An American Thanksgiving abroad

Ian drove up on Thursday to spend part of the Thanksgiving weekend with us.  Although, given that Canada’s Thanksgiving has long been over, it turned into more of a Christmas weekend than anything else!

We kicked off the fun with a Thanksgiving-style meal at Rooster’s Quarters on Denman.  Being the non-cooks that we are, Shane and I thought this “homestyle” restaurant would be perfect for eating some poultry.  The three of us ordered chicken and beef entrees, accompanied by an appetizer of poutine (which, you may remember, we tried for the first time at the PNE with Carrie).  It was a decent meal, although a far cry from the traditional dinner (plus cinnamon Jello salad!) we’re used to enjoying courtesy of my mom.

On Friday, we spent the day shopping inside Pacific Centre Mall and along Robson Street.  Shane and I were mostly on the hunt for Xmas presents, while Ian was hoping to take advantage of the favourable exchange rate to buy a few gifts and some clothes.  We met with varying degrees of success, although one notable moment for me was buying a little stuffed Mukmuk (the fourth and final 2010 Olympic mascot sidekick, released last week)!

That night, we went to Stanley Park to check out Bright Nights, one of several holiday light displays set up here for December.  This is located in the same area as the pirate-themed Halloween exhibit we saw in October.  The plaza was much more decorated than last time, and I plan to go back in the next couple of weeks to take some goddamn pictures (the rain has made me unbelievably lazy in this department).  We visited the children’s farmyard again – where the animals were MUCH more active than before – then hopped on the train to see the elaborate Christmas decorations along the railway route.

I have to say, the rain definitely enhanced the lights.  The wet leaves twinkled in the dark, and the fine mist falling from the sky almost looked like snow!  My favourite part of the ride was the ice-skating polar bears hovering on top of the water we when crossed over a small pond; it really did look like ice, albeit ice with occasional raindrops.

After a night of games and drunken debauchery Bailey’s consumption, we all took it easy on Saturday morning.  We grabbed lunch at Blenz with Ian before he left, then got back into our regular routine.  Not to worry, though, we did make one more Thanksgivingy stop that evening, when we went to Steeps (it's the new TeaSource) for a pot of tea and a perfect, delectable slice of pumpkin pie - mmm.  Happy (belated) Thanksgiving to everyone back in the States!