We had decided not to give up on the venerable American holiday, though. We invited over another American family for a big Sunday dinner. Our guests - the Cullen/Brethertons (Alison, Chris, Kyle and Ross) - are a family that kind of mirror us (if it was one of those trick mirrors that make you look a little thinner than you actually are). They have two boys (a little older than ours) and both are professors visiting ETH (our academic home in Zurich). Alison is visiting the same group that Elena and I are visiting (the Institute for Environmental Decisionmaking) while her husband Chris is here working on atmospheric/meteorology/climate change topics. They live in Seattle and work at the University of Washington. They also brought with them to dinner Chris's parents, Francis and Inge, who are both retired professors who live in Madison, Wisconsin and used to work at the UW. His parents were visiting for the holiday. It was a delight to share memories of Madison with Chris's parents.
Preparing for the meal was a monumental task given our small kitchen and refrigerator. Elena did an incredible job. Buying the ingredients was half the fun. I had a full list with me on Friday afternoon when I went downtown to Globus - the posh food retailer that carries a lot of hard-to-find stuff - to buy some of the fixings for the big day. Rather than turkey, which is a little difficult to procure in Zurich, we bought several roasting chickens.
Globus also had pumkin pie filling - another rarity on Zurich shelves.
Elena worked all weekend long procuring the rest of the ingredients and preparing all the yummy dishes (pies, stuffing, veggies, salad and the birds). We borrowed our neighbor's oven while they were out of town to make sure everything got done in time. The Cullens also brought some great dishes.We all sat down to a great meal around 1:30. The boys quickly gulped down some food and went off to the boys' bedroom to play. We sat and enjoyed adult conversation for a while. We then all decided to go a short hike up the hill to get a view down the valley of Lake Zurich and the city. It
was cold and raining a little, but it worked up our appetite for dessert by the time we returned.The pumpkin pies and apple strudel (brought by our guests) were awesome. The boys broke out one of their favorite games, which features the geography of Switzerland.
All had a great time and we were thankful for both our time abroad and our ability to celebrate with friends.
4 comments:
I'm so happy to see all the new posts! It's such fun following your adventures. I'm wondering how the language development is going, especially for the boys. Are they picking up the Swiss German readily? Is it exciting or frustrating for them? A little of both?
We are very thankful to have had the chance to celebrate Thanksgiving with you! You are a very welcoming family, not to mention amazing chefs. Alison, Chris, Ross and Kyle
Isaac's language developing is going quite well - he has many a conversation that I don't understand. Though, to be truthful, his progress in math has been even stronger. We think Elliot understands quite a bit, but he doesn't speak nearly as much as Isaac.
How is the bi-lingual thing going for Milo and Anabee?
We're glad you had a great thanksgiving! Traditions are cool; even in a new place. Chris and I cooked and had Thanksgiving Lunch. I had to work. Ugh! Still it was awesome...we had traditional turkey, wisconsin creamed corn and crackers dish and Louisiana dirty rice and homemade cranberry sauce. Chris is great in the kitchen. Roby is better. Pictures on our myspace page.
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