Our Life in Australia: Turkey Day 2008

our feast

Sunday November 30th, 2008
Happy Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving on a Sunday? Did the holiday change days you ask. No, but here in Sydney Thursday (Thursday in the US is actually Friday here) was an ordinary work day- not a national holiday. Our fellow Seattlite ex-pat friends invited us to a Thanksgiving feast.

Thanksgiving is one of may favorite holidays- right up there with Halloween. When else do I spend weeks combing the web for new recipes, become glued to food network (OK so that happens a lot), spend hundreds of hours cooking and cleaning, actually set the table just for a dinner that everyone inhales in about 20 minutes. Note that I said dinner- as in 6 pm. I am not a huge fan of the 3:00 Thanksgiving meal....this is usually a big debate at our house as Michael is a fan of of the Thanksgiving supper (he claims it is because then he gets a leftovers meal later that same day).

Any way, I love Thanksgiving and was sad not to be hosting as we had for the last 8 years or so. What would Thanksgiving be without some traditions- football, waking up earlier to get the bird in the oven (trying not to drop the bird), Michael's famous stuffing, the Macy's parade, etc... So we may not have hosted but some of our traditions continue. Thanks to the magic of Slingbox we were able to watch both the Macy's parade and football.

All this week we searched in vain for corn muffin mix (or any similar product-corn bread, corn meal, etc...crap anything other than canned corn would have worked). You see corn bread is the secret ingredient for Michael's stuffing recipe. After a dozen calls, hours of web searching, and going to every local supermarket- no luck. Is it too much to ask for a box of Jiffy. Australia sometimes feels so much like the US that you're surprised when you can't find common US items (like corn bread, mini marshmallows, etc). I did come across an ex-pat internet supermarket that would ship me some but they are located in Melbourne and I needed it same day. (I might have to splurge and buy a box of Captain Crunch for Michael & Nate). In the end I think our stuffing came out just fine- tasted good to me at least. Overall a decent result given our sparse kitchen - consisting of 2 pots, 1 knife, no peelers, etc. I did manage to cut myself within the first 2 minutes of chopping...it isn't Thanksgiving unless there is bloodshed (perhaps a subliminal homage to the suffering of the early settlers and Indians :))
Since we weren't hosting we were able to enjoy our day and not spend it all cooped up in our tiny kitchen. We spent the morning walking to one of my favorite spots - Shelly Beach. Beach? - well it was 80 degrees outside. It is odd celebrating fall/winter holidays without falling leaves, chilly brisk evenings and wearing sweaters. Christmas/Hanukkah will be even stranger as it might be 90+.

Manly beach walk