Thanksgiving and dressing...

My host family's house

Sunshine by the pond

Crazy rommie

Sunset by the pond

Her på 1. søndag i advent, er Thanksgiving for alvor et overstået kapitel. 

Selvom advent ikke rigtigt bliver fejret ligesom vi gør det derhjemme, men nu er alle besøgende familiemedlemmer taget hjem, og resterne af kalkun m.m. er kommet i fryseposer. 

Det har været min aller første Thanksgiving, og den bestod af en hel masse god mad, og godt selskab med familiemedlemmer og venner. 

Nogle har hørt at Thanksgiving er større end jul herovre, og det er måske rigtigt for nogle familier, men hvad jeg har indtryk af indtil videre, så tror jeg nu at julen er større her. 

Måske det har noget at gøre med muligheden for flere dekorationer, længere periode, osv., men måske er det bare fordi der er børn i familien - det skal jeg ikke kunne sige ;-) 

Vores Thanksgiving menu bestod af:

Grillet kalkun

Grillet skinke

Grillet boston butt (ca. en nakkefilet)

Mac 'n Cheese

Dressing (som ikke har noget med dressing at gøre, men er en brød/kylling ret som man laver i stedet for fyld i kalkunen)

Green bean casserole

Fried okra

Sweet potato souffle

Peas and corn

Og alle desserterne:

Mystery pecan pie

Strawberry pie

Italian cream cake

Congealed salad

Forskellige cookies

Så der var nok at se til :-) 

Jeg har egentligt altid haft en ide om at Thanksgiving var en middags-ting, men det er faktisk mere en sen frokost - og med alt den mad vi fik, så blev det aldrig rigtigt til aftensmad den dag..

Jeg fik også shoppet lidt til Black Friday hvor butikkerne startede udsalg alt lige fra 17 om eftermiddagen torsdag til kl. 5 om morgenen fredag. 

I morgen er det "CyberMonday", som er ligesom BlackFriday, men bare for alle internetbutikkerne i stedet ;-) - så må vi se om der er noget jeg ikke kan leve uden! 

::::

On the 1st Sunday of Advent, Thanksgiving is now officially over. 

Even though advents are not really celebrated here, all the visiting family members have headed home, and the leftover turkey has been bagged and put in the deep freezer. 

It's been my very first Thanksgiving holiday and it primarily consisted of a whole lot of good food, and great company with family and friends. 

Some say Thanksgiving is bigger than Christmas here, and that might be true for some families, however my impression so far is that Christmas is bigger here. 

Maybe it has to do with the opportunity of decorating, or the length of the holiday, but maybe it's just because there are kids in the family - who knows ;-)

Our Thanksgiving menu consisted of: 

Grilled turkey

Grilled ham

Grilled boston butt

Mac 'n Cheese

Dressing (the bread/chicken kind of dish, that has nothing to do with salad dressing)

Green bean casserole

Fried okra

Sweet potato soufflé

Peas and corn

And then the desserts:

Mystery pecan pie

Strawberry pie

Italian cream cake

Congealed salad

Various cookies

So there was plenty to see to :-)

Somehow I've always thought of Thanksgiving of being a dinner thing, but it's actually more like a late lunch thing - and with all the food we had, we never really had dinner..

I also got to do some Black Friday shopping - stores started their sales somewhere between 5PM Thursday and 5AM Friday.

Tomorrow is Cyber Monday which is a spin-off on Black Friday, but for all the internet shops ;-) - so we'll have to see if I find something I just can't live without!

About one-way streets and driving in DC...

National Mall panorama at lunch time 

Tour at the National American Indian Museum

One of the entrances to the National American Art Museum

Burgers at Johnny Rockets

På vores allersidste dag i Washington stiftede vi bekendtskab med en af de smartere frokost-sandwich barer som er velbesøgt af alle de lokale, travle business-folk, og en af de gode gamle, klassiske, amerikanske dinere, hvor vi primært så turister.

