Yes, you heard that right, we did in fact have bacon-wrapped turkey for our English-American Thanksgiving meal. It is the first one we have hosted so we figured, go big or go home right? And since going home wasn't an option... :) Actually, the options were a) bird that might not feed everyone, b) bird that might not fit in our little oven, or c) bird wrapped in bacon. I think you'll agree with me, there was no contest.
You see, we had invited over seven other lovely Americans that we thought might be alone on Thanksgiving. Four came: two archaeologists, an anthropologist, and a fellow educator. I'll let you sort out who's who ;)
Everyone brought something, or somethings, to share and we had a veritable feast! I'll tell you what though, it's a good thing one of the archaeologists volunteered to bring the pumpkin pie because to find pumpkin here you have to do a LOT of digging... hahah... yeah. She made an incredible pie though and we were very thankful. :) Other dishes included a divine mac 'n cheese, a very innovative bread and radicchio salad (I was inspired), ye 'ole green beans, cranberry sauce (also surprisingly hard to find), apple 'n herb stuffing, sweet potatoes, and apple spice cake.
But really, the adventure of Thanksgiving happened before the meal. About four hours before to be precise. First I took a whirlwind shopping tour to Aldi, our resident German discount grocery. There I loaded up on the essentials we still needed, like sweet potatoes, eggs, sparkling water, ice cream, and canned apples, among other things. When I got through the checkout, I realized that the weight of the items in my bag were probably not going to be conducive to my typical turtling (in which I fill two canvas bags, attach them to my backpack - which is also full - hoist this massive "shell" onto my back and pray all the way home that I don't wipe out). Unfortunately, I was pretty sure said canvas bags would dismember my back pack if attached, so I put one on each handle and well... you can see for yourself.
I was terrified that the weight on the handles was going to throw me off balance and send me careening into the nearest VW Golf. I'm so sorry ma'am, I knew I shouldn't have put that dozen eggs in the outer pocket of the backpack....
After I got home and Josh and I unloaded everything, I should have taken a picture because I'm pretty sure Josh and I had half of the furniture in our flat in the living room trying to sort out how to put an extension on our dining table. You see, the table only comfortably seats four and that's if you don't serve any food from the table. So obviously with six of us dining, we needed to get the creative juices flowing. The solution was, to my mind, nothing short of pure invention, the true child of necessity. See our triumph below.
Yes, that is in fact our coffee table precariously perched on our ironing board. I'll take your stunned silence as ovation to our innovation *bows slightly* thank you, thank you. Haha, it worked well, we just had to let everyone know that table manners were now an actual matter of life or death (Mom would approve) NO ELBOWS ON THE TABLE!
Everything came off really well. We even introduced our very kind and obliging guests to the Brown/Bryan tradition of the story game post-dinner (which, by the way, I think we ought to rename Plot Twist. With that kind of name we could probably even box and sell it! Crazier things have happened...) This of course turned into some lovely belly laughs that no doubt enables us to really enjoy dessert. It must have since everyone had a little bit of everything!
Not only did we enjoy such a lovely meal with diverting company, we also got to FaceTime the homestead and got passed around the table where we got to speak to nearly everyone. It almost felt like being home, until they tried to upend the iPhone into the dessert table to make us feel bad about everything we were missing. But we did have bacon-wrapped turkey so....
I think probably the most hilarious part of all though came this afternoon for me, morning for our Virginia relatives: Mom and Sarah FaceTimed me in on a little Black Friday shopping! It was perfect because I was able to stealth purchase Josh's Christmas present... from England! Got to love modern technology. :) And you know, I think I've become rather fond of bacon-wrapped turkey too. New tradition? Anyone?
But on a serious note... we are so thankful for a God who has made the impossible possible in so many ways. First, that we exist at all! Next, and most close to our hearts, that He has adopted us through the love, death, and life of His Son. And last, but not least, that we are in Cambridge!
