Thanksgiving in Norwich
This year, I celebrated my first Thanksgiving abroad. It was also my first Thanksgiving without access to my female relatives' turkey-cooking abilities.
As you can see from the pictures below, it didn't turn out to be a problem!
I and several American friends teamed up to put on a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for our international friends on Thursday night. We hosted several British mates, as well as folks from Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, and Thailand. I also took pumpkin pie to my classes and introduced people from many other nationalities to the bliss that is cinnamon, pumpkin, and whipped cream!
We served:
-Rebecca - UEA American Student Ambassador
Have a question about life as an American in Norwich? Thinking about studying at UEA? Get in touch with Rebecca at americanstudents@uea.ac.uk. She's available to chat about applications, student life, and anything else!
As you can see from the pictures below, it didn't turn out to be a problem!
I and several American friends teamed up to put on a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for our international friends on Thursday night. We hosted several British mates, as well as folks from Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, and Thailand. I also took pumpkin pie to my classes and introduced people from many other nationalities to the bliss that is cinnamon, pumpkin, and whipped cream!
We served:
- A full local bird. Norfolk County, where UEA is located, is actually the UK's "Turkey Capital." We got a huge bird, and my flatmate stuffed it with apples, cinnamon, and cinnamon, as well as buttering under the skin. It was delicious and oh-so-juicy.
- Mashed potatoes. Those are pretty easy, no matter where you are!
- Mac and cheese. Good old comfort food!
- Rolls.
- Asparagus.
- Cheesy potatoes.
- Stuffing.
- "Cranberry sauce." The grocery stores in Norwich do stock cranberries. But they don't stock up for Thanksgiving, because they don't know any better. And all the Americans flock to the stores early. I didn't know this...so our homemade "cranberry sauce" was made with Craisins I happened to pack in my luggage coming over from the States, apples, and blackberries. But it was really good - and it definitely tasted mostly like cranberry sauce!
- Homemade pumpkin pie. This was tricky - Norwich doesn't really have pumpkins after Halloween, and most grocery stores don't stock canned pumpkin. But, thanks to some pre-planning, I was able to order it pretty cheaply from Amazon.co.uk. And thanks to Amazon's free shipping within the UK, it arrived free and in time!
Have a question about life as an American in Norwich? Thinking about studying at UEA? Get in touch with Rebecca at americanstudents@uea.ac.uk. She's available to chat about applications, student life, and anything else!
My friend hosted a Thanksgiving dinner at her house too! It was my first Thanksgiving. We had a little sharing round to say what we're grateful for. Not sure if that's a Thanksgiving tradition but it was very nice anyway. :)
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