US ExPats - How do you celebrate Thanksgiving??
 

Just curious - we were in France for Xmas one year, but that holiday was celebrated so it wasn't a big deal. How do you celebrate Thanksgiving, a US holiday? Any trouble finding the traditional ingredients? Turkey, sweet potatoes, cranberries, etc? Please share

I go to work, it's not a holiday here and I frankly don't really care that much. Without family here, what's the point?

We have British friends who lives in France now. They lived in the US for a couple of years and loved the Thanksgiving holiday so much they celebrate it every year in France.

This year, my plans are to walk the cocker in the am, then catch a train to London, have lunch at a Mayfair sushi restaurant, check out the newly remodeled Fortnum & Mason's store, maybe window shop a little on Bond Street, perhaps take in a small part of the National Gallery, go to St. Pancras train station and have a drink at the world's longest champagne bar, then tube back to Paddington and head home. DH will be working in Brussels, so he'll probably stop by a neighborhood restaurant for a light meal.

i used to celebrate thanksgivng three times every november.(Valencia, Spain). i used to call home to tell my family every day what we were having!

friday night with good friends at one of our homes.. saturday at another friends´, and then sunday i helped organize the traditional american club turkey dinner for over 100 people.

In all those years, my USA family never came for those dates. But when you live abroad PERMANENTLY, your friends are always "replacing" family at birthdays, anniversaries and hospital visits.

it was a lot of fun and work.. and helped not to miss family so much.

no problem getting turkey. they are delicious and tender.stuffing is homemade.. no mixes or pepperidege farm croutons!
sweet potatoes, also no problem.
and all the pies are homemade by ourselves. shelled pecans appear and disappear.. and there are no FRESH cranberries.

we can get cranberry sauce now at local shops.. so all in all.. we just make what is easy to find and frankly, our thanksgiving meals here are fantastic.

now, with one dinner, it is enough. i no longer organize the big club dinner, and have not gone for a few years . this year we will go saturday night again to a good friend´s house. probably about 14 people. our two adult children will join us.

the only missing ingredient is mom.. (dad) and the brothers, nieces, nephews, great nieces, cousins.. etc. etc....family.

enjoy your family.. no matter how disfunctional and opinionated and seemingly self-centered they SEEM.

i am enjoying the funny and true stories on the other thread, aren´t you?

Thanks for sharing. Our DD is considering going abroad for her junior college year in Fall 2008 (India/Israel) and is having a very hard time celebrating holidays without family.

Lincasonova, funny that you mention the comments about dysfunctional families. We don't seem so dysfunctional to DD now that she hasn't seen us since August and she seems to appreciate us much more since she left for college in Fall 2006. I guess absence makes the heart grow fonder!

My family was never very impressed by the Thanksgiving hoopla, and none of us really liked turkey anyway. Also, we were completely unfazed by the spiritual element of the occasion. By the time I was ten, we had moved on to a simple roast chicken or a crab & shrimp boil to celebrate the occasion. Ever since I left the US, I have just ignored Thanksgiving.

I celebrated Thanksgiving with another US expat last Saturday. We had the works. Other Swiss were invited as well. They loved the stuffing but didn't really care for the pumpkin pie. I wouldn't dare serve sweet potatoes. It would freak out the locals here.

aliska..

age + a little suffering + real life experiences make that happen!

Linda , those pies of yours make me a little envious ;) Maybe I should visit Valencia for Thanksgiving, LOL

Well, we are not exactly expats, but we have been traveling in Europe for almost 15 months and this will be our second Thanksgiving in a row in Andalucia Spain.

Here we are last year:

http://www.soultravelers3.com/blog/6...3759C11B0.html

We make a traditional feast of Turkey with all the fixings. I even brought the stuff for pumpkin pie that I am finally going to be able to make this year.

My first pie. ;)


Last year we were in a very old traditional village house, but this year we are in a brand new place, so the oven will be a breeze.

It costs almost nothing to have groceries delivered here, so my kitchen is beyond full, ready for the big day.

We will make lots of calls home via webcam and focus on all that we have to be grateful for.

All the ingredients seem to be here except brown sugar and pumpkin pie filling stuff , but I brought those with me for our thanksgiving and xmas meals.

Instead of a can of whip cream, I will have to whip up the heavy cream myself. Instead of buying a premade pie crust, I will also have to make that from scratch.

Yummm...can't wait!

In London - I am going to my child's school to talk about American Thanksgiving and do a craft with them. We are hosting about 15 of my husband's American colleagues for a traditional dinner Thursday night. It will be catered except the items I will make - the stuffing (Pepridge Farm which I order from skyco.uk.com) cranberries, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, and apple pie. Can't find pecans this year. Many of these Americans are young and single and have no family here.

