Thanksgiving in Ireland

Despite being thousands of miles from the festivities at home, I managed to carry out the traditions of the day quite satisfactorily; all without skimping or shorting any of the goodies that mark the day. Everything looked and tasted familiarly American. This of course was made possible by submitting a grocery list of the ingredients that cannot be found here, such as pumpkin pie filling, cranberry sauce, french fried onions and the like, which were duly packed into my mom's luggage and brought over. A box of delectable See's chocolates were of course included in this motley assortment.

My mom and I started the preparations for the meal on Wednesday night. We had actually just arrived in town that afternoon, and as we still had the rental car, made use of such a luxury for our grocery shopping. There was no way, even with the two of us, that we could ever successfully manage carrying all the items home that we needed for such a feast. So we loaded up the car with everything (or so we thought) minus the turkey which we would pick up Thanksgiving morning at the butcher's shop. That night I made the pie crust and mom cut a loaf of bread into little squares, placing them in the oven to get toasted for stuffing.

After a stormy night subsided, inclusive of thunder, lightning and rain, the anticipated morning arrived and so the hustle and bustle began. Just before noon we took a walk to the butcher shop to pick up our turkey and a few of the ingredients we'd missed the night before. When the butcher brought out the bird that was to feed four and that we'd specifically ordered small, I got a shock.

The thirteen pound bird was monstrous; much bigger than you'd ever guess thirteen pounds to be! The twenty-four pound turkeys I usually fix for a large group back home closely matched its size. The only difference is those are taller and this one was longer. While the butcher fretted about finding a bag large enough to put it in, I fretted over it fitting in our tiny matchbox oven! By the time he came back with a cardboard box, I had reached the conclusion that there was no way our oven could mouth this bird whole. I apologetically explained my plight and asked if he had something smaller. He replied that unfortunately he didn't, but explained that if he cut off the legs and bound the body tightly, it would fit. I agreed to this alternative and hoped for the best.

And I'll just say that not only did it look like twenty-four pounds but it also felt like twenty-four on the rainy walk home. I am now an expert at balancing a turkey while holding an umbrella and have more muscle to show for it!



Houston, we have take-off!



 

The evening was wonderful! Everything fit and tasted delicious. Our menu included:

 

Turkey

Stuffing

Mashed Potatoes

Gravy

Green Bean Casserole

Cranberry Sauce

Rolls

Sparkling Apple Cider

Hot Mulled Apple Cider

Pumpkin Pie

See's chocolates

 

We were excited to spend the evening celebrating and introducing this American holiday to my flatmate, Lucy-Anne, and my friend, Valerie.  Holiday music played over dinner and conversation was most enjoyable; a portion of it revolving around typical Thanksgiving traditions and other holiday rituals, both Irish and American. After thoroughly stuffing ourselves, we went to the living room where a fire was ablaze, sipped on hot spiced cider, nibbled on See's chocolates and watched a Christmas movie. Amazing day and so much to be thankful for!

Autumn Stroll

It was such a beautiful day, I just had to spend the morning enjoying it, so I strolled along the River Lee for a good few hours. The sky was blue and the only grey clouds that could be seen were off in the distance. Although the sun was casting a radiant glow through the golden foliage, there was a nip in the air that made your cheeks rosy and your nose a kin to Rudolph's. The cold breeze seemed to be whispering that Winter's arrival is near.

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Marker A is my house and Marker B sits on the walkway along the marina.

Catching Up

Nothing I've done recently is inherently Irish in nature. That doesn't mean I haven't been busy. And among the various tasks and activities is one very un-Irish thing.

So after the ballet, I spent the following week getting together with a few people from church; I also helped clean the new church building and did a little job hunting.

Finding a job feels like a job. I had already updated my resume, or CV as they call it here, and had created a few cover letter templates. That was easy. And finding positions in my line of experiences and applying with hiring agencies hasn't been that difficult either. The jobs are there. I've even gotten several bites. But once it's known that I'm an American with no work visa, the call for an interview never comes.

Despite the odds, I'm maintaining hope. Just this week I found two incredibly amazing positions with Apple and Amazon. Obviously both are large enough companies to not be daunted by the visa issue. In fact, Apple specifically stated they would pay to relocate the chosen candidate from anywhere around the world. And, the positions they're offering are amazing - I'd love it! Both companies are looking for customer service project managers, so really, I'd be doing exactly what I loved best in my last job. So fingers crossed on these.

On Saturday, I spent the day cooking and baking as I had invited a group of people to come over after church the following day. On the menu, but not in this order, was chocolate chip cookies, Shannon's amazing peanut butter cookies, salad, baked spaghetti and ... the very un-Irish, all American, good ol' mac and cheese. And let me now elaborate on the feat it took to perform such an un-Irish thing!

The week before I had really been craving something from home and we Americans know how to make the cheesy meals, so I decided upon macaroni and cheese. Ha! The odds were not in my favor. At the grocery store, I searched the pasta aisle, the ready meals aisle and did find it but in the most unlikely and disturbing of places. In the canned section. Yes, that's right - canned mac and cheese. I couldn't do it and cringe even now. So I thought I'd make myself some from scratch. I didn't have a recipe but figured it couldn't be that difficult. I headed over to the cheeses and that's when I got a second blow. I think I literally recognized only three cheeses out of a selection that took half of a refrigerator aisle. Mozzarella, Cheddar and Parmesan. No Swiss, no Provolone, no Jack. None of what seemed to be their basic cheeses matched ours. That kind of did it for me and I gave up on the mac and cheese idea, went to the freezer section and got an extra cheesy deep dish pizza! I admit I was defeated that day, but I armed myself with a recipe a couple days later and marched back into the store to conquer. If you're interested in the recipe I used, which by the way turned out fantastically for the get-together, visit here: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/04/macaroni-cheese/.

And yes, the get together went well - I thoroughly enjoyed myself. In total, I think I had ten people over which was the perfect number. There was enough food and everyone fit fairly comfortably in the living room, where we ate and enjoyed the warmth of a crackling fire. We chatted for a while and then everyone voted to watch The Hunger Games before we left for Ignite, the college/career group at church. It was definitely a fun, relaxing afternoon.