A Canadian Thanksgiving

As expatriates, my coworkers and I tend to take advantage of any holiday we can. One coworker is Canadian; hence, we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving. We divvied up dishes during Friday Lunch, and I landed sweet potatoes. Before I'd even finished my chipotle sushi roll, I knew I had my work cut out for me.

My first challenge was grocery shopping. I made my list, knowing that I'd have to be creative. The sweet potatoes were rotting, but an employee hauled out a fresh box when I asked for them. I settled on honey and white sugar as a substitute for brown sugar. A half hour search finally yielded pecans. Lard was nice and easy to find. Nutmeg and ginger were nonexistent. I found a round pan that would serve as a casserole dish. I opted on borrowing a boiling pot from a friend.

I got up early Sunday morning to boil the potatoes and make the pie crusts before church. I missed my old kitchen. I still haven't figured out if my current kitchen is real kitchen or just a closet.



I used the casserole dish for a mixing bowl, a crema container for a measuring cup, and a drinking glass for a rolling pin.



On the way home from church, I got a cheap mixing bowl from Walmart and stopped by my friends' house to borrow ginger and nutmeg.

During cooking, I used the "rolling pin" as a potato masher and opened the can of evaporated milk with a pair of scissors. I tried grinding the ginger with a jar of peanut butter, but it didn't work.



Ovens aren't a huge priority here in Mexico. Mine doesn't light, and the door falls open at the slightest disturbance. My friends' oven at least lights, although the door is no better than mine. They live a bus-ride away, though, which presented the biggest challenge yet: transporting all four sloshing dishes across town on a rickety, screeching, jostling bus.



I packed what wouldn't spill in a backpack and put the rest in a cardboard box. Then I tiptoed two blocks to the bus stop. The driver kindly helped me get in, and the bus was empty enough for me to be able to spread out.

Despite the hassle it caused, the dinner was wonderful. We managed to pull off a decent Thanksgiving meal, although hints of Mexico snuck in:


Enjoying hors d'oeuvres: apple cider, salsa potato chips, and vegetables with chipotle dip


Kristin carving our Thanksgiving chicken. Carving may be a bit generous, considering that the only complete poultry she was able to find was already cut up.


Ready to enjoy the feast: lemon pepper chicken, nutmeg roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, salad, sweet potato pie, cherry pie, cheesecake, and brownie cheesecake.

Happy Thanksgiving, Canada!