Thanksgiving is our first traditional American holiday here in India. Since Thanksgiving isn't celebrated in India the kids still had to go to school and the spouses still had to go to work on Thursday and Friday. On the up side, Friday morning was the first morning since we've been here that Kyle woke up to only a handful of emails and missed, overnight phone calls rather than the dozens he usually wakes up to.
We were able to celebrate two traditional Thanksgiving meals during the week. On Thursday, after the kids and hubbies were all sent on their way, my friend, Sue Hess, spent the day slaving in her kitchen to provide a meal with all the American fixings. She managed to make a turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and wonderful pie! I can only imagine the sight of Sue in her kitchen with her housekeeper, cook and driver all trying to help with the chopping, mixing and baking. The household help here really does not like to let the "Madams" work at anything. My driver won't let me carry a thing, even if I can probably carry more weight than he can. If I move around the house attempting to do anything - put away clothes, make lunch - someone swoops in to do it for me. I suppose it is all part of the Indian caste system where the Madams and Sirs are the ultimate bosses and should be treated like royalty. Some people may think this is nice, I find it strange. Given this mentality, the household help must have been beside themselves with the Madam doing any work at all. But she did it and it was delicious! A true American Thanksgiving even if it happened before most Americans even woke up and well before the kick off of even the earliest football game of the day.
Dinner included our family as well as the Hess family and one little Swedish girl who is friends with one of the Hess children. At the bus stop the next morning I asked her if she liked Thanksgiving. She said she did but didn't realize that it revolved around so much food, and only food!
On Saturday we were invited to participate in a much larger gathering with several ex-pat families in the community. Kyle and I cooked two turkeys - one in the oven and one in the smoker. As you can imagine from my lamenting here about the lack of reliable power, the power went out while Kyle was cooking the turkey. He managed to move the turkey to the gas grill and finish cooking it outside. The downside of outdoor cooking in India is that is attracts the many wild animals in the area. In our case, cats. And lots of them. They found their way to the three doors to our house and sat outside crying and trying to sneak in. It was heartbreaking and annoying all at the same time.
Around 3 in the afternoon we brought our turkeys and fixings to the party where we enjoyed the company of many people from all over the world. There were at least 7 turkeys, 2 hams, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, yams, stuffing, cranberries, and many other side dishes. There was also an overflowing assortment of wine and beer. Of course, in true Palm Meadows style, no party would be complete without over the top party decorations. And, in India, it is true that your drivers can arrange for just about anything. So our Thanksgiving party decorations were live turkeys. I've never seen a live turkey in India, a country where I've seen wild dogs, cows, goats, chickens, pigs and monkeys roaming the streets, but never a turkey. Yet, we had two live turkeys at the party watching as we stuffed ourselves on their cooked counterparts.
We were able to celebrate two traditional Thanksgiving meals during the week. On Thursday, after the kids and hubbies were all sent on their way, my friend, Sue Hess, spent the day slaving in her kitchen to provide a meal with all the American fixings. She managed to make a turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and wonderful pie! I can only imagine the sight of Sue in her kitchen with her housekeeper, cook and driver all trying to help with the chopping, mixing and baking. The household help here really does not like to let the "Madams" work at anything. My driver won't let me carry a thing, even if I can probably carry more weight than he can. If I move around the house attempting to do anything - put away clothes, make lunch - someone swoops in to do it for me. I suppose it is all part of the Indian caste system where the Madams and Sirs are the ultimate bosses and should be treated like royalty. Some people may think this is nice, I find it strange. Given this mentality, the household help must have been beside themselves with the Madam doing any work at all. But she did it and it was delicious! A true American Thanksgiving even if it happened before most Americans even woke up and well before the kick off of even the earliest football game of the day.
Dinner included our family as well as the Hess family and one little Swedish girl who is friends with one of the Hess children. At the bus stop the next morning I asked her if she liked Thanksgiving. She said she did but didn't realize that it revolved around so much food, and only food!
On Saturday we were invited to participate in a much larger gathering with several ex-pat families in the community. Kyle and I cooked two turkeys - one in the oven and one in the smoker. As you can imagine from my lamenting here about the lack of reliable power, the power went out while Kyle was cooking the turkey. He managed to move the turkey to the gas grill and finish cooking it outside. The downside of outdoor cooking in India is that is attracts the many wild animals in the area. In our case, cats. And lots of them. They found their way to the three doors to our house and sat outside crying and trying to sneak in. It was heartbreaking and annoying all at the same time.
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| Kyle smoking the turkey |
Around 3 in the afternoon we brought our turkeys and fixings to the party where we enjoyed the company of many people from all over the world. There were at least 7 turkeys, 2 hams, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, yams, stuffing, cranberries, and many other side dishes. There was also an overflowing assortment of wine and beer. Of course, in true Palm Meadows style, no party would be complete without over the top party decorations. And, in India, it is true that your drivers can arrange for just about anything. So our Thanksgiving party decorations were live turkeys. I've never seen a live turkey in India, a country where I've seen wild dogs, cows, goats, chickens, pigs and monkeys roaming the streets, but never a turkey. Yet, we had two live turkeys at the party watching as we stuffed ourselves on their cooked counterparts.
All in all it was a great Thanksgiving. Good food, good friends, 80 degrees and sunny! I know, not New England weather, but I was thankful for sunshine and kids that could run around outside for hours rather than driving the adults crazy. We even had a traditional Indian portion to our celebration when we ended the evening with fireworks. Many of the concerned parents reminded us that fireworks are illegal in the US and maybe this wasn't the smartest idea to light fireworks on a small street with lots of tree cover (it wasn't smart), but I had to jump in with - It's legal in NH - still not smart, but legal! Just another NH night in India I guess.
Love the live turkeys -- oustanding flourish on what must have been a great celebration.
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