Happy Belated Thanksgiving

Hey Y’all.

Happy belated Thanksgiving!

We had a nice one here! Although Thanksgiving isn’t a holiday here, or pretty much anywhere else in Europe from what I figure, we managed to still celebrate it. We were kindly extended an invitation for Thanksgiving dinner from the only other Canadian person I have met here! They had to special order a turkey from Germany three weeks in advance, but it was definitely worth the effort. (especially since it wasn’t any of MY effort :)

It was also a very special holiday because we shared it with a bunch of Swedish people who had never celebrated Thanksgiving before. They were very interested in our traditions. They had never eaten a turkey before, so they definitely didn’t know that turkey is good on its own, but the true purpose of a turkey is really that it is just a vehicle for making stuffing. And that stuffing is the best part of Thanksgiving. And Christmas too for that matter. The Swedes we shared the evening with had never eaten stuffing before, or turkey, or even cranberry sauce for that matter, so it was neat to be able to share that with them.

As Canadians, we always think we don’t really have traditions or culture outside of Molson beer, Tim Hortons, and Hockey, but I’m slowly realizing we do. We have a lot more to offer. Like Maple syrup, lumberjacks, and Nanaimo bars.

These Canadian thoughts have been with me since celebrating Thanksgiving here, and also planning ahead for my work’s “international dinner” next month, where I am supposed to make a ‘Canadian dish’…anyone have any ideas? all I can think of is Nanaimo bars or Kraft Dinner!

And since it has been too long since I wrote, here is a little update on our garden adventure this summer:

We grew lotsa carrots, some small beets, lotsa radishes, a couple tiny onions (next time won’t start from seed), lettuce, coriander, dill, and a few peas. All the zucchini and pumpkin died. We enjoyed it so much we are already thinking about next summer!