Thanksgiving - Canadian Style

Saturday 15 October


On Saturday just gone, I experienced my very first Thanksgiving with my new flatmate Jen who is Canadian. Canada celebrate their thanksgiving on October 7. Having never been through the rituals of a Thanksgiving I was rather excited about having my first and it was good prep for the Thanksgiving I will be having with my friends in the states in a few weeks time!

Jen spent most of Friday and some of Sat preparing food - baked camembert and a variety of other cheeses she got in France, smoked salmon, array of veges, sausages, sweet potato mash with marshmallows (a family secret), pumpkin pie, and of course the Turkey! All of this was absolutely sensational of course and she was definately ready for her first glass of champers when it came time!


I think the most fun and enjoyable event of the night was the pumpkin carving! When Jen first asked me if I had carved a pumpkin before, I thought she meant cutting it up to put in the pot which couldnt have been further from what I was about to do. Between the 8 of us for dinner that night we teamed up to "carve our pumpkins" - a lot of hilarity followed but with excellent results at the end of the night. One pumpkin we all felt was the saddest pumpkin you had ever seen and we were certain he was going to end it that night by leaping off the balcony. My pumpkin, with the aid of a fellow dinner guest ended up being the biggest and scariest - would definately recommend this to anyone who has not done it before.

The night ended up with some good old fashioned girly talk about love, life and the meaning of the universe and I had a really fabulous first Thanksgiving!