EZ Bake Thanksgiving

Well, it has certainly been a while, hasn't it? Last Sunday I sat down at my laptop, opened up a new post, and then realized I had nothing to say. So I left it. Now, however, it's one week later and I have LOADS to tell.

This week there was a film festival in the nearby town of Gijón. I went to two movies. Two very . . . interesting French movies. Being more "art" movies, they naturally had little to no plot or character development. Instead they both just sort of displayed events, created an impression. My impression was one of great discomfort. I consider myself quite liberal and open minded, but watching adolescents lick each other's faces and obese men cavorting in the buff would make anyone squirm. It was definitely an experience. We went out afterward, and it was refreshing to be in a different city, with different people and places.

The rest of the week I set myself to the daunting task of creating Thanksgiving. From scratch. I know it seems excessive, plenty of Americans abroad are content to eat poultry, watch football online, and call it a day. Not me. I was determined to recreate this most important holiday down to the smallest detail. Because to me it is very important. It's a uniquely American holiday (ok, and Canadian...). No frills, just food and family. I love it.

First and most importantly, I had to find a turkey. My friend Jaime, sharing in my enthusiasm for the occasion, agreed to help me obtain all the ingredients. With my mom's recipes in hand, we headed to the hipermercado. Within about three minutes we had found a turkey. A whole, fresh turkey. I was so excited I bought it on the spot. Thirteen pounds (6 kg) of bird was mine for the low low price of 26 € ($38).

Overexcited, wrapped up in the situation-- there are many ways to describe this state. When I compared my turkey to my oven, I knew that I had not thought this through. Ovens here are at least half the size of those in the U.S. From this moment the obstacles just kept growing. I had a falling out with my host family, and they said I would not be allowed to have Thanksgiving there. So we moved it to Jaime's house. Suddenly the oven at home was enormous, a luxury as we now had only a toaster oven to work with. To make matters worse, our internet went out, making it all the more difficult to ask mom for advice.

In order to fit the enormous turkey in our EZ bake oven, I first had to debone it. Yes, that's right, I painstakingly shaved all the raw meat off the bone. Let's just suffice to to say I never want to be a butcher in my life. After carving up the bird, we had no problem fitting a breast and drumstick in the toaster oven. With some careful planning and three straight hours of cooking we also somehow managed to make mashed potatoes, stuffing, vegetables, and gravy all come out reasonably hot.

It doesn't look right, but it tasted great. And I think that's what matters.

¡Qué rico!

Oh, and I forgot, I also made a pumpkin pie. From scratch. I actually took a pumpkin, and turned it into pie!

before

after

It all came out extremely delicious. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but it tasted pretty much spot on. But really, let's not lose sight of the true meaning of Thanksgiving. My goal with all of this was just to recreate as best I could the feeling of being all gathered together, enjoying each other's company and eating WAY too much food. Even though I couldn't be with my family, be served copious amounts of food with minimal effort, this Thanksgiving had a different kind of value. Going to all the effort, preparing days in advance, and sharing my culture with others, made it a very unique and memorable day.

Jaime (Spaniard), Me (American)

Eimear (Irish), Iván (Spaniard)

And pie for desert! mmmmmmmm

Til next time!