Early Thanksgiving

We are going to the Zuninos' house in Ardèche next weekend, so we had an early Thanksgiving dinner yesterday. The usual suspects were present with Max taking Justine's spot (she and Paul are no longer together).

It was a nice sunny day, so we were able to have apéro outside on the patio.

The menu was pumpkin fennel pastis soup (made with potimarron this time which has a richer nuttier flavor); twice baked sweet potatoes with ricotta and sage; sautéed fennel turnips and carrots (instead of green bean casserole); stuffed turkey (from the frozen food store); cheese and green salad; pumpkin pie (also with potimarron); pecan pie; and Sophie's fruit salad.

When we sat down to eat, somehow Guillaume's sunglasses ended up in his soup:

Max was pleased to be able to practice his French and everyone was surprised to hear him speak it so well. He estimated he'd been able to pick up about 60% of what was being said around him at the table.

We had a little scare at the end of the day. Once the guests had departed and we'd hung out for a bit with Mom and Meredith, we realized we hadn't seen Dobby in awhile. We started searching and couldn't find him. He didn't come when we called. I called outside, just in case, and Sylvain went outside with a flashlight to look around. Nothing. The girls were getting hysterical at the idea of Dobby being lost outside. The three adults didn't really think that's where he was, though. Harry woke up from his evening snooze. I asked him to go find his brother, but he didn't seem to be complying. I went around downstairs for another look. I searched the walk-in closet again, then when I came out, there was Dobby, sitting in the middle of the downstairs hallway with Harry. We have no idea where his hiding spot was, only that he wasn't in the closet. We think he found a nice secret spot far away from Izia, who was being a bit crazy around the cats.