Canadian Thanksgiving

We were so blessed for the days of October 8th-10th.
We started off the weekend Friday October 7th with an attempt at celebrating Keith's 28th birthday.
We grabbed our gift certificate for Acme BBQ in downtown Williamsport, wheeled out our new Phil & Teds stroller & were going to hit up First Friday.
This is when we quickly discovered how differently our "nights out" are now with two babies.
Noel decided she wasn't really hungry nor did she want to ride in the stroller, she wanted to cry & walk. But walking downtown for an 18 month old consists of going in the opposite direction, wanting to walk off the sidewalk onto the street and touch everything!
So we sadly ended our night early and headed home for early bath & bed times. With all the craziness of my first week back to work, I didn't even have the chance to get the ingredients to make Keith the chocolate peanut butter pie I had decided to make (via Pinterest)...so a late birthday dessert will happen (hopefully this month)!
But Saturday mid morning we were graced with the presence of great friends & new friends for the celebration of Canadian Thanksgiving.
Andrew & Annica from Canada came for a visit and brought three wonderful ladies with them, that are studying in Canada for the year from France.
Keith's "best man" Andrew who is a trained chef (not that he needed any of the schooling!) made us a scrumptious meal in celebration of Keith's birthday the first night they were here.

apple crumble

cutting up steaks

adding the onions

steaks with onions...my mouth is still watering

wine that I like..woohoo! Oh! and if you look behind Keith's right shoulder you will see the beautiful bouquet of flowers our beautiful friends brought back for me :)

Needless to say it was already looking to be a great weekend.
After enjoying cooking and scarfing a meal together, and trying to learn some french, we settled in for the night and woke up to this....

This is "pain perdu" meaning the lost bread. it was used taking the leftover day old bread (or in our case bread from the bread thrift store) and making a french toast-like dish adding fresh apples and raspberries.
Oh yumm!
The rest of the day was filled with amazing aromas wafting from the kitchen, the front porch swing and dining room table or couch filled with french girls studying and speaking beautifully.
Taking advantage of the 80 degree weather we loaded up our 'family' for the weekend and headed down to the Susquehanna River walk way.
Upon returning home Andrew put the chicken (although traditionally still a turkey for Canadian Thanksgiving, we opted for a free range chicken) in to finish.
Few things are more enjoyable than a house full of friends preparing an amazing meal.
7:30-ish pm we started our Thanksgiving meal. Which the understatement of the year would be to say that is was delicious!
So here is my 'public' display of gratitude for friends that drive distances and bless our house with their hospitality and friendship.
Happy Thanksgiving Canada! and a small piece of France