live. move. be.

We got all got up at 7:00 AM to start "babysitting" our two 18 pound turkeys. This meant changing their water bath every 30 minutes in a last minute effort to defrost them quickly. About 11:00 we filled a giant suitcase with all our groceries. It took five people to carry all our food out from our dorm to a car, and I can imagine we looked pretty hilarious carrying two huge turkeys and a massive suitcase full of food through campus.

Our church was gracious enough to let us cook/host our dinner at the church building, which was amazing because it meant that we got to use two industrial size kitchens. Somehow, astonishingly, we needed BOTH kitchens, which were seperated by three flights of stairs, so we a good bit of running up and down!

We did prep work, mostly peeling and chopping our THIRTY pounds of potatoes and sweet potatoes, until it was time to do the really scary part....the turkeys. I should note here that none of the three of us who were cooking have ever cooked a Thanksgiving meal, or really even cooked any of the dishes we needed to make. And we definitely hadn't ever touched a turkey. So we unwrap the massive birds, and much to our horror, they were still totally frozen inside. We couldn't even reach our hands into the cavity because the necks were still frozen. One of the birds was one of the ugliest, most deformed things I have ever seen--and it was still covered in gross, sharp pinfeathers, which I had to pluck out by hand. Not to mention that the bloody plastic bag filled with giblets burst inside as we were trying to pull it out of the frozen solid cavity. We got desperate and started doing all kinds of things with hot water that probably violated a million health sanitation codes for preparing meat, and finally melted the cores enough that we could start the roasting. It was like a scene from some sort of ridiculous comedy, these three college students running around and freaking out over these turkeys.

Here was our ambitious menu which we worked on the rest of the afternoon as the turkeys roasted:

-Garlic mashed potatoes (we got to use an industrial size masher--so much fun!)

-Sweet potato cassarole

-Stuffing, the real made-from-scratch kind (this took hours of prep and I was very excited that it turned out so well, because it's my favorite holiday dish)

-Cranberry sauce w/ orange and pecans (so pretty!)

-Baked macaroni and cheese

-Yorkshire puddings (these are little hollowed out bread rolls)

-Pumpkin and apple pies with homemade whipped cream. This was quite a feat, because you can't buy canned pumpkin over here, so Stevens had to bring this back from the States.

-and of course, turkey gravy. This was my crowning achievement. Of all the things I was cooking for the first time, I was most nervous about making this. I just threw in some random amounts of flour, butter, and turkey fat and started whisking frantically.....and voila, it made the most beautiful turkey gravy I have ever seen. I actually started jumping up and down in the kitchen!

By some miracle it all came together by the time our guests arrived at 6:30! We were feeding 21 people, so I was nervous about running out of food, but somehow we just kept dishing it out with more to spare. We had friends from Scotland, England, France, Germany, India, China, and America gathered around eating giant plates of food. For most people, it was their first time celebrating Thanksgiving, and there were a few who had never tasted turkey before. I know some of the dishes were very unusual for them (most people were especially surprised by the concept of adding sugar and spices to sweet potatoes) but everyone seemed to really enjoy the food and have a wonderful time together. Some lovely Scottish gals rolled up their sleeves and pitched right in, helping us with the giant loads of dishes and carving up the two birds until they were reduced to bones. I was so grateful for their help and encouragement all evening (not to mention my friend Fiona, who made us cup after cup of hot tea as we cooked all day). It was so wonderful to peak out from the kitchen and see all these people, many of whom did not know each other, mingling and enjoying each other's company.

After hours of cooking and cleaning, eating until I was sick, and enjoying some laughter and good conversation, we finally got home around midnight. I was so filled with the happy adrenaline of the day that I couldn't sleep for a couple of hours. I honestly couldn't believe we pulled it off, and I feel so much more confident in my culinary abilities from this moment forward! But more than that, I was so grateful to be surrounded last night by a group of really wonderful friends from so many corners of the globe. This was the most unique, amazing Thanksgiving I've ever had, and I know it's one I'll never forget!