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| The beautiful dinner spread....delicious! |
Thanksgiving is a big deal over here. For
us, it was a collection of stereotypes that we’d accumulated over 25 years of
watching American television.
There was a Turkey, some sort of parade, men watching sport of tv
(assume a football game somewhere as it’s winter), cranberries seemed to be
essential as were many many pumpkins.
I guess what’s been established since we
arrived here is that it’s a lot more
than turkeys and cranberry sauce. It’s really about spending time with family
and being thankful for all that you have. In typical American-style as well
it’s also about acknowledging that you are thankful and why you are thankful.
My thanksgiving started at the school where
I volunteer a couple of times a week. That second-grade class had its own
thanksgiving feast. We moved the tables into one big row. Students bought in
food and drink and they all sat and ate to together. The critical part was that
before the meal everyone recounted what they were thankful for; the sun, trees,
fresh air, teachers and of course family. There were plenty of family there to
watch as well which was lovely, parents and siblings joining in.
We’ve made quite a few expat friends
over-here, Aussies that have left our land girt by sea and travelled to a much colder
part of the world. It was with them that we were lucky enough to spend
thanksgiving.
Perhaps I should be upset that it was left
to the wives to plan the menu but I prefer to think of it as the experts
sticking to what they are good at!
My friend Nat and I, self-confessed dessert
addicts, were given the task of cooking dessert.
The only request being to keep some traditional elements in the mix.
Traditional thanksgiving desserts include
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Pecan pie
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Pumpkin pie
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Anything with cinnamon and
nutmeg
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Lots of cranberries
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Apple something or rather
I forgot to mention that of the people we
have met here we’ve made friends with a lot of intolerances. Our menu had to
therefore be Gluten free, wheat free, apple free, high-fructose corn syrup free
but of course tasty.
After my school thanksgiving feast Nat and
I settled down for four hours of cooking. The second oven finally got a
work-out, and not just for the hell of it.
We made
·
Sweet potato cupcakes with
cinnamon cream cheese icing
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Mini- pumpkin cheesecakes with
a ginger pecan crust
·
Pecan pie with a sour cream
crust (Donna Hay style, the Americans put way too much corn-syrup in
everything)
·
Pavlova (Nat’s specialty) with
whipped cream and a cranberry sauce
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| Pecan pie |
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Upside-down apple cake
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| Mini-cheesecakes (pumpkin) |
We all headed to Simon and Gill’s on
Thanksgiving day, around 1ish. We wanted to help with the cooking and also help
with the set-up.
The table was set-up beautifully and Gill
had bought all the ladies an apron each. I got a frilly one. (wonder why?).
We nibbled on cheese and Gill’s famous
bacon and date rolls.
The turkey was a 22 pounder. Terrifying in
it’s sheer size. I suspect that the ovens here are so big to partially
accommodate the turkey’s alone. Stuffed with herbs and onions it smelled
amazing coming out. Carved up and served with William Sonoma’s famous turkey
gravy it was delicious.
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| In pursuit of the famous turkey gravy |
Having only ever had turkey once in
Australia, for Nuwan, Jill and I’s orphan Christmas I’d been turned off turkey.
In Australia the turkey had been quite flavor-less and by the time we’d eaten 3
kilos of it in various incarnations we were well and truly sick of it. This bird was truly tasty. We’ve come to the
theory that they must save the best turkeys for the Americans and ship the left
overs to Australia, the opposite of what happens with lamb.
We had a multitude of sides to go with the delicious turkey mashed-potato, stuffing, cranberry sauce, roast vegetables and greens. Of course we also had the typical American dish of sweet-potatoes with marshmallows on top.
Our first thanksgiving was a huge success;
fun, happy and full of laughter.
Can’t wait to see what next thanksgiving will bring!
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| The beautiful dinner table |
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| The turkey |
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| Sweet potato cupcakes with cinnamon icing |
