Thanksgiving

Firstly, let me say Happy Thanksgiving to all of my readers. I hope it is a wonderful and happy time for all of you and yours.

So this year Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday had many firsts for me.
1)This was my first Thanksgiving away from home (home being defined as were my parents are)
2) This was my first Thanksgiving cooking/organizing/shopping for and in fact I single handedly did all three.
3) It was my first time having a test on thanksgiving (hopefully, my last)
4) It was my first time having thanksgiving in 100 Degree heat (also, hopefully my last)

Ever since I arrived in Botswana I have been discussing, with any number of people, the possibility of organizing a Thanksgiving dinner. There were always problems with the plans, first and foremost the lack of a place to buy Turkey and the very real question, what is Thanksgiving without Turkey? We discussed a number of solutions to this problem, including buying a live turkey and slaughtering it ourselves. None of them ever materialized and Thanksgivng always seemed so far off. That is, of course, until monday, when, out of nowhere I realized thanksgiving was Thursday. I immediately sprang into action, asking around to see if people were interested, they generally were so I went about preparing.Many people offered to help but of late I have become distrustful of group work and decided I should take control and just kindly invite them to join in the eating parts. I had never planned a major food event, least of all Thanksgiving, but I thought I could handle it.

(Me with my food)

The first order of Business was to find a Turkey. I went to the local grocery store (Pick 'n' Pay; it is a nice grocery store located at Riverwalk) and simply asked at the butcher if they had any Turkey. The lady answered yes and walked me to a freezer case that, until a week ago had been filled with frozen meals, and vegetables. Lo and behold this day it was packed full of frozen turkeys and at P18.50 per KG (about $1.50/lbs) they were reasonably priced. That was, as you may say, the spark that light the fire. I was fully committed. I spent much of Monday and Tuesday scouring the internet for recipes and how-to videos on youtube. On Wednesday, I made an excursion to Riverwalk.

(Riverwalk Pick 'n' Pay)

I knew from my facebook event that about 15 people would be attending and I went from there. I had decided hastily that I should keep the menu simple and limit my number of courses to enable me to succeed. I decided that Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, and stuffing were musts I added green bean casserole as a possible addition if the ingredients fell into place. I had never shopped for a group but I had a jotted list of ingredients and a lot of enthusiasm to accompany me. Surprisingly I found nearly every ingredient I needed with the exception of all of the spices, but I didn't know what they were anyways. As I walked around the store I even found enough ingredients for the Green Bean Casserole and two pies, one apple tart and one pecan.I decided not to buy the turkey for lack of refrigerator space but to leave it until Thursday morning. Wednesday evening I prepared the stuffing and the mashed potatoes and got in some last minute studying for my final exam on Thursday (a final on Thanksgiving, good grief Charlie Brown.)
Thursday morning I trekked back to Pick 'n' Pay and bought my Turkey. I decided to go with a 6 kilo (12 pounds) instead of a larger because of price, cooking time, and tools. I brought it back and prepped for cooking. Unfortunately I thought the Turkey was thawed, but alas, it was frozen so i set about the arduous task of rapid defrosting. While defrosting I studied more and found someone whose oven I could use (our oven has been broken for over a month) Finally the bird was defrosted it I opened it up. unfortunately the inside of the bird was still frozen and the giblets were frozen inside. After about ten minutes, a knife and some hot water I ripped the giblets out and was on my way. I loosely followed this video(including the butter under the skin). By 12:30 the Turkey was cooking and I was on to studying furiously studying for my final.
At 2pm I went to take my Sociology exam. The exam went better than it should have, considering how little attention studying had gotten because of my Thanksgiving planning.
After I got out of my test I rushed to take the foil off the turkey, make the green bean casserole and prep for my dinner. At about 5 the turkey went came out, near perfect, and the green bean casserole and potatoes went in. Everything was ready at about 5:45 and dinner was scheduled for 6pm.

(The food tasted as good as it looked)

Before anyone came over I printed out this flyer explaining the history of thanksgiving as most of the people eating were Europeans who had heard of the traditions but didn't understand them.

(My poster, to read the text click on the photo)

People loved the food. 14 people ate truly, 7 people paid and Biki and KT (two of my roomates) picked at some of the leftovers. I wish I had had a little more food but frankly everyone got everything they wanted and everyone enjoyed the food.

(The food was enjoyed, every last bite)

Most of the Americans thanked me sincerly for the food. unfortunately the party mostly broke up right after dinner.
I was really really proud of myself for getting everything done and doing a good job of everything. I was also proud of how economical it all was, I managed to make the whole meal for about 20 Pulas per person ($3-$4). This is even more impressive considering the novelty of some of the items, for example the turkey was apparently imported from Brazil, don't ask why. I even overcame some uncommon challenges:
1) Availability was extremely limited
Turkey
green bean casserole
2) I didn't even know what Oven I would be cooking in until I put the Turkey in it
some anxiety did result
3) I completed an exam between the time the Turkey went in and came out
4) Tools
no serving tools
small, bad ovens
The green bean casserole was a real adventure. Campbells doesn't market in Botswana so I bought another cream of mushroom condensed soup but didn't notice until I got home that it was mushroom and ham soup and instead of white it was dark brown. It tasted about the same but the color was way off. Also, there are no french's fried onion in Botswana so instead I picked up an Indian snack called Bhujia. Turns out this stuff is really spicy but overall the dish came out alright.

(Random find made for a totally different taste, pretty good)

I also had the challenges of my tools. Do you know how hard it is to cube a loaf of bread without a serrated knife? Suffice it to say, VERY.
I really missed some things too. After all I always say Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday (after the NFL Draft of course) because of the three F's: Food, Family, and Football. This year was a bit different instead it was: Food, Friends, and Finals. I prefer the former. I really missed my family and many of the traditions from home but this was a wonderful experience as well.
Thats all for now,
Love to all,
Happy Thanksgiving
Tommy