Turkey Day Abroad

Preppin the Veggies with Marley

So Turkey Day this year was QUITE the experience! Thankfully it turned out amazing! So three of my friends and I volunteered to make dinner for around 30 people. Yeah, don’t ask me why we did that, but we did so there was no backing out. We made the list of what we needed and divided it between us four and the hospitality department people who had volunteered to help us. We went on quite an eventful shopping excursion, which included us having to find replacements for American things that weren’t carried her; for example, we had to get veggie soup instead of veggie stalk. No matter though, we were still pretty optimistic.

20lbs of Potatoes Apparently Wasn't Enough

We arrived at the kitchen on campus at 11am to find out that we were still missing half the items we needed, and there was no turkey there yet. We sent someone out four or five times to get the items we needed throughout the day and nearly didn’t have enough potatoes for mashed potatoes. We had to make a call to a higher power, aka our program director, to pressure them to get us more potatoes. So anyways, two o’clock came 

Tom TurkeyStill Intact and Frozen Solid

around and we were still prepping all the veggies and we had no turkey yet. Two thirty came around and we finally got our turkeys, but they were both frozen SOLID and with their heads and feet still attached. That was an experience thawing and beheading and defooting them. I took the feet and legs off, all the while pretending to be a dinosaur. Surprised? No, me neither. We popped them in the oven and prayed they would thaw in an hour or two (they didn’t).

Velociraptor RAWRRRR!

We continued to make EVERYTHING from scratch: the stuffing, the green bean casserole, the pumpkin pie, everything. And I mean from SCRATCH, as in, cutting and peeling raw pumpkins, baking bread to make the stuffing, boiling and cutting the green beans and adding onions and mushrooms to the casserole, everything. It was an experience and we thought for sure that we wouldn’t be able to pull it off.

Well, for those for you who know me, you know I am a complete control freak, so it was hard for me to control myself 

Ew

and be a normal human being to my friends, but I did a pretty good job I think! Towards the end though, I started to freak out a little. Our friend Hiral showed up (thank god) ad helped out sooo much doing this and that and helping out just wherever she could; I don’t think we would have finished if she hadn’t come help! Ruskin also came in and dealt with my crazy like a champ. By the time he got there I was a maniac and just shouting directions here and there and freaking out about the turkey and everything being done on time (the turkey was not cooking fast enough, plus we didn’t have a cover for it for almost three hours, so it was a little dry at that point).

The Cinnamon and Nutmeg They Gave Us For The Pies...

We managed to pull it off, though! And I honestly can’t believe it! Here is a list of everything we made: 

Two turkeys (which ended up being delicious, somehow), stuffing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, rolls, a full salad, scalloped potatoes, five pumpkin pies, four apple pies, sweet potatoes, normal turkey gravy, and veg gravy. And it was all SO GOOD. As in, might be some of the best Thanksgiving food 

I’ve ever had, if I do say so myself. The stuffing was freakishly on par, there were enough mashed potatoes for everyone to get their fill, and they 

Hiral Coming to Save the Day

were SO delicious, and we even managed to find dinner rolls to top it all off. On top of all the 

American food we also had some Indian barbecue, which included chicken kebabs and a few veggie ones too. I stuck to American food, though, and as you can imagine, ate until I literally couldn’t eat any more.

Fireworks!

So after we were all done eating, our resident direction Jacob told us all to come outside, so we obediently followed and his mini van had been 

backed up to the soccer field on campus and it was just LOADED with fireworks! Apparently that is the new Thanksgiving tradition! So with 

our bellies full we went crazy; it was a pyro’s dream. We set off so many and had a grand old time. Afterwards we headed back in for dessert (the pies were FANTASTIC) and just to hang out. We all headed home around 11pm full of delicious food and smiles on our faces. I can honestly say this was the most fun I’ve ever had on Thanksgiving. I mean, I love and 

The Spread (The Turkey Was On Its Way)

My Plate

look forward to Thanksgiving with my family each year and I did miss them bunches, but there is always family drama, or your sisters or cousins just get annoying, you know, the normal family holiday stuff. Here though, it was just plain fun… well, after we finished cooking and actually relaxed!

All in all Turkey Day this year was a complete success! I only wish that we had been able to take the leftovers home!!

The Group!

Today, my life is just Shelby.

So Full!