Canadian Thanksgiving

 As you probably know, Thanksgiving is celebrated in Canada on a different day than in the U.S. Since it's one of my favorite holidays, I try to celebrate on both occasions. This year I hoped to celebrate the Canadian version with Rita and her parents, but it didn't work out. They all had other commitments.

That left me alone for the evening, but I decided to press forward with my celebration plans anyway. There was a big problem, though: I don't cook, which is kind of a requirement for having a traditional Thanksgiving meal. I tried my best to prepare something that resembled a Thanksgiving feast, but the results were a bit comical.

• Since I don't know how to cook a turkey, I grilled a steak instead. Hey, it's meat.
• I couldn't in a million years make stuffing from scratch, but I lucked out and found a box of Stove-Top in the pantry. You prepare it by adding water and heating it in the microwave. Even I could handle that. This was the part of the meal that best matched a true Thanksgiving.
• I've never made mashed potatoes, so I just heated a potato in the microwave.
• I don't know how to make gravy and didn't have a mix. I couldn't think of a good substitute for gravy so I just diced a tomato and put it on my potato. Not really the same thing as gravy.
• I boiled some corn on the cob. As long as I can just add water I'm a pretty good cook.
• In place of dinner rolls I toasted some French bread.
• A pumpkin pie would have been a traditional dessert, but I couldn't think of a good substitute for that. Instead, I made a substitute for strawberry pie a la mode: Two strawberry toaster waffles with ice cream on top.

It didn't really compare to a good home-cooked Thanksgiving dinner, but it was enough to make me think of Thanksgiving and to also think of all the wonderful reasons I have to give thanks.