Happy Thanksgiving

Today being Thanksgiving, I took myself out for a special lunch. I’ve always loved the holiday: It’s good to be reminded to be thankful, and of course there’s the food. I love the whole meal but to be honest, if there wasn’t any cranberry sauce, I’d have a hard time eating the turkey. In fact, who needs the turkey? Cranberry sauce, stuffing, sweet potatoes in any form, and pumpkin pie, those are the makings of a happy Thanksgiving for me.

Having no one to celebrate with, I took myself to my favorite restaurant in my favorite place: Restaurant Pont Vell in Besalú. Thanksgiving is an American holiday so you can’t expect the same food here. And in fact, my lunch was completely different: no cranberries, no stuffing, no sweet potatoes, no pumpkin pie, and no turkey. Instead I had fish mousse for first and sausage with mashed potatoes and sauteed wild mushrooms (rovellons) for the main, followed by more mousse, this time chocolate shaped into a cake. And look at the view I had from my table.

They don’t do Thanksgiving here but they have adopted Black Friday with a vengeance. Never mind that it can start on any day of the week, any time in November, and last for days or weeks. Many people don’t know what Friday means anyway. I remember a time when there was no such thing as Black Friday. People started shopping for Christmas right after Thanksgiving, but it didn’t have a name except the Christmas Shopping Season. When did it get a name? Who named it?

Wandering around I saw a truck driver pull off what seemed to me like an impossible manuever, backing into a tiny street alongside a lovely Romanesque chapel. That man should win a prize. And then there was the river and a wee bit of fall in the air. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!