A Feast for Canadians - Week of Oct. 7th

"This is the power of gathering: it inspires us, delightfully, to be more hopeful, more joyful, more thoughtful: in a word, more alive." ~Alice Waters 

Thanksgiving has been officially celebrated as an annual holiday in Canada since November 6, 1879. While the date varied by year and was not fixed, it was commonly the second Monday in October. On January 31, 1957, the Governor General of Canada Vincent Massey issued a proclamation stating: "A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed – to be observed on the second Monday in October." 

Cameron's great grandmother, Mary, on his dad's side, is French Canadian. We also have cousins with Canadian lineage so we were excited to officially celebrate by gathering on Saturday.

Friday evening, our household was full of baking activity.  We made mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, gathered fruit and appetizers and made a dessert.  Chris and his son were in charge of Oreo truffles.  This came about because Cam claimed the Oreos were "getting stale" and since there were quite a few left in the package, a truffle recipe seemed to be the appropriate action to take.  After pulverising the Oreos in the food processor and adding cream cheese, they were ceremoniously dipped in dark chocolate.

Saturday was the scheduled day of our Thanksgiving feast.  It was warm enough to be outside for most of the afternoon.  While the turkey and duck baked in the oven, we soaked up the rays on the deck.

Canadian Thanksgiving dishes follow the same format of offerings as in the U.S.  The only exception is poutine.

Poutine, a dish of french fries, cheese curds, and gravy, originated in rural Quebec in the 1950s. It became popular across Canada in the 1980s and 1990s, and is now a symbol of Canadian culture.

It has also become a staple at our Canadian Thanksgiving dinner.  We were all completely stuffed by early evening after partaking in all of the delicious food. Our dessert options of pumpkin truffles, Oreo truffles, homemade apple pie and ice cream topped off the meal.

Since the sun has been setting before 8pm, we were fortunate enough to see the colorful sky before heading back to Grand Rapids.  We all agreed we would definitely be having a late breakfast the next morning!

Camology Quotes:

Having technology-minded parents can be beneficial...or not.  Cameron has a school chromebook to use at home for any homework.  When he logged in on Sunday, there was a window indicating that his password was recently changed.  He was on full alert...

"Dad, I've been hacked!  I did not change my password.  We need to contact the school IT department immediately!" "Mom, I need you to send a picture of my screen to my teachers!"