So, Thursday was Thanksgiving. It didn't really feel like Thanksgiving to me, though. Just another day at the office. No holiday break like I would have at home. There are quite a few Americans in the London office and one former expat was in town, so we went for drinks on Thanksgiving evening.
I left pretty early so I could make it home in time to catch my family before they sat down for dinner. As it was, I guess the Jewel Brown-N-Serve rolls were done early, so I caught them as they were getting ready to say grace. Sadly, I didn't get to talk to them very long, but it was nice to hear the traditional noises of a proper Thanksgiving.
My friend Lisa had a Thanksgiving dinner at her house on Saturday night. She is American, so she knows what it is like to have a true Thanksgiving meal. She was making the turkey and stuffing and asked everyone to sign up for side dishes and desserts. A lot of the people that were coming weren't from the States, so they were all volunteering to bring things like cheese and bread, pasta dishes, etc. I decided someone had to bring mashed potatoes. What's a Thanksgiving without mashed potatoes? Easier said than done.
I got a recipe for my sister's sinfully delicious (and oh-so healthy) mashed potatoes that includes sour cream, butter and cream cheese. Unfortunately, sour cream wasn't so easy to find. I found something like sour cream, but it didn't taste right. I didn't want to create a barf-o-rama at Thanksgiving, so I had to resort to a basic recipe with butter and heavy cream. Not as good as my sister's, but equally as healthy, I'm sure.
Making the potatoes was pretty funny. I was stopped in the aisles of the grocery store mentally trying to do the calculations in the grocery store to convert grams to ounces and kilograms to pounds. Cooking should not involve this much math.
The end result was pretty good. A little lumpy because I didn't have a mixer, but pretty good. Of course, as usual, there was a lot of leftovers.
I left pretty early so I could make it home in time to catch my family before they sat down for dinner. As it was, I guess the Jewel Brown-N-Serve rolls were done early, so I caught them as they were getting ready to say grace. Sadly, I didn't get to talk to them very long, but it was nice to hear the traditional noises of a proper Thanksgiving.
My friend Lisa had a Thanksgiving dinner at her house on Saturday night. She is American, so she knows what it is like to have a true Thanksgiving meal. She was making the turkey and stuffing and asked everyone to sign up for side dishes and desserts. A lot of the people that were coming weren't from the States, so they were all volunteering to bring things like cheese and bread, pasta dishes, etc. I decided someone had to bring mashed potatoes. What's a Thanksgiving without mashed potatoes? Easier said than done.
I got a recipe for my sister's sinfully delicious (and oh-so healthy) mashed potatoes that includes sour cream, butter and cream cheese. Unfortunately, sour cream wasn't so easy to find. I found something like sour cream, but it didn't taste right. I didn't want to create a barf-o-rama at Thanksgiving, so I had to resort to a basic recipe with butter and heavy cream. Not as good as my sister's, but equally as healthy, I'm sure.
Making the potatoes was pretty funny. I was stopped in the aisles of the grocery store mentally trying to do the calculations in the grocery store to convert grams to ounces and kilograms to pounds. Cooking should not involve this much math.
The end result was pretty good. A little lumpy because I didn't have a mixer, but pretty good. Of course, as usual, there was a lot of leftovers.
Here is Lisa with the massive turkey.
Solid job carving considering she's never done it before.
Lisa has two Italian flatmates who are just wonderful. Not only are they good cooks, but they are very sweet and watch out for her. Quite the gentlemen. They made pumpkin pie and tiramisu in honor of turkey day.
Lorenzo & Ale with their creations
I'm kicking myself for not getting a picture of the focaccia that Ale made --- 1 tray each decorated as the American flag, the British flag and the Italian flag. All with tomatoes and olives. So creative!
****UPDATE****
Lisa was kind enough to send me the picture of the focaccia.
****UPDATE****
Lisa was kind enough to send me the picture of the focaccia.
They tried to use blue food coloring with the stars, but it bled out
All in all, it wasn't the same as home, but it was nice to have a little bit of something like Thanksgiving.
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