Thanksgiving: The International Edition
Every year on the fourth Thursday of November, the good ol’ USA celebrates Thanksgiving. The holiday is an American favorite despite its shaky past. I personally am a huge Thanksgiving fan because the holiday is all about eating. It is a great day: you make tons of food and eat it. Oh, and you get to see your family. Plus, it is right before Christmas, so it is a nice little break before you have revision and finals. You can imagine how heartbroken I was this year when instead of a few day off school I had courses to attend and a paper to turn in.
All my friends in the US were home on break with their families. Everyone was sending me photos of the food they, or more likely their mom, had made. I can’t put into words how hard it was to see a photo of the pie I wouldn’t be able to eat.
Luckily, I had prepared. I had decided to hold Thanksgiving myself, albeit not on the actual Thanksgiving Day; sadly, uni is a bit more important than eating tons of food with my friends… Anyways, in order to hold Thanksgiving, I needed a few things, things all great parties need: food, drinks, and friends.
1. Food
For those of you who don’t know, the focal point of any American Thanksgiving is turkey. This was perhaps the most challenging portion of the preparations. Whole turkeys are usually bought frozen and require a few days to thaw out before you can cook them. I picked up my turkeys Wednesday night and shoved them into my shelf on the fridge.
Friday morning I moved the turkey to the counter for a last minute thaw. Once my turkeys were no longer frozen, I began diligently following the instructions. They included talking the “neck from the body cavity.” Absolutely none of that sounded fun to me and quite honestly it was confusing. I saw no neck, after some internet research I realized what was required of me. I closed my eyes reached inside the body cavity and pulled. After a few minutes of puppy photos, I was recovered enough from my trauma to begin the cooking.
I poured white wine over each turkey and covered with foil before sticking it in the oven. For the next four hours I basted and watched as my turkeys grew closer and closer to golden brown perfection.
Not to brag, but I think they turned out pretty good for my first attempt at a turkey. If you’re surprised, don’t worry, you are in good company: my parents were surprised as well. Obviously turkey is not the only food at the feast. I’m used to creamed corn, mashed potatoes, bread, cranberries, green beans, and of course pie.
2. Drinks
Any good party also has to have a few drinks. I think the drink can really dress up the occasion. We celebrated with wine, but also a cocktail. The cocktail of choice was a combination of cranberry juice, apple juice and Smirnoff Gold Apple. The flakes of gold from the Smirnoff look beautiful in the cranberry juice, and it tastes pretty good too! — I realize it looks weird in the pictures, but I’m only a poor uni student, so I don’t have fancy cocktail glasses.
3. Friends
The final step is friends. What’s a party if no one comes? Thanksgiving is traditionally a holiday for family and friends to come together. This year I couldn’t go home and I don’t have any blood relatives on this side of the pond, but I was still able to spend some time with good friends.
I had the very unique experience of being the only American at my Thanksgiving. This year my Thanksgiving was attended by four French girls, two German boys, two Canadians, a Belgian girl, a Scottish boy and I felt very much at home.
Maybe Thanksgiving should be an international holiday.
* All photos were the authors – except sadly the photo of the pie (or she would have eaten it). The pie photo came from Google Images.