Thanksgiving 2018

Hey we already had ours this year - what can I say?! Ha. Last weekend. We used to have it at our house, but my Canadian friend has hosted the last few years, so we do it in between Canadian Thanksgiving & US Thanksgiving. Big group of American or Canadian, and British couples, dotted mostly around Leeds.

But I'll give you our menu for inspiration:  crisps & dips, pretzels, candied jalapeno dip (OMG so good) & crackers, vegetable tray & dips, turkey, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffed butternut squash (veggie & vegan versions), sauerkraut, sauerkraut with hot dogs, bread rolls, kale & citrus salad, corn casserole, tarte au sucre (this is Quebecois), Nanaimo bars (British Columbia), fudge, apple cranberry pie, pumpkin pie, squirty cream, ice cream, soft drinks, lashings of beer and wine.

It was amazing! And I can't believe that I never had tarte au sucre in my life before.

I've been to Nanaimo! Back in my meet-everybody-from-my-IRC-channel days, I went up to meet some friends up there.   I bought a plush bear from a gift shop and called him "Nanaimo Bear" because I am pretty rubbish at naming things.  (Around the same time I had a real cat called MCAT because my sister was considering medical school, and another plush bear called Sturgery Bear because I had to have brain surgery and my sister gave me the bear--with a bandage wrapped around its head--as part of a get well gift.)  But what's in Nanaimo bars?

Can you give us more information on the tarte au sucre?

Is sauerkraut a Canadian tradition, or did someone just want sauerkraut?

We are doing a Thanksgiving meetup on the Sunday after.

We are failing massively on the day.  My husband bought tickets for us to see Iain Stirling (comedian) on Thanksgiving, so I may only see my kiddos in time to tell them that I am thankful for them and then leave them with a babysitter.   

Candied Jalapeno dip!?!?!?! That sounds amazeballs. What is the recipe?

But what's in Nanaimo bars?

It has a graham cracker & butter base (my BC friend who makes them insists it MUST be graham crackers, digestives are a fraud). Then it has like an icing layer made with that Birds custard powder, lots of icing sugar & I'm not sure what all - think like a very sweet, thick custard flavour icing. Then topped with chocolate melted over.  I like them but my sweet tooth has tempered A LOT in the last several years, so that I can almost feel my teeth starting to fall out the more I eat a Nanaimo. BC friend maintains the Canadians have an even sweeter tooth than the Americans do. Hmmm.

https://www.nanaimo.ca/about-nanaimo/nanaimo-bars

Can you give us more information on the tarte au sucre? 

The guest from Montreal made this & it was like a thick caramel pie. Looking up on the internet suggests a variety of recipes, but hers looked like this one:

https://www.ricardocuisine.com/recettes/5386-tarte-au-sucre

Is sauerkraut a Canadian tradition, or did someone just want sauerkraut?

I am not sure where this Thanksgiving tradition comes from! My friend from northern Virginia insists there must be sauerkraut at Thanksgiving. Is it a Pennsylvania Dutch thing maybe? However, my BC friend - who has eastern European roots - also likes sauerkraut at her Thanksgiving. I had never heard of having sauerkraut at Thanksgiving until these two said it had to be there.

Candied Jalapeno dip!?!?!?! That sounds amazeballs. What is the recipe?

Well it's basically candied jalapenos mixed up in cream cheese. The woman from Montreal makes this as well, but she cans the jalapenos en masse to candy them (you know like hot water bath & the whole nine yards) & so will have a supply like that. I'm guessing it's a product (candied jalapenos) you can buy in the US somewhere? But probably not here, boo.

It has a graham cracker & butter base (my BC friend who makes them insists it MUST be graham crackers, digestives are a fraud). Then it has like an icing layer made with that Birds custard powder, lots of icing sugar & I'm not sure what all - think like a very sweet, thick custard flavour icing. Then topped with chocolate melted over.  I like them but my sweet tooth has tempered A LOT in the last several years, so that I can almost feel my teeth starting to fall out the more I eat a Nanaimo. BC friend maintains the Canadians have an even sweeter tooth than the Americans do. Hmmm.

https://www.nanaimo.ca/about-nanaimo/nanaimo-bars

The guest from Montreal made this & it was like a thick caramel pie. Looking up on the internet suggests a variety of recipes, but hers looked like this one:

https://www.ricardocuisine.com/recettes/5386-tarte-au-sucre

I am not sure where this Thanksgiving tradition comes from! My friend from northern Virginia insists there must be sauerkraut at Thanksgiving. Is it a Pennsylvania Dutch thing maybe? However, my BC friend - who has eastern European roots - also likes sauerkraut at her Thanksgiving. I had never heard of having sauerkraut at Thanksgiving until these two said it had to be there.

Well it's basically candied jalapenos mixed up in cream cheese. The woman from Montreal makes this as well, but she cans the jalapenos en masse to candy them (you know like hot water bath & the whole nine yards) & so will have a supply like that. I'm guessing it's a product (candied jalapenos) you can buy in the US somewhere? But probably not here, boo.

My mother's family was Eastern European and she grew up in Northern Ohio. We had sauerkraut or sweet and sour cabbage every Thanksgiving and Christmas. It actually doesn't even smell like Thanksgiving to me if I don't make cabbage.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

Pennsylvania Dutch in my grandparents house, definitely had sauerkraut (except my mom hated it because they grew up in the kraut capital of NY so that ended when we did thanksgiving alone).

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

I would try one of those bars, but I am not sure I would like them if they’re like cold custard powder 

I would try one of those bars, but I am not sure I would like them if they’re like cold custard powder 

They’re really nice - I’ve had some from the coffee shop on base in the Falklands. They aren’t like cold custard powder, they just have a creamy layer in the middle.

Picture of them from Google:



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

PB, ksand24 is right - they don't really taste custardy, it's just a creamy sweet icing sort of layer in there.

Anyway, what about everyone else? Are you cooking or attending a Thanksgiving here? What's on your menus?

PB, ksand24 is right - they don't really taste custardy, it's just a creamy sweet icing sort of layer in there.

Anyway, what about everyone else? Are you cooking or attending a Thanksgiving here? What's on your menus?

We’re going to go to my wife’s parents house and cook Thanksgiving dinner for them. Our menu selection includes Turkey, stuffing of course, candied yams, garlic mashed potatoes with gravy, veggies, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, a banana cream pie.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Oh nice one! The yams or sweet potatoes were missing from ours. I have one friend who doesn't eat orange foods & I think he deliberately campaigned against them. A lot of the Brits don't seem to like the marshmallowy ones... Nobody else seemed to miss them.

The orange foods aversion is a colour blind thing - anything orange looks...unappetising to him.

We were thinking of having some of the Daughter's classmates over for a "drop-in" open house and buffet in the afternoon and/or evening, but a lot of them are busy that day so we may do the same on another day that week (or the week prior). The Daughter works weekends, so it can't be on a weekend, which puts a real crink in things.  There is a fresh crop of brand-new-never-been-away-from-the-USA students in over at her department, so she thought it might be nice for them to have something to do. We were even going to stream the Macy's parade for 'em.  But, since enough can't come on Turkey Day, we can always stream one off of YouTube that would do!  Otherwise, on Thanksgiving I'm doing a "pull out all the stops" breakfast, with pumpkin waffles and bacon and coffee from beans we had shipped over, and then watching the Parade and the Dog Show, and then maybe throwing "Miracle on 34th Street" on. With homemade pumpkin pie and coffee in the evening. Because that's what we've done for a couple of decades. (We used to go to Denny's for Thanksgiving supper when we weren't having company over. Maybe it'll be open by then?)

Whenever I think of the parade I think of the year KISS had a float. That was awesome!  (They are on their final tour now, and are coming to Glasgow. If I had the energy I'd go for old time's sake but I hate crowds, it's too loud [I'm officially old now], and I actually don't like the band all that much. Other than for being KISS.    )

I've done Thanksgiving every year for my family and my in-laws. I try to keep it traditional to what I would have in the States.

This year the menu is: Turkey with gravy, garlic bread, sour cream mashed potatoes, pecan brown sugar mashed sweet potatoes, stuffing, cranberries, corn, green bean almond salad, olives/cured meats/cheese tray, green salad, pumpkin pie, apple pie, homemade whipped cream, and bacon and cream cheese stuffed mushrooms.

It is easily my favorite holiday... but mostly because of all the good food!

I put on a thanksgiving every year at work! We force ask our local pub to cook us what is technically just a turkey roast dinner, and I bring along a pumpkin pie! But I miss the better bits like green bean casserole, those sweet potatos with marshmallows, corn bread and normal buttermilk biscuits. I close an eye when it comes to yorkshire puddings... yum, yum!