Without the typical Ontario fall colours here in a city that is in the midst of spring, it doesn't feel anything like Thanksgiving, and so we were going to just skip this Canadian holiday (my first time ever missing Thanksgiving!)
But then news broke of our Munroe's big win, and I, for one, was feeling rather patriotic.
And so we decided we'd attempt Thanksgiving after all.
Such a goal is easier spoken than fulfilled, in a country where beef, pig and lamb rule the Parilla, and the few feeble-looking squashes at the local produce stands do not include the sacred Thanksgiving pumpkin! Cranberries, too, were a commodity not to be found, despite visits to several grocery stores of different chains.
In the end, we settled for chicken, and Tats found a "pumpkinless pumpkin pie" recipe on an ex-pat blog, which she combined with a jar of pumpkin preserves we had happened upon at a farmers' market the previous week. She used her vivid imagination to concoct "cranberry sauce" from berry jam and lemon juice.
All proclaimed the "turkey" to be yummy, and the pie to be "pretty good", considering the circumstances.
Happy Canadian Thanksgiving, everyone!