Thanksgiving, Weihnachtsmarkt and First Advent

 The Holidays are here!

This past week was Thanksgiving in the U.S. and the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. Here in Münster, it was just a regular old day for most people.  The Christmas markets opened this week, so Holiday shopping is definitely started here as well. 

Thursday night there was a Thanksgiving Dinner hosted by the German American Alliance, but we decided not to go since it didn't even begin until 7:30. Not having a car, we would have had to ride our bikes in the dark to our destination, about 20 minutes away. We could have taken a cab I suppose, but it just seemed like a hassle - not to mention it was a school night.

Another U.S. family invited us to share a Thanksgiving with them on Saturday. There is young man in my German class that is from Idaho, so I asked him to come along also.

We met in the club house of our building. The other family provided drinks, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce (a real luxury here as they are difficult to find) and pumpkin pie while I brought green bean casserole, sweet potatoes casserole, turkey, brötchen, apple pie and chocolate cake. Notice how I put my new baking dishes to good use.

I was happy to see there were plenty of Turkeys in the stores. This little guy only set us back 12 Euros (about $15 dollars). It did taste good and we will have turkey pot pie in a few days! Not being used to this oven, my turkey tasted good, but did not look stellar.

Sadly, as I was baking my pie I had a little mishap. It was finished baking, but the top was not golden enough for my aesthetic taste. Putting it back in the oven with the broiler on, I thought I would rinse a dish and then take the pie back out of the oven with a beautifully browned top crust. Instead I found a beautifully blackened top crust.

Luckily, I decided to just lift off the burnt layer (since I had a suitably flaky crust, there was still a layer of top crust left) and sprinkled a crumble topping over it. A few carefully supervised minutes later, I had a nicely salvaged apple pie.

I always wet brine my turkey which means I generally buy my gravy. I have tried to make gravy with the drippings of brined turkeys, but it always is too salty for me. Turkey gravy is not found in grocery stores here so I HAD to attempt a giblet gravy. I have never been able bring myself to make this before because it always grossed me out.  This year I stepped up and threw myself into it.

It amazes me that something so disgusting can turn into something so delicious. I let it simmer for a whole day and ended  up with a rich, thick stock. I did add a few tablespoons of the turkey drippings to fill out the flavor even more. I could not, however, bring myself to mince the neck, heart, liver and gizzard.

I also found a store that had reasonable prices for sweet potatoes. Here they are about to be made into a delicious casserole. Not too sweet with a delectable coconut, brown sugar and ground almond topping.

Of course, these tiny European refrigerators make leftovers a little challenging to find places for.

Saturday morning, while we were picking up a few last minute items for out Thanksgiving lunch, we also picked up an Advent wreath. Sunday is first Advent and as we don't have the space for a big tree, or even medium sized tree, we are trying to add some holiday decorations.

Happy First Advent!

Our dear friend Ute gave the boys a Milka Advent calendar and we bought the boys a Star Wars Advent calendar. On each day before Christmas, starting on December 1, you open one "door" in the calendar. Inside is treat. I have seen many advent calendars that are not disposable and are refilled every year.

These aren't really decorations, but they are fun for the boys.

I can't wait to go back to the Weihnachts Markt. It is beautiful and full of such interesting things. Here is a taste of what you will see next week.

These are beautiful lamps.

This is a gigantic Christmas Pyramid.

More beautiful decorations.

Haben eine wunderbare Woche!
Have a wonderful week!