Thanksgiving – Creative Meanderings

It’s my favorite holiday to celebrate 🎉. Ever since I found myself settled in a home and the first time we all gathered as a family for the holiday, I have associated Thanksgiving with food, laughter, and community.

I remember that we went around the table saying something we were thankful for and I made everyone laugh when I said “I’m thankful for a family”. I suppose that it took the concept of having family and being able to sit around a table together to a different level. 🥰

As an adult, I haven’t spent many Thanksgivings with my family since I have chosen to live abroad, but I have always made it a point to celebrate with friends and others around me even if they aren’t American. There is something special about putting in the time and effort to bring people together, break bread, and enjoy each other’s company.

While it is no secret that I am no lover of the kitchen as I tend to avoid having to stand in front of the stove for too long, Thanksgiving is one of two exceptions a year. Usually, it takes me about two days of preparations, but I take my time and enjoy the process. M has even declared that he hasn’t had any better turkey than mine because I talk to it, give it lots of oil, butter, and orange juice baths, and encourage it while in the oven with regular basting sessions. 😀

Last year, we didn’t really do a proper celebration as I didn’t know how to get a turkey in France and we were in lockdown, so friends couldn’t come over anyway. It was a depressing day for me since I love to make the day special.

So, this year, we made up for it! First, we had to move our 4 meter table 🙃 inside with the help of the table-maker and his wife, who also joined us in making sure the celebrations were in full swing. We had this piece built for our outdoor terrace, but as we are also waiting on the indoor dining table, we decided to bring this indoors due to colder weather, which fit beautifully in our big dining/living room space. Then, I gathered foliage from our new property to put in our centerpieces, which turned out lovely, if I do say so myself. After that, it was time to set the table with our new dishes from a Bolsena pottery shop.

In the kitchen, I made cream of mushroom soup from scratch to go with the broccoli-cauliflower 🥦 bake dish. We ate soup for two meals as well since I didn’t have much time to stop and eat. 😉 Then, I made cornbread for the stuffing. I attempted to make bread rolls, but the yeast and flour situation is still something I need to figure out with more practice, so those were a big fail, but I chose to ignore them! 😜 The end of the first day preparations were the two pies: apple and pumpkin 🥧. Some years, I make pumpkin filling from scratch, but as I was able to source all the American ingredients this year, I did it the proper USA 🇺🇸 way! I also tried a new Apple Pie recipe, which turned out really tasty; if only I could remember which one it is now….🤔

The second day started with getting the stuffing ready to go for the turkey 🦃. While it was cooking, I rinsed the big bird and thanked it for its service. On a side note, I managed to pre-order, converse and pick up this amazing turkey from a local butcher in Italian! Go me!! 💪🏽Anyway, the first bath is always an olive oil rub and then it sits for a bit as I prepare bath two. The second bath is usually a butter bath with tons of spices – thyme, rosemary, sage, salt, pepper, paprika, etc. I sometimes use a toothpick to poke little holes through the skin so all that goodness gets soaked in and under. Again, it sits to soak it up. Bath three is usually an orange one – fresh orange squeezed all over. A final drizzle of oil again usually rounds it off before adding the stuffing to prepare for the oven. I baste the turkey every 30 to 40 minutes. The first couple of rounds usually is with olive oil as not much juice is out yet, but then I use the juice once there is some. Each basting comes with positive words of encouragement to cook well and be tasty. 😉

In Japan, we borrowed my BFF’s turkey roaster oven, which is an amazing invention. I looked for one here, but it seems to be an American invention that doesn’t quite work with the electricity here. So, I tried to use the bags, but the turkey was too big for that. Thus, in the end, I made an aluminium foil casing, which worked pretty well. I have to say it was one of the moistest and best tasting turkeys we’ve had!

I also had mashed potatoes, cream corn, sides of pickles, olives and cranberry sauce, which are a must. We couldn’t find any sweet potatoes so skipped that since I don’t particularly love that dish anyway.

All in all, it was plenty of food, though not too much despite M’s initial assumptions. 🤪I have boiled down the turkey bones for broth and extra bits to make soup and pot pie later.

So, another successful Thanksgiving in the books. I don’t care that its origins are questionable and I dislike that people rename it Friendsgiving. There is no need to change something that is perfectly stated – giving thanks to all those in my life, near or far.

~T 😁

Center pieces with foliage from our property

My all-time favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. Although there is some controversy in recent years around the origins of the holiday, I ignore all the politicking of it and focus on what it means to me.

Some people argue that they like Christmas better because, in the US, it’s not that much different from Thanksgiving except that we exchange presents. However, for me the consumerism attitude is not necessary. Therefore, I prefer the third Thursday in November as my main holiday of the year.

Of course, as a lover of food, one of the best aspects of Thanksgiving is having delicious turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans and the lot passed around the table.

Still, even better than the good food, is the great company. To me, Thanksgiving is a time to gather with family and friends-who-are-family. As I prepare dishes to share, I marinate in gratitude for these people in my life. I feel honored to have such a connection to those whom I call family and friends.

Over the years, I’ve shared Thanksgiving with not only Americans, but friends from around the world. It’s a time to enjoy being together.

It is also a time to reflect and express thanks for the many blessings in our lives. During the year, time passes quickly and lives are full with activities of worry or flurry. Thanksgiving is a day when we can stop, take a breath, and appreciate all that we have in our lives from the smallest of things to the greatest of joys.

So, although I was not able to be physically with my family to celebrate this year, I still shared my favorite holiday with those around me as we ate, laughed and were very merry for a day of Thanks-giving.

~ T 😀

Here are some photos from the day: