Dan and Laura
Mike and his friend
Perfect turkey
Cleanup
Back Home for Thanksgiving
November 25, 2007
Written January 1, 2008
Dear Friends and Families,
For the past several months, I have been more in the States than home in Germany. For most of November, while I was in Virginia and North Carolina, Marianne took the opportunity to visit family and friends in California. All this travel made us eager to get back home to normal and, though our break would end up being less than a week, we were lucky to have American friends Laura and Dan Mikow offer to host Thanksgiving dinner.
Of course, since Dan and I both work locally, the traditional Thursday dinner had to come on Saturday, since the fourth Thursday in November is just a regular work day for us. Dan and Laura also invited Mike Saroka, another American ex-pat. and he in turn invited his German friend for her first traditional America feast. The Mikow's neighbor, Bridget, also joined us for part of the meal.
The meal was as traditional as possible here in Old Europe. Laura had cooked a big turkey - "big" by the standards of our smaller ovens, if not by American standards. The sides were traditional too: mashed potatoes, dressing, green beans, cranberries, and pecan and pumpkin pies. The Americans thought it was just like home, but we had to assure the German guests that Americans don't ALWAYS have such big dinners!
Dan and Laura |
Mike and his friend |
Perfect turkey |
Cleanup |
Laura and Dan, thanks for the touch of home. Now Marianne and I had just a few days before returning to America for a month of work, family, and even more traditional over-eating.
John and Marianne.