Thanksgiving

I have another American in my Department, Jen, and we decided to host a Thanksgiving coffee tasting for our team. Jen brought pumpkin pie and I brought cranberry bread. We explained the tradition of Thanksgiving and asked everyone to share what they were thankful for. People really got into it and a few of them got emotional. It was really touching and a perfect way to celebrate the day.

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, we have an amazing cheese shop in my neighborhood called La Fromagerie that has become one of my favorite spots in London. They not only have hundreds of different cheeses, but a great little café where you can sit and enjoy a glass of wine and some cheese or a nice brunch on the weekends. They also host events from time to time including Thanksgiving dinner.

Now it may sound obvious, but Thanksgiving is not celebrated in the UK - you’d be surprised how many Americans get confused about this. So after a full day of working, I wasn’t really up for cooking a huge meal, so dinner at La Fromagerie was a great way to celebrate fairly effortlessly and we invited our friends Jason and Sarah who recently moved to London from Seattle (and who have a Doodle, Hank, they are bringing over) to join us.

The shop was lit entirely by white Christmas lights and it smelled like a cross between turkey, cheese and pine trees. It was really nice. We had a delicious dinner of turkey, stuffing, cranberries and more, but what made it really special was our two “communities” coming together – our American community and our neighborhood community.

It was a really special and memorable evening.