Happy Thanksgiving Canada!

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Working with a culturally diverse group of people has its benefits.  On Saturday night, I experienced the benefit of having a Canadian co-worker in October - Thanksgiving dinner. Canadians celebrate their own Thanksgiving on the second Monday in October with traditions very similar to Americans. They eat turkey, watch football (Thanksgiving Day Classic doubleheader), and pass out.  

In honor of this holiday, and because we were all starving for a hearty meal, my co-workers and I decided to have a Thanksgiving potluck.  Because I still haven't quite figured out the Korean grocery store inventory, I wasn't sure what the potluck spread could include besides rice and seaweed.  Andrea and I were assigned cheese cubes and Rice Krispies Treats.  "Do they really sell Rice Krispies?"  I wondered.  "Actually, do they even have marshmallows here?"  

A Saturday afternoon at the grocery store isn't the best idea.  With so many carts and even more people, it's hard to find what you need.  When you can't read any of the labels or signs - it moves past hard, and down the road to impossible.  Once we found the cereal aisle our doubts were confirmed... no Rice Krispies.  Surprisingly, we had already found the marshmallows so we decided to improvise like experienced chefs in their own kitchens.  No Rice Krispies?  Okay, how about Corn Flakes?  Perfect.   





We used our creative licenses and added peanut butter to the mixture.  They turned out very similar to the peanut butter ball recipes we later found online (minus a few ingredients).


The entire Thanksgiving feast was a culinary success - especially considering we are all without ovens.  We dined on cornish hens, cajun chicken, corn, peas, Stove Top stuffing (sent to us by someone's lovely mother in the states), mashed potatoes, cheesecake, and various appetizers. We all ate more than our fill, enjoyed each other's company, and then returned home to complete the Canadian tradition... sleep.

On this Thanksgiving I was thankful for Canada.  Thankful their cuisine does not include white rice, kimchi, or seaweed soup.  

3 comments:

Dianne said...

so Holly, you've never mentioned...do you *like* the Korean food...or will your diet consist on the meager finds that says "American"?

travelgirl said...

Dianne-
I like the Korean food I've had so far. It's not as deliciously satisfying to me as food back home, but I'll get used to it. I definitely won't starve this year! The hardest part is ordering from the non-English menus. It makes dining a bit more stressful when you don't know exactly what you're going to get.

Anonymous said...

Hey Holly,

Are you and Andrea planning to come home for Christmas? Or have you figured that out that?

Deb : )

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