A very British Thanksgiving

Yesterday was my first expatriate Thanksgiving, and our program director very kindly organized a dinner at a local hotel. It was delicious, but in my friend M's words, it was a "Food Network Thanksgiving" where everyone has his or her own individual plate, and everything is topped with thinly grated Asiago cheese and served with sprigs of cilantro on the side. I don't know about other families, but the word "garnish" is not uttered under my roof, and there is also a phenomenon common to family-style dinners known as the "free-for-all" where how far you can reach across the table to get the potatoes is a more valid skill than one's ability to keep elbows off the table or use the correct fork for the salad. Also, to go along with the American theme, they served what I understood to be apple pie, but midway through we realized that the apples tasted an awful lot like pears. And let me just say, there is a reason that pear pie, despite its alliterative appeal, is not as popular as apple pie. But most of the dinner was quite delicious, there was free alcohol to be had, and I was painfully full for the next six hours. Until 9 this morning I swore I would never eat anything ever again.

Choosing the vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner option (red peppers stuffed with rice and vegetables) I knew I wasn't going to get any stuffing, which only came with the turkey entree and is arguably the best part of thanksgiving. Carbs mashed up with spices and butter? Yes, please. With this in mind, I had the brilliant idea to make Mom's stuffing just for myself. This meant a grocery run in which I discovered:

1. England, as far as I can tell, doesn't do saltine crackers. I saw cream crackers, cheese crackers, water crackers, rice crackers, rye crackers, wheat germ crackers, and soy crackers, but nothing resembling good old Premium brand saltines. I settled for cream crackers which land in that gray area between saltines and hardtack but were only 28p. No earwigs for me, thanks.

2. I ran into several Americans doing their own Thanksgiving shopping, and we bonded over our Thanksgiving displacement. Most of them were students, who for the most part aren't really sure how to make or plan Thanksgiving dinner, especially in a dorm kitchen the size of a handicapped bathroom stall, so there was a lot of urgent cross-aisle shouting. "They're out of turkeys!" "Maybe we can do chicken instead!" "What stuffing should we get??" "I FOUND CANNED PUMPKIN!!"

3. The stuffing miracle known as Bell's Seasoning does not exist here, at least not in this store. I think it might even just be a New England thing. So I had to buy all the twenty-seven different spices that go into it. Spices are expensive, man! No wonder Brits like their food bland.

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Tonight R and I are going ice skating! in London! in a continuing attempt to model our lives after Love Actually. Minus the pervy British frat boy and the pervy office affair between Snape and the wannabe dominatrix.

posted by limeywannabe @ 3:38 PM