A British Thanksgiving

HAPPY [belated] THANKSGIVING! I'm so grateful for having all of you in my life, and having your love and support that has made London possible.

Being in London for Thanksgiving was a rather strange feeling, as it was the first Thanksgiving without my family. At the same time though, I wasn't sad - just nostalgic. It's always been tradition to celebrate with my mom's side of the family in the morning and then my dad's side in the evening, so the entire day is full of family and food. I missed not being able to celebrate with my extended family, especially those who I don't see nearly enough (even when I'm in the same country). I also wish I could have seen my two godchildren, Gavin and Olivia, who are growing up MUCH too fast. Since I live in a different city from them, I'm always amazed by how much they grow in between holidays. Finally, I missed the delicious food that my family cooks for Thanksgiving, and all of the conversations that happen around the table. I plan on cooking and baking twice as much over the Christmas holiday to make up for lost time and food :)

Despite the fact that I couldn't spend the day with family and friends back home, I'm still so grateful for my wonderful Thanksgiving in London. I spent the day at rehearsal, which is always enjoyable and rewarding. Many of the cast members wished me a "happy Thanksgiving", even though they weren't really sure what it meant. Several of them asked me to explain Thanksgiving, and were quite jealous when they found out that they don't have a similar holiday revolving around friends and food (and being thankful, of course). After rehearsal, I had a drink with Jenna, who is one of my closest friends from Chicago who also came on the study abroad program for sound design. All in all though, the highlight of my Thanksgiving was making banoffee pie, which is officially one of my new favorite desserts. (I couldn't possibly choose just one favorite dessert, but it's definitely on my list of top twenty!) Banoffee pie is a favorite London dessert that can be found at practically every bakery and super market around town. My friend Alex, who decided that I needed to have a "proper London Thanksgiving", bought all of the ingredients to make a banoffee pie from scratch, including home-made caramel, cream, and crust. The recipe was actually much simpler than I thought it would be, and it was fun to still be able to spend time in the kitchen and bake on Thanksgiving. The pie turned out absolutely mouthwatering, and I'll definitely be making it for all of you over Christmas break!

Happy Black Friday/weekend shopping!