The whole affair was much as we expected but the menu was a little different than we were used to. The turkey was fine and took the allotted five hours (he was only 20 lbs you see) to cook. The hosts cooked the bird with celery, apple, onions, and other goodies in the, eh, cavity. The side dishes is where it gets interesting. They were certainly not what we were used to, although they were very tasty. Collard greens with bacon, black eyed peas and green beans, and off course lots of corn bread dressing (which we cooked in our oven as oven space was at a premium.) The dressing as the name implies is corn bread mixed in with some vegetables and other goodies. Jane made acorn squash halves in the oven with butter, brown sugar, and Canadian maple syrup.
Dessert was simple: pumpkin pie and an apple pie Jane ordered from a lady at Isabelle's school. The thing was huge and deep. I'm not sure she could have put more apple in it if she tried. I can't speak for the pumpkin pie but it seemed to go very quickly.
Of course there was the usual diner conversation along with some football. All in all a good evening. Add to it the fact we ended with a little turkey and fixins to take home and you could say it was a good time.
Off course now we want to reciprocate. So the next Canadian Thanksgiving we may have to invite them over for our version of the feast. Same bird of course, but jammed absolutely full of dressing with lots of onion, butter, and summer savory. Sides will have to include carrots, peas, mashed squash, mashed potatoes, pickles, cranberry, and maybe even turnip (although not everyone appreciates it.) Gravy will be Jane's pan gravy made from the drippings, complete with lumps, my favorite. Have I got your attention yet? For wine I think it would only be fitting to have something from Nova Scotia, maybe an Acadie Blanc from Domaine de Grand Pre (my favorite winery, even though I don't know a thing about wine.)
Other than that it was a pretty slow weekend. We cleaned up inside and did some raking and burning of leaves outside. Isabelle had lots of play time with the kids on the street. Maggie got caught up on her sleep, and I didn't. Seems like Isabelle always came to wake me for breakfast, although there wouldn't be much point even trying to wake Jane sometimes. At least she managed to get a piece of fruit a few mornings which bought me a few minutes more sleep.
We did go out shopping on Saturday. Friday was the crazy day as Black Friday kicked off the holiday shopping season. Some stores opened at five AM while others simply stayed open all night. Our shopping was mainly for the little people out there that we wish we could see more often. We also got a few things for a local child who is a little underprivileged.
We have an angel tree at work. You pick a child and based on what they asked for you buy a few items for Christmas. There are lots of requests for toys but just as many for school supplies and clothes. I picked a four year old who seems to be interested in cars, trucks, and Spiderman. He should be pleased when he gets his stuff. We used it as an opportunity to explain to Isabelle that not everyone is as lucky as we and the rest of our friends and neighbors are. She did help by picking out a few things and hopefully she'll remember him on Christmas day. I know I'll be thinking about him.
One last point on the shopping. We went at noon on Saturday. Saturday was Rivalry Day in US college football. All the usual rivalries were going on including the local Clemson Tigers playing at the USC Gamecocks in Columbia. Well lucky for us the game started at noon. The stores were deserted since everyone was watching the game. It was like the eye of a hurricane, crazy the day before and very crowded afterwards, but we had a relatively peaceful few hours while Clemson got beat up by USC (I'm trying not to be too smug to the Clemson fans out there, but it was nice ribbing the boys on the street.)
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