Il Cenone del Ringraziamento

"The Thanksgiving Feast"

While teaching the little second-graders about Thanksgiving a few weeks ago, I learned the word for "feast," which actually is the word for a really big meal: cenone. (The suffix "-one" (oh-neh) means "big" or "fat" when added to a word like cena, which means dinner.) And we did indeed manage to eat a cenone this Thanksgiving, and even though it wasn't very traditional, the food staples of Thanksgiving were present on the table in some form, and for that alone we were very thankful.

The dinner, organized by the program, was at a wine bar in the center of Bologna. There was a set Thanksgiving menu, with a quote from Abraham Lincoln printed at the top in Italian, which I thought was amusing. The first course was a spicy cream of pumpkin soup, with a piece of bacon in it. It was good, but not my favorite. The main course was a cut of turkey with some type of meat and rice stuffing, served with half an ear of corn, mashed sweet potatoes, puréed squash, gravy, and cranberry sauce. (The best, and certainly most traditional, part of the meal.) The first course was served with a sparkling white wine, which was delicious, and the second course was served with a sparkling red wine, which was not. For dessert, there was something that resembled an apple torte (actually it looked like an English muffin with apples in between two layers) with cinnamon and served with a scoop of vanilla gelato. The dessert was a bit of a let-down (what I wouldn't have given for a slice of pumpkin pie!) but overall the meal was wonderful, and we certainly stuffed ourselves in true Thanksgiving fashion. 

It turns out that the Godot Wine Bar is right next door to Drogheria della Rosa, that amazing restaurant recommended by the NY Times, where we took Estefi when she came to Bologna. We glanced through the window as we passed by and the owner happened to see us and recognized us, and called us in for a glass of sparkling white wine. (At this point I was so full I couldn't think of eating or drinking anything else, but I managed a few sips for appearance.) He sat us down at the table near the entrance and he and another waiter talked to us about American politics for about 15 minutes, before we excused ourselves (the tryptophan in the turkey had kicked in and we were exhausted.) He sent us off with roses, like he does with all of the female customers, and we were very amused by the whole random encounter.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and good luck with any crazy Black Friday shopping!