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In my opinion, Thanksgiving is one of greatest holidays there is. What’s not to love about turkey, pumpkin pie, family and friends? So naturally I was a little devastated that I was going to be missing out on the festivities back home.
A few weeks before the holiday some friends were over enjoying a little wine (okay, a lot of wine) and my Canadian flat mate and I were telling them all about my favorite North American tradition. At first they were a little perplexed as to why we cook a turkey to give thanks but then they started to get more intrigued. Before I knew it I was volunteering myself (and my flat mate, Laura) to cook Thanksgiving dinner for everyone.
Pause for my friends and family to laugh at the idea of me cooking a Thanksgiving dinner.
After countless trips to the store, one-too-many calls to my mom for directions and defrosting our turkey in a laundry basket (because our sink was too small), the day had arrived and we were ready…or as ready as we ever would be.
First step: gut the turkey. Now I don’t know who first figured out that this was a necessary step – but I dislike them very much. Probably one of the most unpleasant things I’ve done in a long time. After that (and not much better I might add) you have to stuff the turkey. Stuffing a turkey sounds simple enough, well, not for me. But hey, that’s what YouTube is for, right? Once that was out of the way we got to season and pour wine all over the turkey – much more up my alley!
After that the real fun started. Thankfully, Laura is quite a good baker. While I was mashing potatoes with a hand masher (no easy task) she was peeling a pumpkin to make the pie. (Fun fact: pumpkin puree is impossible to find in the UK).
I must say that aside from a few panicked trips to the kitchen, sure that the turkey was burnt, everything went pretty smooth! At 5pm our friends started showing up and then it was time for dinner.
Before Thanksgiving dinner back home we all go around the table and say what we’re thankful for, so I thought it was only fitting to bring the tradition to our new table of friends. And I must say, I have a lot to be thankful for this year; amazing friends and family back home, my health, the education that I am lucky enough to be undertaking and so much more. But that night, what I was most thankful for, were the amazing new friends that trusted me enough to let me cook them dinner.
With Love,
CW