Thursday, November 23, 2017

Our first (Dutch) Thanksgiving

If I wasn't so against wearing pants these days, we probably would have made more of an effort to celebrate with other people. But instead, pants are optional, and its just the two of us. It is actually the third thanksgiving we're flying solo (duo) in a row. Two years ago, we celebrated on the shores of Lake Tekapo in an RV, last year, we had just gotten back from our trip to Europe and didn't have the energy to do anything beyond make some asparagus and lie on the couch in our PJs. We're getting really good at small thanksgivings, but I think next year, we'll try to get in on some sort of potluck action.

Danny worked all day and I'm only at home because I'm on leave. All the stores are open, kids are in school. It is a totally normal day here. Which is one of those "duh," moments, but also something that I am still processing. Also, apparently Dutch companies don't do turkey, but they do do Black Friday. Glad to see all the best parts of America are making their way across the pond.

There are many things that haven't made their way over, like the semi-homemade vibe. Which means we've had to roast a pumpkin for our pie, make chicken stock out of bouillon cubes, and tear up bread for stuffing (which is actually ideal, never say no to extra french bread in the house). Also, while we were never planning to make a big ole turkey, if we had decided to do so -- I'm not even sure where they come from. There is for sure not a big refrigerated bin of them at the store.

Grocery shopping in a foreign country takes some serious adjusting. Things are categorized differently (all purpose flour is not a thing), somethings just don't exist (like canola oil, apparently), somethings are impossible to find (the brown sugar, instead of living with baking supplies, lives with coffee and tea... it took me four months to remember this), and when you're dealing with a little bit of brain drain like I am, sometimes you make dumb mistakes that you probably wouldn't make if you were looking at labels that were in English (instead of buying heavy whipping cream, I bought just whipped cream -- it has the same name so I just bought it without realizing that the airy, lightweight container couldn't possible have anything but already whipped cream...which is called slagroom, FYI).

At any rate, we managed to get all of our groceries (one perk of a foreign thanksgiving, the grocery store was emp.ty. Combined, we went three times yesterday and came out completely unscathed).

We started the morning with cranberry, orange, pumpkin muffins (no icing! so healthy). I like an on-theme breakfast. The recipe made approximately one billion so we're freezing lots of them to have all winter long. I was surprised by how easy it was to find fresh cranberries. We really only made this because we had a ton of extra pumpkin puree, far more than we would need for pie. A pretty small pumpkin gave us enough to make muffins, pie, a quiche, and a little extra for some weekend pancakes. If you have the time to roast and puree it -- buying a pie pumpkin is so much more economical if you want all the pumpkin things.

For dinner, we decided to really focus on the sides - because (as everyone can agree), the sides are the best part of Thanksgiving. And because I had zero interest in cooking turkey.

First things first, we have been seeing these mini fondue pans in commercials for weeks, so we finally bought one and we had babybel fondue for appetizers.

We added sausage to this apple-herb stuffing recipe for a little bit of protein. We made these roasted sweet potatoes with honey and cinnamon (then covered them in mini marshmallows, natch) We weren't going to have mashed potatoes, but they're my favorite, potatoes were on kortig (sale) and this recipe was super easy. Of course, that meant we also needed gravy. And then I looked around and realize there are zero vegetables, so I roasted some broccoli with garlic (I am way too proud of myself for not needing a recipe for this one).


And then of course pumpkin pie. With all slagroom. Danny had extra pie dough, so I convinced him to try the cut out thing. He went with the Sinterklaas cut out as a nod to our new culture.



It felt close enough to a real thanksgiving meal that we feel connected to the US and tradition, but is just "us" enough that it feels very new.

Mostly, we are taking time to think about how thankful we are. Looking back on just one thanksgiving ago, so much has changed and, in our immediate lives, at least, changed for the better. We're so excited to live in a country where we feel like the government truly has our best interest at heart. We're thankful for two jobs that make us feel like we're contributing in a satisfying way. And far and away, beyond all other things, we are so grateful for this little person who we hope to meet in just a few short weeks (if not days. Any day now, baby). We are so happy to be celebrating this thanksgiving, but in all honesty, it pales in comparison to our excitement about the next one.

If nothing else because maybe next year, I'll get the whipping cream right.

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