Fourth of July

Fourth of July... in Engand. The weather didn't cooperate. You'd think they didn't want us to celebrate. Gray skies kept it cool. Cool got cooler. Dark clouds rolled in. We had rain and hail. Then some sun and more rain. Brrrrr.... I never put away all of my winter clothes.

We improvised. Instead of the fake American hot dogs, we opted for English sausages - herbed and spicy, served with home- made potato salad. In spite of the rain, we barbequed. I managed to find some root beer, not usually available here.

Some institutions are worth hanging on to. We always do something for the Fourth of July. The other big day is Thanksgiving. Neither one is recognized here, so finding the foods that remind us of home becomes a big project. Turkey and the trimmings aren't so difficult to find as they eat the same or similar foods here at Christmas. The real challenge is making pumpkin pie. No tinned pumpkins, so you have to freeze fresh pumpkin around Halloween.

At our November wedding, we had a restaurant prepare a full Thanksgiving dinner for our guests, including pumpkin pie. Unfortunately, the chef decided to treat the pumpkin like apples, so we ended up with chunks of pumpkin! The seasoning was fine, but the texture was all wrong. Only the Americans among our guests knew the difference.