Turkey Day...

What do people have for Thanksgiving in a foreign country??

Final Achieved Menu:

·         Cranberry Spinach Salad

·         Cheese & olives

·         Turkey/Chicken & Stuffing & Gravy (turkey was nearly not available as the grocery store declared it needed a 3 week window for the possibility of a whole turkey. butchers in our neighborhood were noncommittal at best, decidedly negative at worst. Finally Tom found a whole frozen turkey downtown at a seller of ‘exotic birds’…another option being pheasant. Hooray!)

·         Dill Mashed Potatoes

·         Pumpkin & Cauliflower Casserole (broccoli casserole became cauliflower when the packaged broccoli at the store had visible worms residing on the florets)

·         Corn bread (sweet corn casserole involved way too many steps and too small of an output. Corn bread was much easier)

·         Peas

·         Can of Cranberry Sauce discovered in friend’s pantry

·         Strawberry Pretzel Jello Soup (jello did not gel. enough said.) (cool whip became whipped cream made from a powder and milk.)

·         Pumpkin Cheesecake

·         Rustic Apple Torte

·         Apple Cobbler

·         Ice Cream

·         Punch

Rick & Tom model the delicious turkey (augmented by a few chicken legs)

Steph leads 'craft time' (leaf rubbings and thanksgiving coloring pages) with the kids.

We had our special celebration this week because all of our neighbor’s were celebrating Kurban Bayramı, a week-long holiday commemorating Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice everything, including his son, to Allah, and to celebrate God’s deliverance of Abraham by providing a sheep as a substitute.  Families here sacrifice a goat, sheep, or bull, and divide it three ways – your own family, your neighbors, and the poor. This is a special time here when all government offices and the majority of businesses are closed for 4-5 days. People visit with family, neighbors, and friends. This aspect feels much like our 4 day Thanksgiving weekend back home. We were delighted to have several friends join us for our pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving dinner. It was much less stressful to prepare a big meal when you don’t have to attend class or work all day (which will be the case next week).