Happy Thanksgiving!

It is the eve of our second thanksgiving in Australia. Last year I was not working and so was much more prepared for the big day having researched recipes for pumpkin pie filling, pie crust, dressing, and poultry seasoning. This year- having worked the last two nights until 7 plus- the plan is to buy a roasted chicken from the GOOD shop (Fresh Zone). If I get ambitious I may put together a batch of noodles- though I wonder if noodles need to dry out before cooking. Hmmmm. That would make noodling an early morning activity. The other item that is important to me is pumpkin pie. I used to make pumpkin pieless back in Cleveland. (I'll share my recipe. Put together the pie filling according to the can of Libby's pumpkin and bake it in a pie pan without a crust.) I suppose it would work in Australia with filling made from a real pumpkin (like the kind that could carry you to the ball if you had a team of mice and a fairy godmother- Australia, for all its fondness for pumpkin does not sell any pumpkin puree in the vegetable aisle. What's with that?) The alternatives are either Flicker's no fail pie crust- which I failed with on my last attempt. A "no roll" press-in pie crust I found on-line. Or, buying crust units from the frozen food section of Coles. Hmmmm.... Now, you won't sleep wondering what I do. Sorry about that.



My first Thanksgiving away from home occurred in 1985. Wow. That's over 20 years ago! I stayed in Durham. I think I was probably raising squab for my research project. My friend Carolyn flew down from NYC to join me. A few nights before I stopped by the North-something mall- you know- the one the hurricane blew the roof off? Or, then again, was it the South-something mall? Anyway, I was about the only soul walking through the mall when I was accosted by some child selling tickets for a turkey raffle. I don't know WHY I bought a ticket. I must have recently been paid. Anyway, I won. I won a 20 pound bird. Carolyn and I took that turkey to a butcher and had it cut in half. Half we cooked...well, SHE cooked. The other half we took to a local food pantry. Still, that was a ton of bird. I remember eating turkey on homemade popovers with cranberry sauce for days- sitting in the quad in between the psych building and the hospital.

So, on the occasion of thanksgiving- I am thankful for my family and friends-new, old, and yet to be discovered. For my home and totally-almost-perfect car. For my dog, Zelda, and the backyard family of butcher birds who serenade me and amuse me as they feed their overgrown baby. I am thankful that my own birds- Beeker, Big Bird, and Modern Physics have good homes back in the US without me. I am thankful that I have a job with people I like (and that I got a raise today!) I am thankful that my bed is firm and my pillow reliable. And, I have tomorrow off.