A Friendsgiving Tale

By Carmen de Ruiter.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, most popularly known as an American holiday with a Turkey based meal, and side dishes. Within our friend group we have celebrated thanksgiving together the past 3 years and each year make an assortment of different dishes. Three of us started cooking around 15:30, and as per usual in our friend group, we did not finish when we said we would. Dinner was supposed to start at 18:30, it now started somewhere between 19:30 to 20 o’ clock. Nevertheless the start of the dinner was delicious as this year the dishes made included two starters; a shrimp cocktail and a tiny chicken pot pie. The shrimp cocktail on a bed of iceberg salad, with a cocktailsaus and tiny chicken pot pie which were delicious too.

After the two small starters we continued on to the main course which had multiple dishes. For the meat component of the dinner we had a beef stew made in a red wine tomato sauce. Side dishes included a potato and sweet potato oven bake, pumpkin baked in the oven with added toppings including pomegranate, walnuts and feta, and a typical dutch thing known as “boomstammetjes” which is green beans wrapped in a strip of bacon. To include more traditional american dishes in the dinner, we also made a side of corn bread which was quite tasty.

A small break was taken between the main course and the desert, as we already had quite a lot of food and still wanted to be able to enjoy our desert as well. During this break a game was played, a card game, “pesten”. With two sets of cards in the stack and rules not everyone agreed with, the two games were very funny and frustrating at the same time.

Finally we came to the dessert part of the evening where we had made two different types of pie; Pecan pie and Key Lime pie. Both were very enjoyable yet very different, one was with nuts and not that sweet, whilst the other had a sweet and sour component. You can guess which was which.

And even though we didn’t tell each other what we are thankful for, I will say that I am thankful for the friends I have had for a longer time, and the ones I have more recently made. They make life so much more fun and enjoyable, and I wouldn’t know what to do without them. We laugh with and at each other, like when someone makes the whipped cream explode. We enjoy great food together with a game in between. Now, everyone, I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving, each in their own way and (very Important) good luck with your black Friday shopping, another very American thing!