Wowzers! What a successful celebration! Thanksgiving 2010 will go down in the books as one of the best Thanksgiving celebrations while living abroad EVER. Although it didn't start out that way.
Preparations for dinner began on Thursday. Following the umteenth revision to the shopping list, and a little time to talk through the day, the "last" of the groceries were purchased. First thing I must point out is that Thanksgiving dinner living abroad is always more costly than at home...never mind when you're Thanksgiving dinner is for 32 people. By the time I dropped into bed on Thursday, it was about 10:30. I am glad to have had a good sleep that night because it will be tonight before I get another good night's sleep!
I woke up Friday morning and had a leisurely start to the day. Friday's tasks involved veggie and potato prep, as well as pie and cheesecake baking. I also tried to use this recipe for lemonade syrup, but it was a flop - made a nice punch, though. Oh well! At any rate, I was thankful to have a sous chef to help with all the prep. I was also thankful to have been able to get my turkey, potatoes, carrots and onions from the cafeteria manager. Makes it a whole lot easier to carry 15 pounds of potatoes across the street rather than for a few blocks. Baking went well. Lemon pie was made from scratch - it didn't set properly but was darned good - and I don't like lemon pie! The pumpkin pie came from a can - libby's mix to be specific, but that is only because the first time I saw "Red Squash" (what we know as pumpkin) was on Thursday night - oh, and my director had picked up the pumpkin pie mix from the commissary - that was just super sweet. The pie did taste good (in fact, I kept a piece just for me to enjoy today - I'm sure I could have eaten the whole thing, but that would be a little piggish!)
Cheesecake was a loverly citrus cheese cake. The garnish was supposed to be a glaze made from frozen cranberries, but since I couldn't find any I used mandarin orange slices and kiwi - it was just perfect! In the end, there were 6 pies and one cheese cake. In hindsight, four pies would have been sufficient, but I didn't want to run out. I have two pies at school today for the staff to enjoy - I suspect I will take home empty pie plates come the end of the day!
Friday's bedtime was about 11:00 - had a social event to go to. Saturday morning began at 5:30. I was very worried that the rest of the day was going to be as horrific as the first hour and a half. You see, the cafeteria manager got a fresh turkey for me. I figured, fresh turkey will be much more tasty than a butterball from Town Centre. I was right - it was tasty, but that doesn't make up for the nasty experience I had preparing said turkey.
First off, let me say that hutterite colony fresh turkey is not the same as Syrian fresh turkey. My adventure on Saturday started as I tried to pull the neck out of the cavity. Now, I was disgusted to know that the neck wasn't in a baggy - that it was just in the cavity...thank God for my rubber gloves. I was even more disgusted to know that the stupid neck was still attached to the stupid bird. I am not a butcher and there is a darned good reason! As I held back the dry heaves, I sawed off the stupid bird neck. As I looked in the cavity that remained, I noticed something that resembled a wind pipe. That was the next task at hand - removing the wind pipe. I figured the worst was over, but no! I turned the turkey to wipe out the cavity for the dressing to discover that there were still "things" in there - gross pockets of goo between bones. It was HORRIBLE. Just when I thought I was done, there were more "things" peering at me to remove. Once the cavity was cleaned and rinsed, I moved to the outside of the bird. Feathers were next. Now, the bird wasn't full of feathers, but there was certainly more than the odd feather. I washed up (and plucked up) my turkey and was ready to move onto dressing.
I had prepared my bucket full of bread crumbs. In case you don't know, I am not really a visual learner. As such, it was after the third block of butter that I figured perhaps I didn't need all of the bread crumbs. Oh well, too late! Three blocks of butter (1 cup each) plus 1/4 container of margarine, plus another entire container of margarine and my bread crumbs were dressing. The birdy was stuffed, covered and put in the oven. The remaining stuffing was put into three small "oven only packets" and one big "vegetarian" option! Worked well. There is just enough stuffing left over for about two meals. A few people took home "lunch" for today, so it's all good!
I searched high and low for a turnip, but to no avail. Veggies were carrots (I used my new steamer), corn and peas. Salads included a broccoli and cauliflower salad (which was a huge hit and referred to by me as my Saskatchewan Roughrider salad). Apple salad was also a hit. All in all the meal was great. But there was more to the day than just the meal.
Decorations for the day were beautiful. I found some dark and light orange gerbera daisies. I had three vases set up. I also had fall coloured potpourri that I purchased when I visited Kuwait. Lindsey, my sous chef also worked as my decorator to make things pretty. My table runners from Dubai added another loverly touch to both the bar (my butcher table outside) and the appetizer table (the old t.v. stand in the living room). The table had a Kuwait table cloth and bamboo place mats (table cloth wasn't long enough). I had used construction paper leaves as food markers.
There was also seating for 32. My living room looked very different than usual but was very loverly. It was warm and inviting. The socializing was really great. I was glad to have had the opportunity to host my peers. Everyone was very impressed with the meal, hospitality and the night as a whole. We had school today (Sunday) so everyone was on their way by about 10:15 or so.
I was the last to eat, so by the time I was eating, most people were finished. I had gone back to the kitchen at one point to get some gravy and there were about 4 people doing the dishes. It was such a loverly treat. Once everyone left on Saturday night, I only had the dessert dishes, glasses and a few odds and ends to wash. Lindsey and Chad helped with moving the furniture back to where it belongs while I did the dishes. All was clean and put away (including the floor mopped) by 11:30. After a nice chat with mom, I headed to bed. I had to care for my soup stock (which was ready to go in the fridge) It was close to one by the time I fell asleep. The only thing that didn't get cleaned was my stove and I just might be a wretch and leave that for my housekeeper.
Some of the workers from school came this morning to help bring back the dishes to the cafeteria. The left overs are working their way out of the fridge. Every muscle in my body hurts, but it was so worth it. I had a wonderful day. I took many pictures, so I will be sure to have them posted by the end of the week. I'll try to do another slide show :)
Until next time, do take care. I hope that all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving with family! Many blessings to you!
Tylene and Grover (yes, Grover attended the party - he was part of the welcoming committee)
No comments:
Post a Comment