Friday, November 26, 2010

Thanksgiving

2010


It has long been a little personality tweak of mine that I am drawn to all things American. I've said it before, I can't tell whether I should have been born in the US, or England (another life-long love), but I'm not sure Australia is where I fit in. Therefore, I adopt all the traditions from the land of the red, white and blue, and the land of the ... er... red, white and blue.

Thanks to my avid cultural consumption, from the start of October I begin receiving emails reminding me that I need to get a turkey and have I decided on what sides I'll have on the table for my family this Thanksgiving? Ads and articles start popping up in the American magazines I subscribe to, and nowadays my Twitter and Google reader is filled with a Thanksgiving theme. Of COURSE I have to partake.

This is my third or fourth Thanksgiving and I subject the good-natured Veggie Dad to traditional dishes the likes of those he's never heard of before, and we sit down together and talk about all the things we're thankful for. I'm too afraid to invite anyone over for an extended celebration, as I'm worried they'll say "what in the hell are you talking about? We don't celebrate Thanksgiving, we're Australian (duh)" and "Well, where the hell is the turkey?".

My first Thanksgiving, I stuffed a pumpkin. One year I made Paula Deen's stuffing the star of the show (and ate it for the next week it was so huge). This year, after reading this article in the New York Times, talking about the importance of sides, I decided this Thanksgiving, we were having a side-fest. No turkey wannabes.

Our menu:

Paula Deen's Macaroni and Cheese
Mashed sweet potato
Green beans with lemon and slivered almonds
Art Smith's no-knead rolls (Yes, Oprah's previous personal chef)
Corn on the cob
Homemade gravy
Pumpkin Pie

You owe it to yourself and those you love to try that pumpkin pie. I'll explain in the post exactly how frightened I was of it, and how unbelievably excited I was to try it and immediately become pumpkin pie's biggest advocate.

9 comments:

  1. I've always wanted to try pumpkin pie, we have some great ones fattening up in the vege patch

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  2. You so need to try this one. It's insane how good it is! Meanwhile, I need to get my pumpkin patch on.

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  3. Pumpkin pie is everywhere in the blogosphere today. Thanks for the recipe, will give it a try soon. Happy weekend!

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  4. Where have I been?
    I just found your fab blog!!!!
    X

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  5. I think it's great that celebrated Thanksgiving because you wanted to. We always have a Halloween party but still get so many saying they don't do Halloween because it's American. Who cares? The kids love it and I'll use any excuse to have a party or decorated my house :-).
    All the food you made looks delicious.

    Libby

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  6. Oooh I love Halloween too! Any excuse for a dress up and food theme, I say.

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  7. I think it's great that celebrated Thanksgiving because you wanted to. We always have a Halloween party but still get so many saying they don't do Halloween because it's American. Who cares? The kids love it and I'll use any excuse to have a party or decorated my house :-).
    All the food you made looks delicious.

    Libby

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  8. Where have I been?
    I just found your fab blog!!!!
    X

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  9. I've always wanted to try pumpkin pie, we have some great ones fattening up in the vege patch

    ReplyDelete