Thanksgiving Down Under: Part One

"If you think Independence Day is America's defining holiday, think again. Thanksgiving deserves that title, hands down."

-Tony Snow

Thanksgiving is an American thing. Yes, Canadians celebrate it, but we Americans do it big. Even if it doesn't feel like it should be Thanksgiving, I couldn't let this Thursday pass without a little extra effort to represent my American heritage.

In my attempt to spread American Thanksgiving cheer, I brought my little turkey mini pies into the office. People were a bit confused as to why they were turkeys. I reminded them it was thanksgiving (thus a holiday and we shouldn't be working). Ashley even baked a pumpkin pie! No one seemed too excited (but they did eat my pies!). I did get genuinely quizzed on the history and roots of Thanksgiving. Pilgrims, native Americans, giving thanks for our blessings, I had the general gist. And no, we do not dress up as pilgrims and Indians for thanksgiving.

But just baking a little treat wouldn't cut it for the mac daddy of American holidays. Three trips to the grocery store later, I was able to pull together the quintessential menu. I stuck with my favorites, even if some of them were a little tricky to find and required a little improv.

Green Bean Casserole: Green beans and mushroom soup were easy. Those French's fried onions don't exist, but they do have fried shallots in the Asian foods section.

 Cranberry sauce: Found it next to the ketchup and barbecue sauce (says one Australian "well, it is a condiment, where else would you find it?"). It's the whole berry kind, with Ocean Spray cranberries from New England but processed in New Zealand. Try explaining the canned jelly kind to someone who's never seen it before. It's jelly-like, but it stays in the shape of a can, and you slice it, and then eat it in pieces...

Stuffing: No problems here. Though when I explained that I had made it the night before, someone asked me, "Don't you just use it to stuff the bird?" "Well, some people eat it by itself, as a side dish" "But why's it called stuffing?" "It's also called dressing" "But what about salad dressing?"

Mashed potatoes: Potatoes are potatoes.


The bird: Australians do eat turkey, and may even roast a turkey for Christmas (didn't have to resort to ostrich). Just no turkeys piling over the freezer shelves here. I found turkey roles, frozen turkey breasts in a box, and already smoked turkeys. The butcher has turkeys, but we decided to go with a whole chicken to roast. Everything tastes like chicken anyways.

Pecan pies: There is no Karo or corn syrup here, and golden syrup is not the same thing. So I used honey as a substitute.

And it just wouldn't be thanksgiving without an apple pie. But I did have to go Anne Arundel style and use a wine bottle as a rolling pin.

Having to cook a whole thanksgiving meal with only one oven, beginning after work, makes things a little complicated if you don't want to eat at 3am (although that would be perfect timing to watch US gridiron). Green bean casserole and stuffing were made the night before. Now I know why we get the whole day off and usually the Friday after too.

We were able to enjoy the nice weather and eat our late dinner (but at least not 3am!) on the balcony.

(Yes, he did want me to use this picture with him disappearing in the dark corner)

 Overall, it everything turned out pretty tasty, I have leftovers for tomorrow, and I'm going to bed with a full tummy. It can't compare to my past Thanksgivings in Ledyard or more recently in Goldsboro (we did still talk about UFOs at dinner!), but I still could share and pass on a wonderful tradition with great people and remember the abundance of things I have to be thankful for.

May you and your families enjoy a truly American thanksgiving!