Happy Thanksgiving from Germany!! I am very much looking forward to Thursday, but if you read my blog on Friday, you may still be wondering, “Will they get to celebrate Thanksgiving?” The answer is a resounding "Yes, we are going to celebrate the much beloved American holiday." There are other Americans with us here at my husband's work that will be joining us. I had to special order some ingredients (thanks Mom!) from American to make Turkey Dressing. And although sausage abounds here, it is not the same. My search for something I recognize in flavor and texture has been extensive.
I have had to make additional substitutions or start from true scratch for some other traditional items. I had to can my own pumpkin to make something of a pumpkin dessert by buying a pumpkin here at the local farmer's market. It doesn't look like our pumpkins - it is a little green along with the orange, has a LOT more pumpkin flesh inside and is a good bit sweeter than our pumpkins. Then I had to cook it for several hours, scrape out the flesh and strain off the water. Then, I had to put it in a jar with one of those pop lids (I salvaged one from spaghetti sauce and washed it) to keep until the big day. There are also no ready-made pie crusts or sweetened condense milk (although they do have something here that is a paste that I may try), so I am altering the traditional dessert ingredients I make. Although I could have made my own pie crust, with all the other accommodations, I decided to cheat a little with this one and make something with puff pastry sheets instead.
And for the most important part, the turkeys, I had to specially arrange with the local grocery store to have some frozen small turkeys reserved for me. Although turkey is very common here, it is often not cooked as a whole bird, but rather as small cutlets often used in making schnitzel, a traditional German meat dish, or as turkey steaks, smothered in gravy. And to cook the wonderful birds in, I had to special order a disposable aluminum roasting pan all the way from Charleston, thanks to my husband’s boss who was there on business. There is nothing disposable at all to cook in over here, so either you spend a lot of money investing in cooking equipment, or you do without.
We will have to do without the cranberries, though, since there is nothing like the canned cranberries, nor are there fresh ones to do something from scratch. Another item I may have to sacrifice is sweet potato pie. I had not seen any sweet potatoes until last week anywhere, and when I asked, most people did not know what they were. But this past week, I did stumble upon a small stash. I was not able to get enough to make the traditional dish, so I am going to go in search of more this week.
Since the boys and my husband do not get this day off from school and work, it may feel much more rushed than the usual time. However, as for the traditions, those will stay the same. We will share what we are thankful for. We will enjoy the company of friends and family. We will share a meal together, regardless of what is served. And we will take a moment from our lives to reflect and to think towards the future to count our blessings. What are some of your traditions? Is it a big meal with family? Is it watching that T-day football game? Is it putting up your Christmas decorations or getting the tree together? Share with your classmates your traditions and see how they are the same AND how they are different.
I will be taking the holiday break with you. Since school will be out in SC and folks will be rushing around, me included, it is a good time to pause. I will resume writing on Monday, though. I wish you the best of Thanksgiving holidays, and even in these desperate financial times, I hope you can find and count your many blessings.
The question of the day for today is "What is a Weinnachtsmarkt?"
The words for the day are turkey: die Pute (poo teh), potato: die Kartoffel (car tohf fehl), green beans: die grünen Bohnen (greoo nehn boe nehn), and as a refresher from Halloween, pumpkin: der Kürbis (koohr bis.
Auf Wiedersehen,
Frau Spitzer
