Thanksgiving: Lost in Translation?

I have never felt as far away from home as I felt at the grocery store shopping for our Thanksgiving feast.  And I've never felt quite as frustrated by the differences as I did in trying to actually cook some of my most favorite things.    Turns out that a stick of butter is a very American measurement, sugar is not sugar and no one knows what marshmellow creme is.  Here is a photo of what happened when I tried to make "Mississippi Mud" for our Thanksgiving feast.

I must have called my mother-in-law in New Zealand a dozen times (is granulated sugar the same as sugar?  is icing mixture the same as powdered sugar?  can i use karo syrup for corn syrup?) and even she couldn't prevent this nightmare.  My "homemade" marshmellow creme would not set and the icing layer just sunk straight in.  Fortunately, I had enough time to make another layer of icing and hide the evidence.  While it looked terrible on the plate (marshmellow creme oozing out), it still tasted delicious.  Of course, i wouldn't want to venture how many calorires were in each slice. 

Corn Casserole presented a similar problem but I was prepared - or so I thought.  Our family recipe calls for "jiffy corn muffin mix" which, alas, is not sold in Australia.  But a quick google search uncovered a "clone" recipe.  Unfortunately, when I went to grab the cornmeal it was actually cornflour.  Another call to MIL confirmed what my gut and google said - NOT the same thing.  Fortunately, I was able to find a corn casserole recipe online that didn't call for cornmeal or jiffy mix. And then I left Andy to make everything else. . .heck, I even let him clean it all up. 

Zachary with our Aussie neighbors

The good news is that our guests didn't care one bit that the mud was messy or that we had to make some last-minute substitutions to the menu.  And they didn't care that the feast was held on a Sunday afternoon. They were thrilled to be included in such an American tradition and even came looking the part.  What a wonderful reminder of all we have to be thankful for - wonderful friends and family in every corner of the world.

A belated happy thanksgiving to you!