Thankful for THANKSGIVING!

So for some reason or other, this year I am really excited about Thanksgiving, which is quite odd because Thanksgiving doesn’t exist here in Spain, but you know what they say, if you build it, he will come. Maybe I am also excited because last year on Thanksgiving I didn’t plan anything to celebrate, and then in a bout of depression I baked an apple pie and rang in Turkey day eating a large majority of it, in a cold, musty apartment.

So in all my excitement I made an announcement to all the teachers at my school last Thursday at lunch, I told them this Thursday was a very special holiday in the US and I wanted to share this special day with them and prepare some special things for Thanksgiving. After giving my little speech everyone gave me a round of applause and I was so excited and pumped for Thanksgiving.

However as Thursday approaches I realize I have bit off a little more than I can chew. Preparing a Thanksgiving feast is a task in its own, under all the right circumstances, but can you imagine preparing a Thanksgiving feast, ALONE and then transporting this feast via public transportation, to a town 20km away, all by a girl who only has two hands?! Ha good thing I like a challenge. Some might think this task impossible, but this is what living abroad is all about, getting creative, concurring problems and kicking ass along the way!

I was lucky enough to find a store that sold canned pumpkin and cranberries, but being the thrifty and sensible girl I am, I laughed at this canned pumpkin, way over priced, I can do this myself. So I am off to the produce stand to buy a pumpkin, cook it and make my own. Yes a little more work but a girls go to save a buck, got to buy that bird you know.

Look out StoveTop, there is a new sheriff in town. That’s right, found a recipe for homemade stuffing, and actually just made a test round of it (I wanted to make sure everyone’s favorite Tgiving dish was up to snuff for my fellow teachers). I will admit it is pretty good, but I do think stovetop is better, those people at Kraft have been doing it for years, oh well, can’t win them all. If I learned anything from the movie/book Julie/Julia, it is the more butter the better, so next time more butter, less bread.

I think cooking this feast should honestly be no problem, just very time consuming. My biggest challenge figuring out how the heck to get this stuff all to my school. Good thing for every problem there is a solution. Wish me luck!