With much love,
The Jr. As
Yes, it really did look like that, except no meatballs. But it was stuffed with pork...
Meat, stuffed with meat, wrapped in meat. Mmmm...
You see, we had invited over seven other lovely Americans that we thought might be alone on Thanksgiving. Four came: two archaeologists, an anthropologist, and a fellow educator. I'll let you sort out who's who ;)
Yay guests!
Everyone brought something, or somethings, to share and we had a veritable feast! I'll tell you what though, it's a good thing one of the archaeologists volunteered to bring the pumpkin pie because to find pumpkin here you have to do a LOT of digging... hahah... yeah. She made an incredible pie though and we were very thankful. :) Other dishes included a divine mac 'n cheese, a very innovative bread and radicchio salad (I was inspired), ye 'ole green beans, cranberry sauce (also surprisingly hard to find), apple 'n herb stuffing, sweet potatoes, and apple spice cake.
The best kind of sampler platter (this is, in fact, leftovers... we were too excited? hungry? to take a picture of the original
Let them eat pie!
And cake!
But really, the adventure of Thanksgiving happened before the meal. About four hours before to be precise. First I took a whirlwind shopping tour to Aldi, our resident German discount grocery. There I loaded up on the essentials we still needed, like sweet potatoes, eggs, sparkling water, ice cream, and canned apples, among other things. When I got through the checkout, I realized that the weight of the items in my bag were probably not going to be conducive to my typical turtling (in which I fill two canvas bags, attach them to my backpack - which is also full - hoist this massive "shell" onto my back and pray all the way home that I don't wipe out). Unfortunately, I was pretty sure said canvas bags would dismember my back pack if attached, so I put one on each handle and well... you can see for yourself.
I was terrified that the weight on the handles was going to throw me off balance and send me careening into the nearest VW Golf. I'm so sorry ma'am, I knew I shouldn't have put that dozen eggs in the outer pocket of the backpack....
After I got home and Josh and I unloaded everything, I should have taken a picture because I'm pretty sure Josh and I had half of the furniture in our flat in the living room trying to sort out how to put an extension on our dining table. You see, the table only comfortably seats four and that's if you don't serve any food from the table. So obviously with six of us dining, we needed to get the creative juices flowing. The solution was, to my mind, nothing short of pure invention, the true child of necessity. See our triumph below.
Finally, Iago! Success!
The finished product
Yes, that is in fact our coffee table precariously perched on our ironing board. I'll take your stunned silence as ovation to our innovation *bows slightly* thank you, thank you. Haha, it worked well, we just had to let everyone know that table manners were now an actual matter of life or death (Mom would approve) NO ELBOWS ON THE TABLE!
Everything came off really well. We even introduced our very kind and obliging guests to the Brown/Bryan tradition of the story game post-dinner (which, by the way, I think we ought to rename Plot Twist. With that kind of name we could probably even box and sell it! Crazier things have happened...) This of course turned into some lovely belly laughs that no doubt enables us to really enjoy dessert. It must have since everyone had a little bit of everything!
Not only did we enjoy such a lovely meal with diverting company, we also got to FaceTime the homestead and got passed around the table where we got to speak to nearly everyone. It almost felt like being home, until they tried to upend the iPhone into the dessert table to make us feel bad about everything we were missing. But we did have bacon-wrapped turkey so....
I think probably the most hilarious part of all though came this afternoon for me, morning for our Virginia relatives: Mom and Sarah FaceTimed me in on a little Black Friday shopping! It was perfect because I was able to stealth purchase Josh's Christmas present... from England! Got to love modern technology. :) And you know, I think I've become rather fond of bacon-wrapped turkey too. New tradition? Anyone?
But on a serious note... we are so thankful for a God who has made the impossible possible in so many ways. First, that we exist at all! Next, and most close to our hearts, that He has adopted us through the love, death, and life of His Son. And last, but not least, that we are in Cambridge!
With much love,
The Jr. As
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