Thanksgiving, Belgian Style

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Thanksgiving is one of those holidays that is easy to enjoy. All you need is good food and good company and you suddenly feel lucky. We had a great time working together with our friends to create a memorable feast that we were able to share with friends here in Leuven.


The Menu: Green Bean Casserole (this was not your mom's version with cream of mushroom soup but instead the richest dish ever complete with crispy coated onions on top), maple glazed sweet potatoes with apples (thanks to my mother in law for introducing this dish to me, which will always make my Thanksgiving complete), squash, potatoes (this au gratin type dish with sliced potatoes, cream and green onions was brought by Zoe and was in a head to head competition with the green beans for richest dish...the results are still to be determined), cranberry sauce (cans of which were lugged here by our visiting American friends), stuffing (Jonathan did justice to this treat with the addition of sweet red peppers, yum) and TURKEY (Sure, it is assumed that it will be at the center of the table, but it was down to the wire. Jonathan finally found a poultry shop two mornings ago and was able to watch the shopkeeper chop the head and feet from it. He then brined it overnight producing a wonderfully juicy bird for all to enjoy). Finally we had a semi traditional apple pie that we put together, and a strawberry tart from the local Belgian bakery.

The kids all enjoyed themselves and after dinner put on quite a performance for the adults complete with singing and dancing. It was pretty hysterical.

I spent a few minutes on my long morning run thinking about the holiday and all of the things I personally have to be thankful for. I suppose it is as close to being religious as I am going to get at this point, but it did give me pause. The opportunities we have both had and made for ourselves have given us many once in a lifetime experiences. Our Belgian day of thanks was just one more to add to the pile.

Happy Thanksgiving (we are now off to Amsterdam!).

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Photos

Jonathan and the Bird
It took us weeks to finally find a place where we could buy our turkey, but, on the day before, Jonathan was successful. It was worth the effort!

The kids enjoying dessert
Eliza, Abigail, Emma, Amelia and Henry fully enjoying the pies and whipped cream.