A Very Scottish Thanksgiving

When I realized that I would be missing Thanksgiving at home this year, I was so disappointed. I wouldn't be driving to Olympia. No Turkey. None of my mother's delicious pumpkin pie or Aunt Tami's caramel brownies. No pickled herring and following discussion about how I hate pickled herring. No driving the tractor or watching movies. No family.

Well, nothing could compare with being at home but somewhere out of my disappointment came the idea of making Thanksgiving here. To my surprise everyone jumped on board this plan. Before I knew it I had 25 people coming! Nearly everyone who works in Ochil Tower.

We actually had quite the spread. I spent at least a week worrying about the food, would we have enough or too much, and how much could I reasonably expect to prepare, and who was going to help, and who would follow through with bringing something. In the end I had so many people helping me in the kitchen that we added soup, and mashed potatoes to the menu. I know, I know, how could I think of having Thanksgiving without mashed potatoes? Well, they were on the menu until the day before when someone else asked if they could bring potatoes, since I was beginning to question how many were actually coming to help cook, and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get everything done, I thought I would share out the potatoes. I also gave away the task of making the pumpkin pie because one of the girls here wanted to make it and I was told that her pumpkin pie was really good. I'll just say that it wasn't as good as Mom's (I think I have to make pumpkin pie this weekend). Also not as good as Mom's, the advice about the turkey. I was told that if I wanted to cook the turkey on Saturday then I wouldn't have to buy it before Friday. Actually I was told not to buy it before Friday because it was unhygienic to allow meat to defrost for longer than 24 hours, and there was no way that it would take longer than that to defrost a turkey. When I bought the turkey the label even advised longer than 24 hours (as did my mother). That left Esther and I moving turkeys Friday night from Sycamore to Belvedire where we gave the turkeys a warm bath in the sink to defrost before putting them in the fridge for the night. It was quite the adventure not only cooking my first Thanksgiving meal but also cooking such a meal for 25 people! It was a Thanksgiving to remember though.

On the menu:
Mushroom Soup
Turkey (actually two turkeys)
Mashed Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes
Spinach, Cranberry, Walnut Salad
Corn on the cob
Apple-Cranberry Pie
Pumpkin Pie
Chocolate Cake
Brownies
Fruit Salad

The turkeys!!
Simeon and I stuffing the turkeys.
Look Ma, I'm stuffed!!
Annie, preparing the sweet potatoes.
Annie and Esther making the sweet potato dish.

Veit cooking the cranberries.
Aren't they gorgeous?
Those birds are a cookin'.
Time for basting.
It's the sweet potatoes' turn in the oven. I don't know if you can tell but some of the marshmallows on top are pink. Apparently in Scotland you can't buy a package of plain white marshmallows, you can only find white and pink together. Go figure.
Kirsten is busy making brownies.
Everyone working away. Esther is folding napkins with Veit (you can see him below) while Annie is preparing mushroom soup, Carolin is helping make pie and Kirsten is finishing those brownies.

Washing and peeling the potatoes. Lots and lots of potatoes.
Jens and David. Still washing and peeling potatoes. Don't they look like they are enjoying themselves?
The potatoes are finally ready to cook. I don't know if you can tell how big that pot is or how many potatoes are in there but we cooked a LOT of potatoes.
Cheers!!
Apple-Cranberry Pie. Making it look pretty.
Busy busy.Carolin and Annie.

Our beautiful table.

Annie is serving her delicious mushroom soup.
Gerusa and Carolin are carving the turkey and serving us all.Yumm!! (I can't figure out why it is sideways.)

Enjoying our meal (this is only part of the table).
Singing Christmas carols. It is very much Christmas here already and well, I'm still not sure exactly how it happened but we ended up singing Christmas carols on Thanksgiving. Like I said, it was a very Scottish Thanksgiving.
The desert table.
Anne, Annie, Carolin and David.

Singing Ding Dong Merrily On High (and struggling with the glorias)


The Germans led by Simeon singing (sort of) a German Christmas carol.



And so there you have it, a very Scottish Thanksgiving. I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

Part 3 The Rescue

This photo is actually from Day 2. I had to include it even though it is out of order now because you can see the trail we took, winding down the mountain. If you look carefully just to the left of center you can see Gerusa walking on the trail. You can also see the other mountain which we climbed up before realizing it was the wrong way.

The Three Kings Hiker's Restaurant. Jens, myself and David.
Valerie and Simeon.
Mmmm, delicious.
Waking up to the rain. Day 3.



Rain, rain and more rain. After a few hours of Scottish rain me and everything in my rucksack was soaked. Still walking. Still raining.
Jens and I bringing up the rear.....as usual.
"We're so excited!!" You could say that this was our mantra for the trip. We kept saying it in an attempt to make it true. In this picture I am holding my trousers up because I am so wet underneath my rain trousers that my jeans were falling down.
Gerusa, David and Simeon taking a break. Jens and I could see them from way down the road taking their break. They took their break and finished before we were even close. By the time we reached this spot we didn't dare stop for a break. Sitting at this point was dangerous.

