Many of us are American by birth and expatriates by choice. We are newcomers of sorts here in Britain as we now venture into our life’s journey of adjusting to sights, sounds, and flavours of our new country.
This is my American British life and for me the upcoming holiday season is a perfect occasion to learn about local holiday seasons and traditions. I find that the love of food is a common element of life and something we all share.
The food flows as the banquets begin and we are served a steady stream of holiday cookies, cakes, candy, scrumptious savoury dishes, and many memorable treats.
With each year I spend in Britain, I find autumn, referred to as Fall in the US, to be my favourite. This particular time of year offers a strange excitement for me as I prepare for the approaching festive holiday seasons of the year; Halloween, American Thanksgiving, Christmas time, and New Year’s.
Each year, Halloween becomes a growing British event with Trick or Treat visitors at our door and parties with everyone dressed in fancy dress costumes. American style homemade goodies such as Popcorn Balls and Chocolate Cookies are perfect party treats. The recipes are as follows:
My Popcorn Ball recipe is a quick shortcut recipe with only three ingredients found at most local shops eliminating the problem of trying to find the necessary American products:
1. One jar of Marshmallow fluff 213 g
2. Three tablespoons butter. Place these into microwave safe bowl and microwave for approximately 3 minutes, until smooth stirring occasionally. Then add
3. Six cups Popped Popcorn in with the marshmallow mixture and form into balls. Set out to air dry, wrap in cling film (recipe can be reduced, if desired add candies, nuts, raisins or sprinkles, best eaten same day, can be frozen).
Chocolate Cookies (Biscuits)
Three Ingredients;
1. One cup Flour (Plain, not self-raising)
2. One cup Chocolate Spread (or substitute Peanut Butter can)
3. One Large Egg
Pre-Heat to 180 C Fan assisted. Blend together flour and chocolate spread, then mix in the egg, stirring until thoroughly combined, mixture should be thick. Form into balls and place on a baking sheet (tray), slightly flatten with a spoon. Bake for about 7 minutes until cooked around the edges. Leave to cool for several minutes. The centres will be soft. Eat and enjoy.
A roast turkey, scrumptious sides, and delicious deserts are perfect holiday treats and a memory maker. The food served at our American Thanksgiving meal is similar to that at an English Christmas dinner with the exception of the sides. American and British foods are extremely complementary to each other and the holiday season is a fantastic way of combining the two.
You can never have too many sides and I am always ready with a few simple, but tasty, dishes.
Cranberry Salad, a dish always found on my American table and now included on a British holiday spread.
1. One jar or can of Cranberry sauce (whole berry works best)
2. 1/4 cup crushed drained pineapple or one small can of drained mandarin oranges
3. 1/4 finely chopped apples. Mix these together in a bowl, chill until serving time, chopped nuts for garnish.
We expats now have an extra day to celebrate on December 26, the honoured traditional British Boxing Day. My American slant slips into the English menu on this day as well. I serve all the traditional left over Christmas goodies and include some flour or corn tortillas with an array of savoury, sweet and spicy sauces. This adds a bit of South of the Border twist to the day.
The Best Of Both Worlds
It is my intention to combine some of my American ways into new British life, carefully blending the two but keeping my state side style in with my English life. I do stress during the holiday seasons as I work to show my British family that as an American I can properly prepare their most important meal of the year.
Helpful shortcut tips are time savers, so I keep this conversion cheat sheet taped inside my cupboard door for quick reference:
350 F - 175 C - 4 Gas
375 F - 190 C - 5 Gas
400 F - 200 C - 6 Gas
When baking using American recipes or American mixes converted from Fahrenheit (USA) to Celsius (UK), I find it best to shorten the total cooking time by approximately 5 minutes, more or less.
A simple guide for converting Fahrenheit to Celsius degrees is; subtract 32 from your Fahrenheit temperature, multiply that by 5, and then divide by that number 9 (-32, divided by 5, then divided by 9).
An example of this is if the recipe temperature is originally 350 F, subtract 32 from 350 to equal 318, and then multiply that number by 5 getting 1,590, divide the 1,590 by 9 equalling 176.66. Then round off your 176.66 C temperature to 180 degrees C.
Calculate a few Fahrenheit to Celsius oven temperatures using your favourite recipes, and keep them handy ready when you bake.
My life is flavoured American British.