Thanksgiving (finally)

Mythology was canceled today which leaves me for a lot of time to sit around talking to Alyssa and her friend that's visiting, read my Italian Harry Potter book, and eventually get around to blogging about things that happened ages ago.

Thanksgiving clearly was a little different on foreign turf. First of all, we were scheduled to have school. While I was initially going to go, I decided to join the majority and instead start preparing for our makeshift holiday. We were recommended a few "American" grocery stores, and on the second try Erin, Kathryn, and I were actually able to find a majority of things we needed (yams, ginger, cloves) as well as some other things we had been missing (rootbeer for Erin!) but for the most part decided we could keep waiting and skip out on the marked-up price tags. Erin and I met Meghan back at home and then it was time to start trying to get her precious pumpkin pie together. We were eyeballing ingredients and using a wine bottle as a rolling pin and using square pans that didn't match our size requirements, so all in all we just had our fingers crossed tightly, and in the end it worked out fabulously. Good team effort under the leadership of our own dear Meghan!

We had intended that people come over around 5, and at that time we had a nice collection of girls around the hors d'oeurves... and then got a call from Hannah on behalf of one group of guys saying that they had JUST started cooking, and a call from Dan on behalf of his apartment asking if we had a potato peeler (in other words, the potatoes for the mashed potatoes had not even been peeled). We were slightly irritated, and decided to delve into our chips and dip and wine without them.

Oh, and how could I forget? Thanksgiving generally calls for turkey, and we really tried. Big Scott, despite the fact that he wasn't going to even be there, had ordered a 22 pound turkey, that was ready to be picked up from the butcher. Well, we were lacking know-how when it came to preparing a turkey, we were lacking a baster, and more importantly, we were lacking an oven that could contain such a massive bird. However, there was one thing we did have, and that was a rotisserie chicken place below our apartment. So we settled on three rotisserie chickens, to be picked up at 7. When the time came, Meghan, Aunt Meg, and myself went to get said chickens and some more wine, and when we returned our apartment (and especially kitchen) was packed! The men had finally arrived, and we couldn't even be mad anymore considering the huge quantity of grilled vegetables, baked apples, sliced fruit, olives, mashed potatoes, and wine they had brought, and the lovely batch of sangria Jeff was preparing in our sink. We cut up the chicken, whipped up some stuffing (courtesy of Dad:) ), brought everything out, and proceeded to have a wonderful evening: with 20 or so of us seated around a large table we had constructed out of our normal table and 3 desks, covered with a lovely tablescape (courtesy of Meghan's mom, as was the pumpkin pie filler:) ).

For dessert we had our lovely pies, cookies from the Ostiense girls, and a Nutella fondue with fruit and ladyfingers from Aunt Meg. Oh, and everyone had their own personal mini-bottle of dessert wine from Katy, Manon, and Morgan.

Everyone left stuffed and satisfied, Manon (who is Belgian), Morgan (who is South African), and Omar (who is Icelandic, and brought a Norwegian friend) experienced their first Thanksgiving ever, and all in all it was a great time! Thanks to everyone for contributing and coming to celebrate with us... It's a Thanksgiving I'm sure none of us will ever forget:).