Our Swiss Thanksgiving

Just like any other American, I went searching for a turkey a week before the big day.  No such luck.  It turns out, the Swiss grocery stores don't sell turkeys, but for Thanksgiving, they will kindly put a couple (yes, I saw 2), on the shelves on Thanksgiving day.  How thoughtful for their fellow Americans, right?  I keep wondering if they do that, really, just for the Americans living here who will celebrate the holiday.

You should know, it was only the four of us for this holiday.  One more than last year, but when it comes down to it, it was just the two of us actually eating any of the Thanksgiving dinner last year.  This year, I had high hopes of Maddie loving the mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes with pecan candied topping, and maybe a bite or two of turkey.  She is not very picky when it comes to tasting food.  EXCEPT when it is baby food.  I can thank myself for that because I didn't want her eating all of Carter's food when I fed him, so I gave her a bite of baby oatmeal made with formula.  She is convinced all baby food is yucky.  So on Thanksgiving, when I excitedly gave her a bite of mashed potatoes with gravy, she forcefully gagged.  You can guess how she reacted when I proceeded to move a bite of sweet potatoes towards her mouth.  "Mama, that's yucky.  That's baby food. No no."  Ooookay.  I think she ate a smorgasbord of what we had in the fridge-cheese, deli ham, some cucumbers, and a roll with some peanut butter on it.

Like I said, it was the two of us actually eating Thanksgiving dinner this year, just like last year.  In the spirit of being a proud American, I started preparing the meal a couple days before.  I found an old NY Times article about preparing ahead for the meal.  I made the sweet potato casserole, green beans and mushroom saute, gravy, stuffing, and pie crusts.  On the day of Thanksgiving, I did in fact find a turkey at the store.  I didn't have my phone with me, but if I did, I would insert a photo of it here along with the price tag which read something like this: 110 CHF for a 5.6 kg turkey ($114 USD for about 12.5 lb turkey).  No, thanks, I'll buy the chicken for 12.95 CHF.

We made Rice Krispy treats that morning, just for fun.

I was really happy with each of the recipes I made.  Roast chicken, basic gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, pumpkin pie, green beans sauteed with mushrooms, and stuffing.  We were lucky to have pumpkin pie, or pie at all, because I couldn't find a proper pie pan and then I couldn't find evaporated milk.  That pie is special because it came out of a box sent all the way from Oregon and our old Bible Study group.  We are still enjoying it :-)

She loves that little stool.

Our food barely fit in the little oven.

And I cannot leave out pictures of our two turkeys on Thanksgiving day.

He is so interested in her and everything that she does.

Here is the grand table.

Happy Thanksgiving to you, dear friend!