Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I'm feeling a bit sad. It's not a holiday here so Jason will be going to work and Toby to school. I have made some turkey-shaped cookies decorated with the candy corn I bought online for Toby to take to school. Usually we would have a big traditional meal at the weekend with friends but this year we have no plans. The flat isn't suited for big groups but I think I'll probaby do a mini-meal on Sunday with chicken for the four of us. I can't imagine a Thanksgiving going by without sweet potatoes and marshmallows or pumpkin pie.
The cookies I made are from Mom's recipe. She makes them every Christmas. I made them with butter instead of Crisco (because we don't have Crisco here) and wondered if they would taste very different. But they don't. They are exactly the same. My first bite almost took my breath away, it was so full of memories. Even now I feel weepy with nostalgia just thinking about it.
My expat grocery order is coming in handy today. I'm drinking a cup of General Foods International Coffee Cafe Mocha. I really wanted the Cafe Vienna but the trouble with expat shopping is that you have to just take whatever is available. The Mocha works though. I love these coffess though I know they are about as far from real coffee as one can get. In fact, they weren't legal to sell here for a long time because they fail the European Trades Description Act for coffee. The same for Velveeta, it can't legally be called cheese in Europe. I don't know how they're managing to sell the coffee now but it's nice to get it every once in awhile.
I've been thinking about Thanksgivings past today and included a couple of photos. I think my most memorable Thanksgiving is the one we spent in Tokyo. Our apartment was Japanese so we didn't have an oven, just a tiny fish grill. I did have a small microwave with a convection oven and managed to make a pumpkin pie but we went out for the big meal. Our favourite restaurant, Westpark Cafe, did a good job with the turkey and sweet potatoes and we filled a long table with friends and had a great time. We went back to our place for pumpkin pie, henceforth known as marrow pie (thank you Chris) and I remember the guys standing on the balcony talking and laughing and me, Nikki and Annelouise sitting at the table, drinking red wine and bemoaning our childlessness, though Annelouise and I would soon discover that we were actually pregnant at the time. Toby and Rowan were born a week apart.
That was in 2001. In 1997 I was in the hospital on Thanksgiving day having a breast lump removed. I remember the stress of the morning, realising they mistakenly had me down for a mastectomy. Thank God I'm a nosy, sometimes bolshy, bird and read through my file then raised the roof when I discovered the mistake. Luckily the day is more memorable now for when I came out of surgery and Jason was there waiting for me. We had been married for five years by then but I fell in love with him all over again just seeing the look of relief on his face when I came out alive.
And then last Thanksgiving was a special one too. We went to Texas and spent the holiday at Mom and Dad's. It was Rosie's first trip to Texas and she was right at home. Jon and Angie were expecting Ian, Nikki came in from San Diego and the whole family was together. I wonder when we'll have a Thanksgiving like that again.
2 comments:
I totally know what you mean about expat Thanksgivings. I'm making pumpkin pie tonight for Mary Catherine's class at school .. think good thoughts for me because I'm not a cook!
Hi Kathy, I always think of our night in West Park every Thanksgiving. I had a look at the "You Heard" archives and found this.
"Eating Out
We went out with Kathy and Jason on Saturday night to a very good Mexican in Roppongi. It was quite a sober night as well. I had one glass of sangria and things started to go slightly blurry, (and no, I haven’t turned into a lightweight – that stuff is lethal!). It was a fun night.
Then on Thursday, we helped Kathy, our resident American, celebrate Thanksgiving. It was also the night before Tim was going home to get married, so we helped see him off. Kathy was making Pumpkin Pie, which Chris found a bit hard to get used to.
“So it’s pie”
“Yep”
“Made from a pumpkin”
‘Yep”
“So it’s like – marrow pie”
“Errr, not quite”
We also had a laugh translating English Football chants into Japanese. The only one we have at the moment is “Dare ga pie o zenbu tabemashita ka” which is “Who ate all the pies” (Cheers, Mark!), however in honour of the World Cup, we will soon have a whole page of them. We’ll keep you posted.
It was a brilliant night, very drunken, and there were a few sore heads in the Norman house the next morning (or afternoon really)."
I know I have pictures of that night, I will dig them out and email them to you.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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