WTNow.. they have crusts in the fridge area that are rolled. come in long narrow box. "la cocinera" makes one as does "nestle".
called PATE BRISE.

try a health food store for brown sugar.

found pecans at a german store last month .. my daughter used them for some brownies not knowing they were the only ones i had for her favorite pie!!

she is out of luck!

happy thanksgiving everyone!

WTnow, what a charming letter and your little Mozart is adorable. I don't even know you but I so enjoyed your writing. thanks for posting it.

My parents buy brown sugar at the supermarket (Mercadona).

Well a good start is watching this greeting from the Europe Railway:

http://downloads.raileurope.com/holi...tmas_card.html

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

gruezi

I'm a member of the Stuttgart International Women's Club and we're having a huge Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday at a member's house...in addition to Americans we'll have German, English, Swedish, French, Australian, Malaysian, and probably a few other nationalities represented - on the order of 40 people. Our hosts are providing the turkey and stuffing and the rest of us are bringing everything else. I think the turkeys are coming from one of the U.S. military bases. We'll have the works, including cranberry sauce (I found fresh cranberries at my regular supermarket) and pumpkin pie (canned pumpkin is a bit harder to find, but not impossible).

It's after midnight here, and I've just finished four batches of cranberry/orange relishes--all made from scratch and my colleagues order an extra. (I add grated orange zest, chopped up orange, a bit of honey, nutmeg, cinnamon and a jigger of brandy. They're great baked into muffins or with yogurt.)

UK supermarkets started carrying fresh cranberries. I found Libby's tinned pumpkins but having difficulty finding Carnation evaporated milk in my neighbourhood. Oh, well, the concept of sweet vegetable-based pudding is never popular here, so I've made pumpkin soup instead.

We usually get only 2-3 more couples, and I hate having barely-eaten turkey in my fridge for the whole week afterwards. Last year, I did roasted duck (oriental flavour) which was a big hit, this year, another couple is doing the bird/stuffing duty.

Since Thursday is a working day, we all tend to shift to the following Friday dinner or weekend brunch. I've been using the same tissue-paper turkey ornament (over the last 5 yrs since we can't find one here). We named him Bartlet (of West Wing).

i am getting a little jealous with these fresh cranberry stories.

i just spent the past two hours on the phone.. as usual for me at holiday times, enjoying every detail of how mom (CVG)and then SIL and brother (ORD), etc. will be spending the day, and with whom.

it is so nice to be able to chat away nowadays. the 5-euro phone card i use keeps telling me "you have over a thousand minutes for this call"!!

at first i thought it was a mistake, but this is the third card since july.. it usually expires before i can finish using it!

I´ll be in Charleston, WV tomorrow. Where should I go for Turkey-Dinner? Is it really worth it or is it like chicken mc nuggets, just bigger? Greetings from PA. Shopping is great by thw way, just that things get cheaper every day. I don´t dare buying much.

i am sure a lot of restaurants will have the traditional dinner, especially at hotels. ask at a nearby hotel or open the local paper and see where they are advertising.

you may even find a nice thanksgiving buffett.

be sure to try pecan pie for dessert ( very sweet, though)..and if they have a corn souffle.. those are very different plates i love.

logos.. a local church will also probably have a very nice meal.. non-members welcome.

I have lived abroad for 12 years (8 in France, 4 in Russia) and always prepare a Thanksgiving dinner for family and friends, though I do it on Saturday since people are at work and school on Thursday.

My favorite story about finding the necessary ingredients: My first year in Russia, I searched high and low in Moscow food stores for sage, to use in the turkey dressing. Finally I asked a Russian friend, who informed me that sage (it's "shalfay" in Russian, should you ever need to know!) was sold in pharmacies, because Russians consider it a medicinal herb. Sure enough, I dropped into the local drugstore and there it was!
As we were enjoying Thanksgiving dinner, one of my Russian guests said, "This stuffing is delicious -- what's that flavor?" When I replied, "Shalfay," all the Russians' jaws dropped. For them, it was as if I had used aspirin as seasoning.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! I am cooking away and it smells great in here! ;)

I am very proud to say that my first pie worked out just great although I did have to do conversions on setting the over and using the measuring cup. LOL...it is different here.

I can not wait until they wake up at home in California so we can webcam ( free via skype) everyone there. We have adsl this year for our internet its a great connection to all.

Thanks SharonG, that is sweet and nice to hear.
Thanks lincasanova and Kenderina. We have macadona and a hyper market nearby here, but have yet to find brown sugar, but I will look harder...great ideas from you both.

Really glad to hear about the pie crust, although I was amazed that it was really easy to make.

We watched a little of the Macy parade preparing on the web this morning with our child which was par for the course just like at home.

It is fun having our own little holiday here. There is a store that I know about in Spain ( and there is one in Italy too) that has lots of American brands for homesick expats. Glad it is there, but so far we have not needed it.

