Thanksgiving!

Saturday night all the exchange families in town got together for Thanksgiving dinner, all made by one of the host mothers. Yes I know that Thanksgiving is in October. This confuses many people here. Mostly the American exchange students. Kidding kidding. Anyhow Katelyn (exchange student) and I headed over to Kaley's (another exchange student) to help with pie, and setting up. Good thing most of that stuff was already done, as I am not terribly good at table setting, and, as Kaley's host mom found out, making things look pretty on plates. We made pumpkin and apple pies, and cut out some maple leaves out of pastry to put on top of the apple pie. Since I'm Canadian my maple leaf was obviously the most accurate. The first course was all Italian food - various salads, cheeses, meats, mushrooms, and, of course, breads. Second was the Thanksgiving food. We had turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, potatoes with pies and carrots, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and salad. Third course was fruit. And fourth was pumpkin pie (which we accidentally overbaked a touch), apple pie, and a cheesecake with berries. Midway through the second course we remembered to say grace, which turned into the exchange students just saying what they are thankful for. Which was humiliating. As soon as the eight words I plan run out I sit there and say "e... ummm, e..." and look like an idiot while my host dad films.

It was delicious. It tasted absolutely nothing like what my family makes at home. But it was still Thanksgiving dinner. It couldn't not be. There were the classic family dinner problems - not enough room on the table, or on plates for food, dishes going in both directions while people say, "what? I thought we were going clockwise!", being way too full afterward - but with an Italian twist. We changed between English and Italian depending on who we were talking to, having to explain how food is the same or different in Canada/America. I had a ton of fun. I felt like I was with my family. Plus I liked being consulted regarding pumpkin pie.

Cheeses, mushrooms, fichi d'india, pumpkin, salad stuff

Turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, gravy

Kaley

Pies