Frokosten blev indtaget i fuld solskin på National Mall (og i ca. 20 grader) - skønt, skønt, skønt!

Ind i mellem havde vi været på kunstmuseum og set traditionelle amerikanske møbler, og på Native American Indian (indianer) museum for denne gang at besøge deres udstillinger. 

Hvert sekund skulle nydes inden afgang mod Georgia ved 7-tiden, men der skulle også sendes et par postkort - og jeg ville virkelig gerne sende dem fra DC, og ikke først fra Valdosta når jeg kom hjem. 

Det skulle dog vise sig ikke at være så ligetil som man skulle tro, man kan nemlig ikke købe frimærker særlig mange steder her - f.eks. solgte de dem ikke der hvor jeg købte postkortene, som man ellers skulle tro. 

Så inden vi kørte en sidste tur til Georgetown for at se området i dagslys og kigge lidt i butikkerne, satte jeg GPS'en på nærmeste posthus, som angiveligt skulle have frimærker til Europa. 

Straks som vi kom ind i bilen faldt resten af befolkningen i søvn, og jeg var ladt alene med min iPhone som navigator i den ene hånd, og Washington's travle, og vanvittige trafik som min udfordring!

Lad mig sige det med det samme: Washington vandt!

Efter at have kørt omkring den samme blok (hvor GPS'en sagde at posthuset var), uden at se lyset af et posthus, var jeg ved at være godt frustreret, og i et forsøg på at passere blokken endnu en gang, finder jeg mig lige pludselig på en ensrettet vej - i den FORKERTE RETNING! 

Heldigvis ingen alarm, og jeg redder situationen rimelig nemt, men i sidste ende kom postkortene hele vejen med hjem til Valdosta hvor jeg sendte dem i går.

Om trafikken i Washington kan jeg kun sige at jeg er glad for at vi brugte Uber hele weekenden bortset fra den sidste dag. De er utroligt glade for skilte som kun gælder i visse tidsperioder på visse dage? F.eks.: venstresving forbudt, mandag-fredag, 6.30-8.30AM og 4.30-6.30PM - og når hjernen er i ferie-mode, så er det altså forvirrende! 

Nu er jeg klar til gengæld klar til Thanksgiving, som fejres her hos min værstfamilie - vi bliver 18 personer :-)

::::

On our very last day in Washington we both tried sandwiches from one of the fancier and popular sandwich places in downtown DC, and good old fashioned, traditional American diner style hamburgers. 

We enjoyed our lunch at the National Mall in sunshine (and around 65 degrees) - just wonderful!

Before and after we visited the National American Art Museum where we saw some old American furniture, and the National Native American Indian Museum where we actually saw exhibitions and not just the food court. 

I was enjoying every last second of DC before we had to leave for South Georgia around 7, but before leaving I really wanted to send my postcards from DC, and not take them home and send them from Valdosta. 

However, that was not as easily done as it was said! There aren't that many places where you can actually get stamps for Europe, and the place I bought the postcards didn't sell stamps at all. 

So before heading to Georgetown one last time to see the neighborhood in day light and to visit some of the shops, I set the GPS to the nearest post office. 

By the time I started driving, the rest of the car fell asleep from the exhaustion of the museums, and I was left alone with my iPhone as a navigator and the DC traffic as my challenge.

Let me just say it: DC won!

After circling the same block several times, with no sign of the post office that was supposed to be there, I was getting slightly frustrated. So in an attempt to circle the block one last time, I all of a sudden find myself going down a one-way street, in the WRONG DIRECTION!

No alarm, I elegantly saved the situation, but the postcards stayed in the car until we got to Valdosta where I could actually get to a postoffice. 

About traffic in DC, all I can say is that I am happy that we used Uber the entire weekend, except that last day. They have a thing here for signs that are restricted to a certain time period? Like: No left turns on Monday-Fridy from 6.30-8.30AM and 4.30-6.30PM - and with a brain that's on holiday, that is really confusing!

Now I am ready for some Thanksgiving celebration here with my host family - we'll be 18 people :-)