Monday, October 10, 2011

Canadian Thanksgiving and Columbus Day

Today marks the celebration of Thanksgiving in Canada, the mysterious land to the north of the United States. Canadians are interesting- they are a lot like the citizens of the United States, but there are subtle, sometimes eerie, differences. One difference between Canadians and U.S.ers is the choice of bird eaten on Thanksgiving... in the U.S., the traditional centerpiece of the Thanksgiving is a turkey, while Canadians typically roast a loon for their Thanksgiving meal.

Uh, just kidding folks- I have a lot of Canadians on the blogroll, ranging from Ontario to British Columbia (C'mon Maritimers and Newfoundlanders, come out of hiding so I can get coast-to-coast coverage of your nation!). Happy Thanksgiving, jim, MenD, Laura, D-KW, SMcG, interrobang, and all other Canadians. This Canadian Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for Canadians- you folks are great!

Today is also Columbus Day, the day in which Italian-Americans celebrate their heritage. This pains me to say, because my paternal grandfather's parents emigrated from the Greater Genoa Metropolitan Area, but Columbus, the most famous child of Genoa, was pretty much a horrible person. Yeah, his accomplishments were many, but he was, in many ways, responsible for a legacy of appropriation of land, extirpation of cultures, and genocide. I think that Garibaldi might be a better exemplar of Italian achievements in the Americas- he even lived on Staten Island for a period of time. Whether or not you disagree with me about commemorating Columbus, you pretty much have to agree with me about cannoli. Cannoli are awesome- whenever it is an option, take the cannoli. I'll be celebrating my heritage with pride, but I'll be showing my allegiances by wearing a red shirt.

CONFESSION TIME: The red shirt also hides the tomato sauce stains...

9 comments:

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

Here's the Santa Maria, from my bloggy archives.

Happy Thankgiving to our loonie-spendin' friends!
~

Substance McGravitas said...

Thank you. Today I am thankful for naked cavernous wide-open holes that you can jam almost anything into.

Mmm, stuffing.

Dr.KennethNoisewater said...

DID SOMEBODY SAY "CANNOLI?" *destroys them Cookie Monster-like* "C" is for CANNOLI--that's good enough for me!

Big Bad Bald Bastard said...

Here's the Santa Maria, from my bloggy archives.

Back to the Future, Thunder style!

Today I am thankful for naked cavernous wide-open holes that you can jam almost anything into.

It's not that I don't love you, but sometimes you're wronger than a football bat, old chum!

*destroys them Cookie Monster-like*

Yeah, cannoli are like that. I have to confess, I think I prefer sfogliatelle.

M. Bouffant said...

There is much doubt about ol' Chris being an Eyetie. Damn Polacks! (Where the Daily Mail gets the Portuguese thing in the headline is puzzling 'though.)

Anyway, those of us w/ a bit o' Berlusconi in our backstory needn't necessarily be embarrassed any more. (Maternal grandmother's P.U.s emigrated, in my case.)

Now where those loon-eaters get off attaching themselves to one of our less-significant holidays is another problem.

Mandos said...

Recipe for planked loon:

Catch a Loon Duck. (Black Lake Loon’s are best). Pluck and clean. Boil well. With sharp knife, split duck down the belly. Splay it on a well soaked hardwood plank. Nail it good and wire it securely. Place upright on plank in front of hot coals on outdoor fireplace. Cook well for about two hours. When done, throw that fishy duck away, and eat the plank!!!

Mandos said...

Someone asked the Yahoo Answers Vegetarian and Vegan forum how to cook a loon, because it's an active forum.

Oh, and I concur on the red shirt. There should be more food-coordinated clothing.

Laura said...

Thank you for the Thanksgiving shout out! I appreciate it.
Lobster Tails ROCK-you're right about that. However, we don't eat Loons. We actually eat Americans. :)
We rarely eat ones from New York though as they are way too tough and the ones from Florida are too old.
A nice mid-western "merican" (is that how you spell that???), usually fits the bill. :)

((Hugs))
Laura

Dragon-King Wangchuck said...

Thanks. Had a delightful time. Also thanks to youse Yanks for coming up with teh idea of deep-frying a turkey. Uh, I mean loon.