipe below! It would certainly do for sometime over the long Thanksgiving weekend.. let me know what time I should be there!

Lobster Macaroni and Cheese

INGREDIENTS

Kosher salt, to taste 

12 oz. hollow pasta, preferably elbow macaroni

4 tbsp. unsalted butter

¼ cup flour

4 cups milk

11 oz. grated fontina (about 4 cups)

8 oz. mascarpone (about 1 cup)

3 tbsp. lobster or fish broth

3 tbsp. brandy or cognac

1 tsp. Tabasco

¼ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

8 oz. cooked lobster meat, cut into 1" chunks

⅓ cup minced chives

2 scallions, thinly sliced crosswise

2 oz. grated sharp aged white cheddar (about 1 cup)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat oven to 375°. Bring a 4-qt. saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook, stirring occasionally, until cooked halfway through, about 3 minutes. Drain pasta, transfer to a bowl, and set aside. 

2. Melt butter in a 4-qt. saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and cook, whisking constantly, until smooth, about 1 minute. Whisk in milk and cook, continuing to whisk often, until sauce has thickened and coats the back of a spoon, about 10 minutes. Remove pan from heat and stir in 2 cups fontina, along with the mascarpone, broth, brandy, Tabasco, and nutmeg; season with salt and pepper. Add reserved pasta to cheese sauce. Stir in half each of the lobster, chives, and scallions. 

3. Transfer mixture to a 9" x 13" baking dish and sprinkle with remaining fontina and the cheddar. Bake until golden brown and bubbly, about 30 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes. Garnish with remaining lobster, scallions, and chives.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL
WHEREVER YOU MAY BE!!

***

The Chic Provence Design Tour is selling quickly! 

I can't wait for YOU to come with us and

share this amazing place! This is the perfect

Christmas gift so begin hinting now, cherie!

see details and what happy guests have to say:

download the brochure here  

download registration forms here 

questions? 

email me

skype me: kitgolson

call or text me:  650-302-6883

We Seriously Considered Lobster {anarchy!}...

...for this Thanksgiving, but, as Dani put it so well, obligation to tradition overwhelmed whim, so dinde rôti* it was, albeit butterflied this year.

We gathered around a table that had been hastily put together for a wonderfully casual family style celebration (with all the cooking to be done, the table kind of took a back seat until the last minute!) and enjoyed what all agreed was one of the very best Thanksgivings ever!

And with the menu's nod to our southern US roots (dirty rice dressing, to die for!) and our love of the other South, the south of France, (duck rillettes with prune/armagnac sauce), we truly feasted and lingered long at the table!

Here, then, à table!

we quickly gathered purple sage and

hydrangea from the garden, then put

colorful leaves from our neighbor's tree under

our autumnal centerpiece

Gala's cream china with gold borders, the

Minton plates from the flea, country French

goblets and silver on a table laid

with old French sheet and gorgeous

silk embroidered overlay,

another flea market find!

my caterer/events daughter Lisa was aghast at

how I just "rolled" the napkins! they should have

been laid flat and hanging off the edge of the

table to be perfectly "au courant"!

assorted silver serving pieces stand ready (to be polished)

for the feast to come! They are all cherished gifts or

flea market finds

we chose the same wine for dinner, serendipitously,

that Steven chose for his prune/armagnac sauce for

the incredible Duck Rillettes he made for us!

another view of the centerpiece... our Thanksgiving

table comes very close to looking quite

Christmasy this year!! except for the autumn leaves!

***

we all had a wonderful day,

except, perhaps for this

little fella:

*butterflied turkey... it cooks so

fast this way, I must confess it

almost burned... but was

delicious!!

***

I hope you had a WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING

and are enjoying our only decently long

holiday weekend of the entire year!

merci pur la visite! ... Kit