Thanksgiving in England

Here in England, the 4th Thursday of November is just a regular ole day - schools open, banks open, etc, except for the American community - We try to celebrate Thanksgiving. On Thursday DA and I went to St. Paul's Cathedral for the American community Thanksgiving service. It is a very highly attended event and the US Ambassador was there and spoke. They also had the color guard and posted the US flag. It made me really appreciate how long it had been since we have seen the American flag flying.
At our house, we actually celebrated with a feast on Saturday due to the fact that we had invited guests and they couldn't get here on a weeknight with school and work the next day. We hosted 22 people on Saturday. It was a fun day, but the cooking was interesting. I had to make about 10+ shopping trips to try to find American ingredients. I even placed an order at Albertsons.com and had corn bread mix shipped over. The most expensive cornbread dressing I've ever made :-). I had ordered a turkey and ham from a local butcher. I had been forewarned that "you don't eat the turkey skin" and when I went to open the turkey, I found out why. They trim turkeys a little differently here. It had feet still attached and many stray feathers. ew!!!! There were still feathers attached that I couldn't pluck out. After I cooked it, I peeled all the skin off so as to not offend the guests. I did, however have to deal with stray feathers in the stock and gravy. They just wouldn't go away. I was missing a good, clean, plain butterball turkey. (Had to buy a fresh one that could be delivered on my cooking day because my frig is not big enough to hold a turkey to defrost it.)
As I was planning the menu, I would make a list of ingredients, try to find them at the store(s) that week and if I couldn't locate a main ingredient, I would go back to the cook book, pick a new recipe and start again. fun, fun. In the end we had a very traditional feast with all the trimmings and it tasted very good - if I can say so myself. (no fried onions on the green bean casserole - had to do without that one, couldn't be found). One of our guest families was an English family. The dad said he recognized the turkey and the ham and NOTHING else. They graciously tried everything and I think he even went back for seconds. success. B's guest was a little girl from France. It was her first Thanksgiving meal too. She liked the meat. hmm. Not sure we made too good of an impression on her.
You'll be glad to know that the seating hierarchy remains intact in England, adults at the big, nice table, teeny boppers at the next table and little kids at the card table in the corner. It was a packed house. We even had the traditional Cowboy game on the TV. DA had taped it on Thanksgiving day and replayed it on Saturday. Really felt like home with American football on the tube!
One thing that really stood out is that "black Friday" concept doesn't exist. I don't know what the kickoff day for Christmas shopping is in England, but it certainly wasn't Friday. No stores opening at 1AM, no stack of flyers in the newspaper, no grandiose news coverage of eager shoppers, nothing. I have to say I am much more relaxed about Christmas because I am not being bombarded with the shopping message. In my mind I know that I should be frantically shopping, but in reality, I'm just relaxing after a busy Thanksgiving and enjoying a calm day.
Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving. Happy shopping.

It's Freezing!!!

Monday we woke up to freezing tempuratures. Our first this fall. No big deal really, except that DA rides a scooter to the station and the kids and I ride bikes to school. It was COLD! !!! DA announced when he arrived home after dark that I might have to drive him to the station during the winter unless we make another trip to the store to buy even more winter gear. We may figure out very quickly that a scooter is not a English winter transportation choice. But the kids, well they insist on riding bikes unless the rain is pouring because they would rather be wet and cold than wait in traffic. amen to that.

Guy Fawkes Day

Well, now we know. My impression of the Guy Fawkes celebration is that it is the English equivalant to our 4th of July. The celebrations have been going on all weekend with formal firework shows and lots of backyard fireworks too. It gets pitch dark about 5:00pm now (yuk!!) so the backyard shows started early in the evening. For the last 3 nights we have had about 4 hours worth of "booming" in the neighborhood. It makes for a lovely show from our conservatory - fireworks lighting the sky all around. They sell fireworks at several shops in the village, even the local grocery store sells them inside the store (seems a little dangerous). As I understand it, the English are celebrating the failed attempt of Guy Fawkes & friends to blow up the Houses of Parliament and kill King James I to rid the country of Protestantism about 400+ years ago. Apparently, since he was going to blow the place up, they light fireworks today in celebration of his failure. They blow things up cause he couldn't???! Obviously, I dont have a real grasp of the celebration, but we enjoyed it anyway. Now you know as much as I do.

Autumn in the country

This week the weather has been just "brilliant". That's my new favorite English word. The air is crisp, the sky is blue and the leaves are gorgeous. I have included a couple of shots I took in the area. With this being my first real autumn where I get to see trees in all their colorful glory, I have enjoyed driving around on local "leafing" trips. I've never been to the New England area in the States, but now I know what Old England looks like. Wish you could see it too!