Day 54 Turkey Day

It is here!  Thanksgiving! Today is my favorite holiday…and I get to celebrate in the hills of Tuscany! This morning we were slow to rise!  We took our time getting up and around!  The farm that we are staying at has about 6 cats…give or take a few…that Reid loves to play with!  His favorite cat is called Donut.  Donut is a cute little gray striped cat that lets Reid do whatever he wants with him!  Reid has taken to putting Donut in his sweatshirt and walking around with him!  It is really cute to see Reid talking to him and walking around with him, like he is his furry baby doll!

Today was culinary challenge day!  We had to try to make Thanksgiving dinner with ingredients lacking, math problems to solve, and recipes to find.  We almost had a holiday tragedy this morning!  Alex went and got our Italian turkey (chicken) from a local shop.  He left it outside for a few minutes while he was unloading.  When we walked outside, we saw the cats gathered around a wheelbarrow…climbing all over it and each other.  I thought “Hmm Alex must feed them here.”  Now if I were half-way with it, I think I might have stopped to realize how stupid that thought actually was…and eventually…when I walked up near them…I realized it was the Italian turkey they were trying to eat!  Yikes!  We almost lost the most important part of our meal to our sweet little feline friends!

After rescuing our bird, it was time to get to work! Russ was in charge of the “turkey” and I started on the stuffing.  Yes, I will admit that on Thanksgiving usually Mrs. Cubison makes our stuffing..but today it was all me!  I used our left over baguettes and assorted bread like things to make it!  Of course I could not add anything too interesting, or Reid was not even going to take a bite…so it was pretty basic stuff!  The next was the infamous green bean casserole!  Yes the one with mushroom soup and those crusty onion thingys.  Well, we made the onions from scratch, got some mushroom soup mix, and went to town. The “turkey” went into the oven and we had no clue exactly how to work the convection oven, or exactly how long to cook the “turkey”, but we just went for it!  I have to admit there was a lot of improvisation going on in the kitchen and my fingers were crossed that any of it would turn out well!

Soon it was time for Alex and Ingrid to arrive.  We had wine and appetizers set out and ready to go.  They came with mashed potatoes and chicken livers (yikes) and wine.  We ate and drank and had wonderful conversations!  We talked about history and traditions, family and holidays.  Reid gave a report on Thanksgiving to everyone that he had researched and written for the occasion (yes I made him do it).  We all talked about what we are thankful for and just generally enjoyed ourselves…

Now let’s talk about the food…everything came out great!  Alex and Ingrid said that the food brought back memories of times long ago.  Alex went to college in the U.S. and Ingrid was married to an American way back when.  They really liked the stuffing and the chicken…I mean turkey…was juicy and delicious!  Next we had some more wine…and then on to dessert!

I am not going to lie, I was a bit worried about the pie all night.  It was sitting on the buffet…and I almost felt like it was taunting me…ohhh Wendy am I going to be apple pie or crapple pie?  Will they smile painfully and say “Oh this is interesting.” or will they love every bite?????  Well???  The answer was….they loved it!  So much so that they wanted the recipe!  Yay!  My crazy apple pie recipe scores again!!

The best part of the night was getting to talk to my family!!  I love Thanksgiving!  Cooking all day…family everywhere…people running around like crazy!  So in talking to my family that night, I got to feel like a tiny part of me was there!  It was a nice way to end such a lovely holiday!!  I am so thankful!!!!