giving thanks

Yesterday, I made my first Thanksgiving Dinner! I think it was a success: more than enough food for all, no major disasters, plenty of friends, good conversation, I more or less didn't mangle the chickens while carving, and I managed to figure out how to use our house's little combination microwave-convection oven.

It was a little funny though, to be celebrating this holiday in a country where not only have the leaves not turned colour (yet?), but where people are only really familiar with the American version (and therefore wondering why this crazy Canadian was doing it so early in the year...). I've been trying since I've been here to blend in with the locals, but there are just some things that I occasionally long for from home. Like when I combed the Albert Heijn (local grocery store chain) for something resembling a box of mac and cheese. Or, in this case, Thanksgiving. I spent two weeks preparing and contemplating how I could pull off such a meal: Was the combi-oven in my kitchen big enough? Can you even find turkey in the Netherlands? What about chickens? Where is there a butcher that I can buy chickens from? What about cranberry sauce? They use Celsius, here. So as a Canadian cook, how does that convert from Farenheit? Is pumpkin pie off the menu?? In the end, it all came together nicely. Two pricey, but delicious organic chickens, mashed potatoes and veggies from the organic market on the Nieuwmart. And yes, cranberry sauce - but it's called 'cranberry compote' and parades itself around in a much classier way than the tinned and jellied stuff at home. A nice cherry vlaai - pie, essentially - stood in for the classic Thanksgiving dessert, and was accompanied by some pepernoten (a yummy Dutch holiday treat, like little ginger nuts/ cookies, that is in the stores two months before the arrival of Sinterklaas, and a bone of contention for some).

Reflecting on how much I put into making Thanksgiving here has me thinking a bit more about this the importance and meaning of 'home'. Questions of belonging have to do with comfort, and a sense of rootedness, in a way. Something useful to think about when talking to people, certainly, but it's also made me think a little bit more about, I guess, the routes my thinking has taken in preparing for this project. After reading so many different things over the past three years, I've moved away from some of the ideas that have really intrigued me in the past, namely citizenship's substantive or cultural aspects. While I certainly wont be dropping all the things I've been pondering lately out the window, I am a little bit excited that I've come back to these older ideas, seeing how they're still so relevant and can frame my thinking in new and useful ways. Like making Thanksgiving dinner here, thinking more about how citizenship comes into play here feels little bit like coming home.