In the attempt to make a timely come back from my blogging hiatus, I am going to start by highlighting some of the most entertaining recent happenings here in Provence that will most likely interest those of you at home.....
While America's beloved Halloween may have its roots in far and distant ancient European traditions, it should be noted that it is hardly celebrated on this side of the pond, especially in France. As I understand it from the locals, the celebration of this folkloric, yet commercial and very much American holiday has only come into fruition in France (speaking about Provence here) in the past 3 years or so. It is hardly a part of the culture, and one can therefore imagine the trail of shocked and confused facial expressions left in the wake of a parade of costumed americans and canadians wandering the streets the night before a somewhat solemn holiday when people buy flowers for dead loved ones. "Mais QU'EST-CE C'EST que ça?!!" That is to say, "What on earth is this nonsense?!!"
For we North American folk, Halloween can (for some) be considered as monumental a celebration as commercial Christmas, and therefore it is imperative that it is commemorated no matter where one is abroad at the moment of its passing. The following is an account of our mischievous festivities and the forging of a new cultural frontier. I felt privileged to have been present for, and active in, our french friends' first exposure to the holiday of ghouls and goblins. I must say that I was quite impressed with their creativity, and I felt as if I was, by way of their enthusiasm, that much more inspired to explore the event's haunting traditions.
Our pumpkin carving adventure was an absolute success, complete with Lucy's (New Zealand) version of Jack from The Nightmare Before Christmas, Vincent (France) and Julie's (Canada) Monsieur Serge Machismo, my french "jean"o'lantern aptly named Pierre the Pumpkin (complete with beret and cigarette), and Jeremy (France) and Nicole's (Louisiana USA) N'importe Quoi. One might notice the drastic difference in the size and shape of two of our "pumpkins." This is due to the fact that American style carving pumpkins are not readily available, as they have no taste and are useless for cooking, and are thus twice as expensive as their smaller relatives seen here, the potimarrons. The potimarron is a gourd or squash with the look of a pumpkin and the slight taste of chestnuts when cooked. The skin, when peeled and baked with salt, puts potato chips to shame and wins a perfect 10 for flavor. The experience would not have been complete, of course, without the toasting of pumpkin seeds, and the boys got a taste of the real thing, far better than the lonesome store-bought alternative offered in this country.
No, this is not the food network, nor is it an excerpt from Allrecipes.com, (though I do recommend the site), but the spread of treats to match our tricks at our clandestine Halloween gathering was to die for. It was truly a sight to see--a true testament to the foreign nature of our situation, a smorgasbord of olive and tomato tampanades, popcorn balls improvised with personally imported Canadian maple syrup, American candy corn, and strange little french cookies with sayings that reminded me of candy hearts at Valentine's Day.
Julie's finger cookies were the life of the party, competing only with Jeremy's outstanding performance as the "Fée Clochette" ("Tinkerbell"). A staging of the final epic battle between Captain Hook and Peter Pan captured our imaginations with my kitchen serving as a modest backdrop, and the Crock even made an appearance... minus the tragic ending.
No one was eaten alive... this time.
Our pumpkin carving adventure was an absolute success, complete with Lucy's (New Zealand) version of Jack from The Nightmare Before Christmas, Vincent (France) and Julie's (Canada) Monsieur Serge Machismo, my french "jean"o'lantern aptly named Pierre the Pumpkin (complete with beret and cigarette), and Jeremy (France) and Nicole's (Louisiana USA) N'importe Quoi. One might notice the drastic difference in the size and shape of two of our "pumpkins." This is due to the fact that American style carving pumpkins are not readily available, as they have no taste and are useless for cooking, and are thus twice as expensive as their smaller relatives seen here, the potimarrons. The potimarron is a gourd or squash with the look of a pumpkin and the slight taste of chestnuts when cooked. The skin, when peeled and baked with salt, puts potato chips to shame and wins a perfect 10 for flavor. The experience would not have been complete, of course, without the toasting of pumpkin seeds, and the boys got a taste of the real thing, far better than the lonesome store-bought alternative offered in this country.
No, this is not the food network, nor is it an excerpt from Allrecipes.com, (though I do recommend the site), but the spread of treats to match our tricks at our clandestine Halloween gathering was to die for. It was truly a sight to see--a true testament to the foreign nature of our situation, a smorgasbord of olive and tomato tampanades, popcorn balls improvised with personally imported Canadian maple syrup, American candy corn, and strange little french cookies with sayings that reminded me of candy hearts at Valentine's Day. 
No one was eaten alive... this time.
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