Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Thanksgiving and whatnot

Servus!

Despite what you may think, Thanksgiving (American-style) does get celebrated here in Germany. Usually on the Saturday afterwards because we simply don't get the time off.

Now, before you think that I and my other expatriate friends are getting together to celebrate a great American tradition,I have to disappoint you - we do it for the food.

This year, like the last two, the bird was smoked on the grill. We had a (intensely expensive) 12 kg turkey as the centerpiece of our feast. I contributed stuffing, two kinds of coleslaw, and a New York-style cheesecake. There was also green beans in bacon, parsnips, sweet potatoes, and a mushroom gravy made from the drippings. A pumpkin pie and apple pie were available for dessert and there was a cheese assortment to round out the meal.

Damn, was it good...

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Photobucket

If you have the opportunity to do your bird on the grill, I highly recommend you do so. Every year it has been so juicy and tasty (even the white meat!) The whole process is so low-effort that you'll never do your bird in the oven ever again!

These guys have a pretty good reference (despite the scare tactics regarding handling raw turkey as if it will give you the Marburg virus should you touch it without a hazmat suit) We don't seem to have this problem here in Germany...

Hats off to our hosts and to all of those who attended and made delicious dishes. As always, its so fun getting together with you all for this - I hope that it happens for a good long time to come.

As I have said before - this is about good food in good company. That's what makes this a true reason to give thanks!


I bought a bottle of this, mostly for the pain...

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This is really a great dram. I am not going to try to befuddle you with bullshit about beginning, bouquet, finish, etc. - I'm not that knowledgeable.

I like it. That's enough.


Anna and I made chicken soup again:

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As always, it was really good. Sadly, we put it on the balcony, thinking it would keep in the cold while we were away for Thanksgiving. We were wrong. It got rather warm and on Sunday we had to deal with 8 liters of bad soup.


I wanted a new keyfob:

Keyfob

This is a Crisscrossed Solomon Bar from J.D Lenzen's new book "Paracord Fusion Ties - Volume 1: Straps, Slip Knots, Falls, Bars, and Bundles." Blue and orange paracord contrasts nicely and it has a 2 strand diamond knot at the end.

Go and knot!

I bid you Peace,
Jake

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