Happy Turkey Day!

For most Americans, November 26th was Thanksgiving day. For the two ex-patriates in Madrid, it was...Thursday. We arrived home after a full day of work, ready to relax from the week. I looked over at A and asked,
"Are you going to Skype your parents, now?" A stared at me quizzically.
"Why do I need to Skype my parents?"
"Because it's Thanksgiving and they want to talk to you!"
We proceeded to spend a few hours in front of our computers, talking to loved ones and watching them run around as they prepared the holiday feast. We told them about our work and how our students were interested in learning more about Thanksgiving. Then, came the inevitable question:
"How are you spending Thanksgiving in Madrid?"
We hadn't really thought it through. I mean, we did plan a Thanksgiving dinner, which was to take place on Saturday, since everyone was working on Thurs. and Fri. However, how were we going to spend the actual Thanksgiving day? Surely we could have some turkey and whip up some mashed potatoes. We looked in our fridge and realized that we had so much food that was specifically for Saturday that we had neglected to think about what we would eat before then! We proceeded to head out the door and celebrate Thanksgiving over a couple of kebabs at an Indian-owned Doner Kebab restaurant.

Though our Thursday did not have the traditional holiday trimmings, we were able to celebrate in style on Saturday! Our apartment filled with wonderful Americans, Brits and Spaniards, many who had never had a Thanksgiving before! For 48 hours before the feast, A and I were cooking, marinating, stirring and baking all the foods necessary for the event. About an hour into the preparations, I realized I should have delegated some of the dishes to the group! Nonetheless, we were able to make enough food and still have leftovers!



There was fillets of herb-roasted turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, spinach and artichoke dip and sweet potato casserole. The recipes came from the food network and were quite good! My biggest challenge was that when I wrote down the recipes, I had to first convert the measurements to metrics and then I had to translate the ingredients into Spanish. It took more time to alter all the foods to paper than it did to actually cook it.



Here's our lovely dessert table with pumpkin pie, pecan pie (made by an authentic Southerner!), apple crumble and chocolate cookies! Everything was delicious! For the Americans, they said it felt just like home! For the Brits and Spaniards, they really enjoyed all the homemade food!

It was a successful Thanksgiving in Madrid! I'm now ready to sleep off my Sunday and munch on all the leftovers in my fridge. We miss you and wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving!