A Real Thanksgiving

The title pretty much says it all.  You can't be an American and not celebrate Thanksgiving, no matter where you are.  It's just not acceptable.  I decided that I need to have a gathering of some of my friends so make me feel a little bit better about not being at home with my family.

It was 3 days of planning, shopping, soaking (the beans), cooking, mashing, mixing and running around like a chicken with my head cut off.  The line up? Keep in mind everything is from scratch, only the best here.

Chicken (turkey is RIDICULOUSLY expensive here,30 bucks for a turkey smaller than a chicken!!)
Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Black Beans and Rice
Salad
Dinner Rolls
Pumpkin Pie with whipped cream
Stuffing
Gravy (of course)


The dinner party included Kiley Tanya and I plus Asa (from camp), Amy (from the hostel), plus a bunch of boys that I play football with.  There ended up being about 10 or 11 of us which was a good group.  We moved down to the bbq area by the pool which has two tables we were able to push together and could all sit down like a proper meal.  Everything turned out delicious and was a big hit!! Even though most of the people at the table don't really know anything about how Thanksgiving is supposed to go, I'm sure they enjoyed the opportunity to have a good meal.  I could even taste my dad's black beans!!! That's a good sign that I'm probably on the right track for making those! I'll have another chance to perfect the art at Christmas!! Can't wait!
Look out Dad and Uncle Danny! You have another competitor in the black bean taste competition!! And I'm out for blood! hahaha

Even the pumpkin pie was a hit.  And yes, I actually cooked that from scratch as well.  Apparently canned pumpkin is a REALLY weird thing to have here.  I had to find an actual pumpkin and boil it and mash it and stuff, but with enough brown sugar and maple syrup it covers up the taste anyways.  It was delicious!!  Lots of leftovers and chicken sandwichs were left to be had.  Just like a real holiday.

It made me miss everyone so much.  I got to skype with the fam for a bit, but it was weird that there was hardly anyone there.  I don't like the fact that people are growing up, getting married, moving on and we aren't being all together and having the huge holidays like we used to.  When did that change? I don't like change...panicking...breath breath.  Pretty soon it's going to be all the old timers (aka the parents) and the baby (aka me) and everyone is going to be off with their new families....whhhaaaa?????

Back to a happy note!! Here are some pictures..hope you already ate today cuz your about to get hungry!!

The pictures are acting really funny.  These are the only few I could get to look decent.  I'll try again later