Eating another proper meal in the fancy hotel restaurant in Bridge of Orchy. This was where we assessed the many blisters on Valerie's feet and Esther's sprained ankle and the decision was made that they absolutely could not and should not continue. It was then decided that since we were a group we should all finish here at Bridge of Orchy. There were no complaints about that. A couple people from the school had offered to come and pick us up should we have the need and so while waiting for Cameron to rescue us we enjoyed a meal and a few hot, and cold drinks. Sitting there I really realized how tired and sore and wet I was. I started shivering while we sat there and eventually had to find the driest pieces of clothing in my bag to change into.
On the one hand it would have been nice to keep walking but I think it was best that we stayed together as a group and really, we enjoyed ourselves up to this point but we were in holiday mode, just wanting to take it easy, and it was good that we ended the trip here on a positive note.

Yumm, the soup was so good.Woohoo! Cameron is here! When we saw him pull up outside we really jumped out of our seats so fast with excitement. I didn't know that I could move so quickly and fluidly at that point, I was really so sore.
Gerusa, Jens, Esther, David, Me, Valerie and Simeon.
"Yeah! We hiked the West Highland Way! Even if it was only for three days."
And so, three days later our trip ends. Cameron drove us home in the school minibus. I arrived at Sycamore hoping that no one was awake so that I wouldn't have to answer the "oh, you're back so soon" question. As I approached the house it looked dark but when I reached the top of the stairs I saw the lights. Nico was home. Not only that but his door was open. I paused at the door to the hallway, got my key ready and prepared myself to walk quickly past his open door, unlock mine and slip in un-noticed. It didn't work. I didn't even reach my door before I heard it. "Oh you're back." He said.
"Yeah."
"Why so soon?"
I explained.
Laughter.
"Well, I bet Kirsten that you guys would be home as soon as the weather turned."

As it turned out he wasn't the only one who didn't think we would make it and wasn't surprised to see us.

And that's the West Highland Way.

Part 2 Just keep walking, walking, walking

Gerusa and I climbing over one of many fences along the way. This is still Day 1.
I may or may not have mentioned before that Scotland actually has a law which allows a person to walk anywhere they like as long as they don't do damage and remain a certain distance away from homes. For that reason, all over Scotland you will find something similar to these stairs which make it easier for people to climb over the fences. While the stairs certainly make it easy-er, they don't necessarily make it easy. You can't really see it here but there is still significant fencing at the top which you have to step over and the height of each stair was not measured with short people in mind. On the first day this was not a problem but as our legs and feet became more and more tired and the packs became heavier I can assure you that I was not pleased when I saw these stairs in our path.
Scotland.
Checking the map.
Ah, Fresh, cold water. David, Esther and Jens.

This is where we stopped to camp on the first evening. First order of business.......feet.
Gerusa and Jens with Valerie in the background.
Making supper. Jens, Gerusa, Simeon and Valerie.
We did eventually set up the tents.
Brushing the teeth the next morning. If you can't judge by the picture let me just tell you that it was COLD!!! Oh, and they are all facing the same way because it was so windy which made spitting the toothpaste fun.



Feeling slightly refreshed and ready to hike our second day. Still cold.
Valerie, Simeon and Jens.
Day 2.
Oh the rocks.
Climbing. Day 2 was all about climbing up one mountain and down the other side and then up the next mountain and so on and so on. And everywhere rocks. Very, very rocky, not fun for the feet.
Climbing down wasn't any better than climbing up.
Esther, Gerusa, Valerie, Simeon (you can't see him) and Jens studying the map.
Yes, we are still out on the trail and not back in the city. Why then does it look like we are sitting at a proper table, with what appears to be a beer as well as a cappuccino instead of huddling around a campfire in the rain? Well, we are sitting in the Three Kings Hotel where we stopped at about 5pm to camp outside. We were all quite exhausted after having climbed up and down and up and down mountain after mountain and suffering such a morale crash after climbing half way up another mountain before realizing it was the wrong way, and having to go back down, across the valley and find the trail at the base of another mountain. When we found the hotel we just couldn't pass up the idea of a proper hot meal and drinks. It felt a little like cheating but we're all okay with that. By the way, Jens and I were the ones leading the group up the mountain when we were going the wrong way. He and I were so often in the back of the group and just this once we were in the front. I don't think I could make you understand the level of excitement that was between us at that moment. Haha. We were so determined to stay in the front and we set off at such a pace. Only to find out it was in the wrong direction. Then of course when we turned around to correct this, we were again at the back of the group. We almost died.

Part three is still to come. I don't know if I should say soon but as soon as I can.