The Thanksgiving Salmon

Good morning! Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm still pretty new in these parts, so it doesn't intuitively feel like a holiday today. But I'm loving all the excitement. Canadians like thanksgiving but they like it a lot less energetically. It's always on a quiet Monday, though many people have their big dinner on the Sunday. Families get together if they don't live too far apart (maybe drive an hour or two). There are pumpkins and turkeys and pies, for sure, but the preparations are low-key. It's a nice afternoon.

There is very little that is quiet or subtle about American Thanksgiving. It's placement on a Thursday changes everything right from the start. If Thursday is Thanksgiving, then we might as well take Friday off too and make it a nice long weekend. And since Thursday and Friday are now a holiday, we should probably take most of Wednesday off, in preparation. I've heard, though not experienced first-hand, that airports are at their busiest on Thanksgiving, with people traveling across many states to spend the day with their family. And the internet? Completely filled with recipes, preparation schedules, craft projects and table settings! I follow a lot of food and cooking blogs already, but it seems that everyone, foodie or not, is contributing to the Thanksgiving excitement. I love the giddiness that comes through all these posts. If this holiday isn't intuitive for me yet, I'm still pretty excited. If we end up staying in the U.S. I think this will quickly become my favourite holiday.

So in honour of new traditions (but not in honor, that's just weird), we will watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade on TV and decorate our turkey hats (you'll want to come back tomorrow for the full hat details), and eat pie with friends. Since we don't eat meat in our house, I will be preparing the traditional Thanksgiving salmon. I'm still deciding between this recipe or that one.

Have a great day everyone!