Happy Thanksgiving

So now we're coming up on our seventh Thanksgiving away from home! We had one in Canada, four in Italy and almost two now, in Scotland. Being away from home on Thanksgiving is the worst but it also creates hysterical stories that we'll always remember from our years abroad. My favorite was from our first year in Italy....

As a disclaimer, I will say that I was not in charge of the turkey! There are no frozen turkeys in Italy and actually, they're quite hard to find in general, at least in Cortina, where we lived. That year, the turkey ended up having to be special ordered from a local butcher. When that was going on, the pounds to kilo ratio got mixed up and a few days later, a 40 pound turkey was delivered to the door. It then had to be taken back to the butcher to be sawed in half so that it could fit in two different ovens for cooking, which took several days.

Lesson learned and in subsequent years, I would end up driving to Austria to buy frozen, normal sized turkeys. Thanksgiving is a little bit easier now that we're in Scotland, but of course, every year there are always fun stories that we'll remember for many years to come. Although, I should mention that I'm in charge of the turkey this year so hopefully no fun stories come of it.... Happy almost Thanksgiving! xo

PS - How to have Thanksgiving in Italy and Ryan's famous green bean casserole.

The Expat Refrigerator

I was writing an article the other day and I mentioned that we had been living abroad for six years now. SIX! I can't believe it. There are a lot of great things about life abroad, but for me, food has always been one of the best. I love cooking (and eating) and I love trying local dishes and poking around the grocery store to see what you can find and what you can't. For fun, the other day I made a list of things that are always in our fridge or pantry now that we live in Scotland, compared to what we always had on hand in Italy, and what we usually keep at home in the US.

What We Have:
Tea. Lots of it.
Cheddar cheese. Again, lots of it. This is something we were missing in Italy and we're still overcompensating.
Curry packs. Curry is huge in the UK and you can buy all sorts of different kinds.
Tunnock's Wafers. You guys. These things are amazing. They're the perfect sweet and they've been around forever. I always see old ladies buying them in the grocery store.
The best salted butter.

What We're Missing:
Really good dill pickles. Can't find them anywhere.

What We Had:
Dried pasta (obviously) in about ten different shapes on any given day.
Stravecchio cheese. My favorite cheese, from the deli counter.
Espresso.
Half empty jars of pesto.
Fennel.

What We Missed:
Cheddar cheese, cumin and canned pumpkin.

What We Have:
Green chilies! We live in Colorado...
A variety of hot sauces. Favorites include Cholula, Sriracha and our local favorite from the Yampa Valley Sauce Company, Habacado.

What We Miss:
That Stravecchio cheese and Tunnock's wafers!

The Jacobite Steam Train

My parents have been visiting for the past ten days and while they were here, we planned a little side trip...