An American Thanksgiving in Melbourne

I flew into Melbourne the day before Thanksgiving, for less than two hundred dollars round trip—it’s great to have a holiday that no one else knows about. I was staying with Kate, a Fulbrighter in the US Forest Service who married Mike three weeks before hauling him along to Australia. Kate and Mike live in an apartment complex with a big courtyard, and across the courtyard live Kyle, another Fulbrighter and a math professor, and his wife Melissa; and Susan, a Fulbrighter from Texas. Within half an hour’s bus or tram ride live Fulbrighters Karl (who’s from Enfield, CT), Jessica and her husband, and Justin, who’s actually in university housing. Justin is known as the partyer. Karl lives with Brian, an American friend of his who graduated from college, took one look at the economy, and decided he would be more likely to get a job in Australia…so here he is. I was stoked to be surrounded by Americans.

My kind hostess was out to dinner when I arrived, but she left me the keys. I ran out before the stores closed to walk the streets, see downtown, wander the parks, and head back to bed before eleven…I was still recovering from a sore throat, and pretty exhausted. Melbourne looks a lot like Sydney but it has a totally different vibe: almost West Coast—not beachy, but extremely fashion-oriented, stuffed with windy streets full of vegan cafes and gluten-free bakeries. They have a well-organized tram system and, like Sydney, lots of green parks with huge, possum-infested trees.



I planned to make a pecan pie for Thanksgiving, and so the Monday before, when my buddy Craig invited me to “Aussie Thanksgiving turkey barbecue dinner,” I decided it was an opportunity to practice. Interestingly, no one else present knew that we were celebrating Thanksgiving, but luckily this also meant that they were unused to pecan pie. And, since Aussie barbecue means grilling…they do not believe in barbecue sauce, my practice Thanksgiving was a sort of grilled turkey with a pumpkin salad. That morning, though, I was in a panic because I could find neither a pie crust nor a pie pan. I ended up buying shortcrust pastry and I looked and looked online but couldn't find any helpful hints, so I just sort of slapped a sheet of pastry into a cake pan and crimped up the edges. Looked terrible, tasted worse! But the filling was great—so we all sort of scraped it off and just had that, although Craig gallantly ate his crust.

On Thursday morning, we rented a car and five of us piled in and journeyed to a store just outside the city, called USA Foods. The first thing we noticed was the giant American flag painted in the window. Next we met a jolly platinum-blond, high-heeled lady in the Escalade who handed us all cards for Misty’s Diner (“an authentic American experience”, said the card, listing menu items like chimichangas and buffalo wings and cheese fries). We walked into the store and stormed the shelves with cries of delight, buying all those things that you probably would never even eat at home, and you didn’t know you missed…like Ranch flavored Doritos (Aussies eat Doritos, but in strange, foreign flavors), Kraft marshmallows, Velveeta cheese, tinned pumpkin pie filling, Hershey syrup, Louisiana hot sauce, Crystal Lite, Cap’n Crunch… Susan found those little shoestring Durkey onions for her green bean casserole, and I found a Betty Crocker ready-made pie crust mix, to my relief.




Then we came home, went to a regular supermarket and did massive amounts of cooking, before setting off to walk a precarious mile in spitting rain to our hostess Jessica’s place. Jess had managed to find a whole bird to roast and was fussing over the turkey when we got there, and as more people showed up with food to reheat, we all fought for oven space for a few hours. Everyone brought something different so it was a big Thanksgiving potluck with turkey, mashed potatos and gravy, sweet potatos and marshmallows (which Kate and I made), two kinds of cranberry relish (I made Setto’s and Melissa made a citrusy one), lots of rolls and butter, cornbread stuffing, green bean casserole and to top it all off, a big dish of macaroni and cheese that was seriously the best I have ever had. And for dessert, my pecan pie was the first to disappear! Having learned from my experience, I had added less sugar and more chocolate and, of course, the crust was actually good this time, thank you Betty Crocker. There was also pumpkin pie, banana carrot cake, and apple tart. It was all good. We topped off the evening with five or six hours of dancing at the local gay bars. Melbourne’s nightlife can beat Sydney’s with a stick!



The next morning, we went for a late brunch and then had a great dinner at D.O.C., where I had the best pizza I’ve had since leaving Little Italy New England…even better than Cairns, although the service was wretched. We finished with sweets from the bakery across the street and then spent an hour or so sitting on the roof, gazing over the twinkling city lights and solving the world’s problems.



On Saturday morning, I made pancakes for Kate and Mike, and Kate took me sightseeing to the Shrine (WWI) and through the botanical gardens. We had a beautiful walk and then visited the Victoria Markets, where I bought a few kitchen implements for home (including a can opener, Dad), and thought about buying some live chickens for pets, but resisted. My flight home was that evening, and I returned to Sydney ready for a week of rest and research. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!