We still haven't found a great chinese food restaurant yet in Spain. That and real Mexican are things we miss sometimes, but we found great Chinese food in Croatia and Vienna and wonderful authentic Mexican in Santorini, so I still have hope of finding it here somewhere. ;) We make our own, but not quite the same. ;)

It is a beautiful day and we are so grateful to be celebrating here together and feel so blessed as well that technology now allows us to stay connected with family across the world at the same time.

A couple of young singles American colleagues in my firm are going out to kebab shops tonight in honour of the "Turkey" day!!

Thanks lincasanova, I´ll be trying the pie. I don´t think I could join a dinner at a local church, I´m not really a christian, but maybe...

there is a restaurant evidently owned by an americn that puts on a full turkey dinner every thanksgiving and christmas for ex-pats. the place is in bangalore india

right now is the hardest hour.. calling the states.. hearing about the turkey in the oven, the menu, last minute additonal guests.

i can almost smell the stuffing.

..family waiting for family to arrive.. by car.. by plane.

just wish i could be there.

boo-hoo.

Please pass the pumpkin pie...

I'm celebrating Thanksgiving by watching NHL ice hockey tonight! Ever so traditional, right?!

However, on Saturday night, I'm joining in an American Thanksgiving evening. I am in charge of the pecan pie. The pecans are imported, as is the brown sugar. I also have to make some improvisations for corn syrup. Weird the ingredients you take for granted! I'm looking forward to it. Last year I don't recall doing anything for Thanksgiving. I've never been one for turkey, but I'll eat all the deserts available!! :-)

One year we came to Paris for Thanksgiving and I made it a weekend of escargot-eating. I think I had about 30 total during three days, and frankly that was an accomplishment! Now that I live here, I'm less ambitious...plus I want my clothes to fit.

Happy Thanksgiving from Paris!
Lutece

What's with this brown sugar problem? Every French supermarket has "sucre roux"?

I know this is the Europe board, but what the heck...

We're Americans living in Indonesia. Thanksgiving here is just another workday. We had Australian tenderloin, sour cream potatoes and fresh corn-on-the-cob for dinner.

Never have been a big fan of turkey, so didn't miss the traditional food so much, although I do tend to get homesick this time of year.

WTnow, I'm about three months behind with your blog. Was wondering if you were back in Spain by now. I need to try to keep up better. I'm glad you had a great holiday. I also enjoy reading what all you ExPats do. When my neice was in Copenhagen two years ago, she cooked for a lot of her friends but had to settle for chicken. She said turkey was very scarce AND terribly expensive if you could find it.

We are newbie Ex-Pats and we just ignored Thanksgiving. They don't have it here, we have no family here, why bring an American Holiday with us?

We will have Christmas but we won't celebrate the 4th of July either :D

It is also the beginnng of summer so no one I know wanted a big heavy roasted turkey with trimmings..
I have no idea what Christmas will be like here but it will be fun finding out.

I am not a believer in dragging along all your habits from home when you move. The point of moving is sort of to get away from the old places & habits and get new ones..so far, this has worked for us :)

Hi Scarlett, if I lived outside the US I would do the same thing. And sometimes when I have not been at home during a holiday it is ignored also. I always remember a Thanksgiving in the Santa Barbara area. I had two lobster tails and a Cesear Salad. Best Thanksgiving dinner ever!!!

Ahh Love, I might have had lobster and a Ceasar salad yesterday if anyone had offered :D

I have been an expat three times in my life and have spent 9 out of the last ten years abroad during Thanksgiving. All the American ex pats I knew with family celebrated Thanksgiving in very similar fashion to being in the US except with the addition of native guests and single ex pats. When I was single and abroad I always joined a group of similar expats to cook Thanksgiving dinner. Do have to work abit to get traditional ingredients but that is highly dependent on where you live. Nowdays when we travel during Thanksgiving we just have a nice meal wherever we are and do Thanksgiving when we return home.

Hey crefloors!

I am behind too...grin! Yes we got back to our little village in Andalucia just a week ago and I am busy unpacking and catching up.

I still have Prague up and must catch up with Vienna and lots of cool stuff in Italy before I can get to the Spain stuff.

I will get to as soon as I can, Vienna is almost ready. So probably never a better time to be behind. ;)

One of the tricky things making a dinner here are things like temps on the oven or even on measuring cups etc. It still managed to work out and we had a lot of fun...still enjoying the left overs. ;)

When I lived in Copenhagen as a student, the American Embassey would take order for turkeys in November. May roomate and I cooked our Danish host family an entire Thanksgiving meal, and we all really enjoyed it. The only thing we could't get at the time was cranberry sauce, but we substituted ligonberries!

I live in Siracusa, Sicily. Not much celebration of thanksgiving going on here. However, I work with a local university that hosts many American students and we run a Pot-Luck dinner, invite students, teachers and local friends. It's always quite an experience. Most locals want to know the "real" story of Thanksgiving. Turkey is not such a popular bird, but you can order one...we had 2 25 pound turkeys...free range, etc.