Thanksgiving

So weeks later people are still talking about Thanksgiving. Here’s a little bit about it...

When faced with the prospect of going out for Thanksgiving dinner, the traditionalist Americans just couldn't do it. We then went on a mission to find a turkey in London. There is no Honey Baked Ham in London. So we actually considered buying a turkey from the deli - yep the same one where they cut sandwich slices. The £240 price tag deterred us, but only after careful consideration. We then had to figure out how to cook a turkey - none of us have even marginally participated in turkey cooking.

Drew was absolutely determined to get a frozen turkey. One that was too big for ANY refrigerator in England, still had the giblets and staff, and needed to defrost for probably 3 days. After a bit of consoling, he's finally settled on two smaller turkeys - thank God!

The search for Velveeta-esque cheese didn’t go well. I needed cheese that would properly melt for mac and cheese. So I go to the deli counter and simply ask which cheese will melt well and not be waxy. Well, I might as have been asking how they constructed Stone Henge. They had to finally call over a manager who told me that the English use a pre-made sauce...so I said, in a rather cheeky manner, "yes, so if you wanted to make that from scratch, wouldn't you use cheese of some sort? Which one of the 11 that you have in this here case would work?" Never did get a good answer. But the mac and cheese was still ok. I did get Velveeta (Thanks Keia) 10 days after Thanksgiving!

We had about 15 people in the end. Only one person - Layal - had ever done Thanksgiving except for the  five Americans. Jocelyn missed her flight to Spain, so she was “happy” to come back (she was really pissed, but she was happy to at least come back to Thanksgiving and not a normal day). Everyone said what they were thankful for, we prayed and then we grubbed. Everyone thought the food was really good, we sat and talked and laughed. It was awesome! We had turkey, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, cranberries, rolls, stuffing, corn, apple pie, pumpkin pie and ice cream.

It was the most memorable Thanksgiving yet!

Click here to see the Thanksgiving Scrapbook!

Click here to see the Thanksgiving Photos!

Weekend Marketing and Ohio vs. Mich Game

On Saturday, Drew, Sandra and I went to Camden Market. It was great! We saw all sorts of crazy stuff and we even had fajitas!!! They don’t get Mexican over here (everything has curry in it?) so we were really excited. I didn’t get to spend as much time as I would like, so I will probably go back next weekend.

Then, Drew and I went to Harrod’s to get Christmas ornaments and cards - that’s right, I’m sending cards that are London! Please don’t be disappointed when they aren’t mailed from London. It costs £.72 or nearly $1.40 per letter. I can’t afford that :) If anyone thinks that Christmas is over-commercialized and out-of-control in America, well you’ve never been here during November. All the lights were turned on weeks ago (more on that in a backlogged blog to come) and since there isn’t Thanksgiving to temper it, everyone here is in full Christmas mode. I too, have adopted that sentiment and feel that it’s completely normal now to play all 128 Christmas songs and counting that I have on my computer.

Drew and I braved the Tube on a Saturday six weeks before Christmas (they are ALL out shopping, I’m convinced). The picture above is what the Tube station looked like as we were trying to travel. Seriously, if someone decided to get mad and push, someone else would’ve ended up electrocuted on the tracks. 

Later that night we went to Sports Cafe to watch Ohio win again Michigan. It was an incredible game. There was a two-hour line to simply get in the door. I refused...so I got one of the girls who works there to let my party in. We had a great time!

Torino, Italy

Yup - Italy was all about eating and I took plenty of advantage. We had falafels - Jen almost fought the Kebap guy over the night when he didn’t have the falafels - we had pizza, we had pasta, we had bruschetta, there was great wine, singing (ok, so it wasn’t in tune or on beat, but it was still great), and sleep!

We went shopping and I got a great purse for cheaper than I’d seen it at home or in London. The guy at the shop actually let me talk him down from €75 to €60! I was so impressed with myself.

It has been years since I’ve been as cold as I was in Torino. I certainly didn’t pack appropriately for the trip and paid dearly. I bought a cute scarf and mittens from H&M though, so I guess that it all works out.

The first night we were there, Jen took us to a local bar that she used to frequent when she studied in Torino last year. We had a great time. We’ve been living in a world where every alcoholic drink is precisely measured... because, what would happen if you got an extra ounce of liquor and didn’t pay for it (insert gasp). Well, Italy is NOTHING like that. We had food that I’m sure we never paid for and the proper liquor to mixer percentage is 2 to 1. Needless to say it only took one! 

Click here to check out the pictures: 

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