Each year on the last Thursday in November, Americans gather for a day of gobbling. Sharing this uniquely American holiday with your exchange student is momentous and rewarding. Our past ETC students have claimed this celebration to be one of their favorite experiences of their entire exchange year.
Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday in the United States, and Thanksgiving 2020 occurs on Thursday, November 26.
Long ago, in the early 1600s, a group of people in England wanted to practice religion in their own way. The King controlled the Church of England, and everyone was ordered to go to the same type of church. Anyone who dared to disobey would be jailed or worse. The group of people who wanted to free the Church of England from the King’s rule, making it “pure” were known as the Puritans. To escape the rule of the King and his church, around 100 men, women and children left their homeland, with their dream of religious freedom. They sailed on a ship called the Mayflower on a pilgrimage to the New World. These brave explorers, the Pilgrims, landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts after their long six-week journey. It was December 11th, 1620. The cold winter had set in. The land was strange to them, and nothing seemed familiar. The winter was long, cold, and very hard for the Pilgrims. They lost almost half their population by spring. The colonists formed a relationship with the neighboring Wampanoag Native American tribe who helped by supplying them with seeds and food, teaching them about their new home, and giving them the skills – such as fishing, planting and hunting – all that they needed to survive in this strange, new land.
With seeds and plants received from the Native Americans, the Pilgrims planted crops and that fall the crop was abundant. To celebrate, the Pilgrims had a three-day feast of thanksgiving. Many foods were cooked for the feast – wild turkey, duck, and venison were probably served, along with fish, pumpkins, squash, corn, sweet potatoes, and cranberries. The Wampanoag tribe joined them for this harvest feast in 1621 thus the “First Thanksgiving.” For more than two centuries, days of thanksgiving were celebrated by individual colonies and states. It wasn’t until 1863, during the Civil War, that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day to be held each November. In 1941 President Franklin Roosevelt made Thanksgiving a national holiday.
Let’s add a unique dish to your Thanksgiving and other upcoming holiday menus! Take a peek at these 12 unique recipes all from the native countries of ETC students!
Ingredients:
1-5/8 cups flour
4 eggs
1 tbsp Salt
1 tsp nutmeg
3 big carrots
1 big onion
1 cup cherry tomatoes
7/8 cup peas
3 tbsp butter
1/3 cup grated Emmentaler cheese
freshly ground pepper
Recipe Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
Form spaetzle dough by combining the flour, eggs, salt, nutmeg, and about 3/8 cup water in a bowl. Vigorously stir until bubbles form. Allow the dough to sit for 15 minutes.
In a big pot bring salt water to a boil. Using a spaetzle board and scraper, place the spaetzle dough onto the board and slowly scrape off into the water. If you don’t have a board, use a colander with large holes and press the dough through with a spatula. It takes about 2-3 minutes for the spaetzle to cook. Remove them from the water and rinse with cold water to stop them from cooking further. Set aside in an oven-safe dish.
Peel and shred the carrots. Slice the tomatoes into halves. Chop the onion. In a skillet melt the butter. Add the carrots, pepper pieces, peas, and onion, and lightly cook for about 3 minutes. Flavor with salt and pepper.
Add the vegetables to the spaetzle and stir. Sprinkle with cheese and place the dish in the oven for about 5 minutes or until the cheese has melted.
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For the Lo Mein
For The Sauce
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For garnish:
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Notes- To freeze them, shape the balls, place them on the baking sheet and bring to the freezer. Once they are frozen, transfer to a ziplock bag and keep them in the freezer up to 3 months.
Once you’re ready to use them, preheat the oven to 400 as usual and bake the frozen balls for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden and puffy!
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For the porridge:
For the sweet rice dumplings:
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