A Thanksgiving First

This Thanksgiving held many "firsts" for me: first time that I've introduced non-American people to the holiday, the first time I've been the only American at the meal, and the first time that I've cooked the entire meal by myself.
I decided to have my Thanksgiving meal on Wednesday evening rather than Thursday because Thursdays are my late class days at school (until 730pm) and I didn't want to deal with cooking so late. I made two decisions that made my cooking on the day of a million times easier; first I decided that instead of roasting a turkey I would just buy a cooked roasted chicken instead and simply reheat it. Secondly I chose to make an online order of all my supplies on Waitrose.com and to have them delivered to my house. Both significantly cut down on the amount of stress on the day of Thanksgiving. Once the delivery arrived at 11am on Wednesday I got right to cooking the pumpkin pie (which thanks to my Dad, who sent me a can of pumpkin, I was able to make. Canned pumpkin isn't available here). Surprisingly it all went smoothly. I say surprisingly because my oven, which is basically a tiny box, is extremely temperamental and tends to run very hot. I ended up cooking my pie 15 degrees celsius colder than the suggested temperature and for 10 minutes less than the suggested time and voila! it was perfect! (Now do you see what I mean about thank goodness it didn't burn? I had to watch it like a hawk even after turning it down so significantly!)

Homemade Pumpkin Pie

A few hours later I started in on the proper meal itself, first tackling the stuffing recipe provided by my mom. Keep in mind that I've never made any of this food before so everything was sort of an experiment as to how it would turn out. The stuffing turned out beautifully and with that safely in the fridge awaiting the oven I turned to the real experiment of the night, scalloped corn. Scalloped corn was always my favorite thing at Thanksgiving or holidays and when I was a picky eater as a kid I always knew that I could at least eat that. For those of you who don't know the recipe, it's creamed corn, an egg, saltine crackers crushed up, milk, and paprika on top and it is baked in a bowl for about 30-40 minutes until it is crunchy on top and warm in the middle. It is a bit like a corn souffle but denser. This recipe proved the most risky because, despite looking everywhere, cans of creamed corn were not to be found anywhere. Since this is the key ingredient in the recipe I placed an emergency email a few days in advance to my mom and grandma. They gave me ideas and I adapted the recipe in a few ways too. What I did to produce my own creamed corn was to put sweet corn in a food processor with a tub of creme fraiche and then whip them together with the mixture above and included some corn starch and flour. It actually turned out just right with the addition of the creme fraiche and my housemates loved it. After that I popped the stuffing and chicken in the oven, made the mashed potatoes, cut up the french bread, and set the table. 

All of the food came out splendidly, none burnt or undercooked, and tasted fabulous. My final menu was chicken, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, scalloped corn, cranberry sauce, bread, pumpkin pie, and ice cream. Everyone tried everything and enjoyed it all. Rachel and Nikki couldn't get over that my stuffing was homemade, as they've only ever had it from a mix. They all tried the pumpkin pie and I think the liked it, though I think they were a bit unsure about it, never having had pumpkin before. It is a bit of an acquired taste so I was just happy that they ate even one piece each. As per usual, we all ended up eating way too much and effectively spent the rest of the evening on the couches in our food comas. We ended up watching "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" on my laptop and I told them about the origins of Thanksgiving on Plymouth Rock. Yesterday morning when I woke up they even greeted me with "Happy Thanksgiving!" which made me happy because they were so enthusiastic about my favorite holiday. I still have about a half of a pie leftover and lots of potatoes, corn, and stuffing to get through before I head off to Birmingham later today (but Nikki and Rachel will help me finish them). 

The Meal

the corn turned out!

Enjoying the fruits of my labor.

Thanksgiving is always a time to be retrospective and to reflect on those people and things that are most important. This year more than most I have cause to thankful. I am thankful for my mom and dad for supporting me no matter what and for banking on the idea that England and Royal Holloway is the right place for me. They are the ones who made this once in a lifetime opportunity possible. I'm thankful for my old and new friends for always being there (even if I'm across the ocean) and for not forgetting about me. I'm thankful for Nikki and Rachel because they've welcomed me into their lives and hearts in a way that I could never have expected or hoped for and for indulging me in bringing a bit of America to Cherrywood Avenue. I'm thankful for my extended family, for my grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, family friends, neighbors, and siblings (that includes you Cristina!). I am also thankful for future visits of friends and family that are making the big venture to visit me overseas during this next year; I cannot even wait to see all of you! I am thankful for people that are coming into my life and for those who have recently left it. I'm thankful that last year I was able to spend one last Thanksgiving holiday with my grandfather as I hold that memory truly dear to my heart. It is always difficult to be away from home on the holidays and the months of November and December are heavy hitters in terms of holidays and ensuing homesickness. I've had my share of it this month but am trying to work through it. When given the chance life opens up new experiences and paths to be taken and I am thankful for being given the chance to live my dream. Having Thanksgiving in England is a small sacrifice to pay, and ended up actually being an enjoyable one, surrounded by new loved ones and plenty of great, American style food.

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Holidays to all!