The Land of Icebergs Doesn't Contain Iceberg Lettuce...

The smell of pancake batter transforming into cooked, fluffy pancakes wafted through the house, permeating every corner and crack. No doubt the smell of burning batter will soon replace the fresh smell as I write this blog post. The rain is falling down like glass diamonds falling from heaven, smashing into a thousand smaller diamonds as they collide with the deck. The house is silent asides from the music playing from the laptop speakers. The outdoor temperature has infiltrated our house, leaving it a solid ten degrees or less. However, stubborn as I am, I will not touch the thermometer...not until November.
Today, Saturday the sixth of October, is going to be a day full of prep work, laughs and wonderfully smelling apartments. Julia, a dear friend of mine, and I have taken on the task of preparing and hosting a Thanksgiving dinner for an audience of thirty young adults. There is no bragging in that statement, let me assure you. Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter....any big holidays...spent with the Anderson clan results in fifty people; so thirty is not so bad. We've had overwhelming support from the church, with families donating everything from two turkeys, pounds of carrots and root vegetables, to juice. We never expected it, but it's definitely a sign God is at work. But just as it seemed like everything was falling into place, I ran into a problem...with the iceberg lettuce.
Now, when we were planning our dinner Julia informed me that they never had a green salad at Thanksgiving. My thoughts immediately went to my mother's layer salad she makes for absolutely every holiday...and when she doesn't there's an uproar. So I suggested I'd make it for us and bring in a little tradition from back home. Unfortunately I never realized how horribly difficult a task I'd undertaken.
Remember how I live on an island. It's called Newfoundland. And I live on the most Eastern point of Canada. Everything is shipped in. Everything. Banana's stop in Montreal before heading here, either a dark green colour that'll never change in this climate, or dark brown. A lot of vegetables aren't available at all. It is the fall and there is a little farm that does produce fresh vegetables and they're quite superb. However! Iceberg lettuce...or any kind of lettuce for that matter...does not make it to this island in any good shape or form. I went to three different grocery stores in search of the bottom layer of this salad, finding rotten organic iceberg lettuce and wilted Romaine lettuce. So it was yesterday when I purchased two containers of slightly wilted Romaine lettuce in hopes I can freshen it up and make it work.

In other news I've connected with my Russian prof about doing an exchange to Russia. I'll give you a short update on that now. We've discussed a university in St. Petersburg called the Herzen State Pedagogical University. http://www.herzen.spb.ru/en/ I would be going next fall for a semester before hopefully returning back to Canada...or staying for another term -evil grin-. I'm thrilled at the idea of fulfilling my childhood dream of going to Russia, but also terrified to the bone. Further updates shall be posted in the future.

Now I must depart and take care of the burning pancakes. I pray you all have a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving filled with joy, friends and family.

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