So 2 days ago was Thankgiving and so was my birthday. 

So let’s talk about history.  Not history about myself as I am old, but not old enough yet, but history about Thanksgiving. 

It all began on the shores of Cape Henry in Virginia. In 1607, the first English colonists arrived : 105 English, amongst them the Reverend Robert Hunt who was instrumental in establishing the protestant faith in the new world.

Reverend Hunt would have had the Book of Common Prayer as well as the Bible and this would be a general prayer of thanksgiving that would have been read at that period of time to thank God about the love and kindness shared in the world. 

The Indian native American wanted to declare a war to those invaders and that’s when the famous Pocahontas intervened. 
Thanks to her the Powhatan Indians and the colonists made peace. She would bring the colonists food, and some historical accounts say she even saved Captain John Smith’s life from her own people. Eventually, Pocahontas was held hostage by the colonists. It was then that she converted to Christianity and married one of the Jamestown leaders, John Rolfe and was baptized into the Christian name, Rebecca.
Through Pocahontas, they saw an opportunity of spreading the protestant faith. Years later she returned to England with her husband, and at just 22 years old, she died. It was two years after Pocahontas’ death that another group of English colonists landed in Virginia at the Berkeley Plantation. Virginia Historians say that this is where the real first Thanksgiving took place. The Virginia Company had directives given to the settlers and the directives were that after their arrival, they were to be thankful and then, every year make it an annual celebration in thanks to the Lord to be alive from a journey that led to the loss of half of the crew.

My Thanksgiving was a lot quieter, no war, no conversation with God but just made of sharing food and beautiful moments. I am lucky.

A few hours after the traditional turkey, celebration again with other people for dinner and of course, my very first pumpkin pie. The recipe will be soon on this blog as the pie tradition starts for Thanksgiving till Christmas.

After those 2 days of feast, a hearty, seasonal salad was very much needed

Respect the season is very important according to where you are on the globe.

I mixed seasonal fruits and veg, cut them in pieces or sticks with a bit of olive oil, herbs, salt and pepper and in the oven (180°C/350°F) till they are tender 

In my case, I used apples, pears, yellow and normal beetroots, chard (that can be purple here) butternut squash, Brussel sprouts, purple potatoes and a few bunches of rosemary. We find here some Boursin (French cream cheese with herbs and garlic) so I succumbed, forgot about my lactose intolerance and made those little quenelles with the Boursin. You can use goat cheese, blue cheese……

It’s beautiful, warm and delicious….