This year for Thanksgiving I was a little nervous. It was going to be my first major holiday away from my family, although I have an amazing one here in Rome, I wasn't sure what the day was going to entail. About a week before, we started to talk amongst our friends about what we wanted to do. We decided to do a full out Turkey day at Erin and Paolo's house...Thanks for new lifelong friends!
I knew this wasn't going to be a "normal" thanksgiving but that's all relative. The day before I went to the grocery store to get my ingredients I needed to make the dishes I was bringing. I was making brown sugar carrots, green beans wrapped in bacon, and a Chocolate Meringue pie (everyone knows this girl dislikes both pumpkin and apple pie...so chocoalte it was). At the grocery store I went up to the butcher counter to get the prosciutto/bacon. I asked for "20 fette sottili" (pieces thinly sliced), but all I heard was thump, thump, thump while I was getting the butter. I walked backed over to the counter and saw he was cutting them by hand, and asked him to stop because I needed them very thin. He said it wasn't possible to do and that was that...I got some different stuff and proceeded on my way. I had to go to three different supermarkets to find a round pie tin before I found one. Thanks for presliced bacon and round pie tins.
I got home with all my goodies and started blanching my beans I got at the market, chopping carrots, whisking melted chocolate, weighing all my ingredients after converting them all to metric system...such a pain, and using a baby bottle to measure the liquids...I was getting nervous about the outcome of everything. Things were moving along and then I realized, after trying, I didn't know how to turn on the oven. Luckily we had a toaster oven, and I used that to cook the pie. Thanks for baby bottles to measure and toaster ovens!
After I finished the dishes, I realized I was running late, like usual, and had to change and figure out how to pack all this stuff. I had two pans of carrots and one of beans, a big pot for mulled wine, and the fragile pie. I walked the 10 minutes to the bus stop with ease, it came in 5 minutes and was able to sit down when I got on. We arrived at my stop and I got off, walked the 5 minutes to the next stop, and caught that bus with ease as well. I wasn't able to sit and everyone stared at me with all this stuff in my hands...typical. As we climbed the hill more and more people got on and I was pinned in the aisle holding the heavy food with one arm and the big pot with the other...I can't imagine what I looked like. This lasted for an excruciating 15 minutes that felt like forever and had to force my way off the bus...the entire time worrying about my pie. Thanks for buses that got me to Erin and Paolo's.
I got to Erin and Paolo's and they were just putting in the first round of 4 chickens. We didn't have enough room for a turkey, and would have to have bought it on Wednesday with no place to store it, so chickens it was. I immediately threw down the food and ran to find the Packer game...of course making sure the pie was ok first. We watched the game in streaming...and I talked to my family on skype. Thanks for technology so I could watch the game and see my family!
At this time the Packers had one a great game and everyone started arriving...old friends and new faces. People mingled and drank mulled wine while we were cooking the feast. There was so much food...6 chickens, 20 potatoes, 20 bundles of beans, 2 pans pasta al forno, 1 pan of carrots, bruschetta, gravy (i made all by myself from scratch...you proud grandmas???), 3 pies, pumpkin, apple, and chocolate...and people from all over the world...Guatemala, Austrailia, Spain, Argentina, and America. Everything was delicious! I was worried for nothing. Even though there were no mashed potatoes, we survived, and everyone had a great time. Thanks for a great international Thanksgiving in Rome and a PACKER WIN!
I of course missed my family and friends but it sounds like you all had quite a lovely holiday. I will hopefully have some pictures, but unfortunately I forgot my camera, of course. Thanks for my family and friends who love me even though I am so far away!
The following night we went out for Paolo's birthday. We had a great dinner at Luzzi's Trattoria followed by some limoncello...which they just leave the entire bottle on your table. I haven't quite figured that one out yet.
On another slightly different note: Since I started hanging out with Erin, we have been cooking up a storm. We started with Sunday Fundays and just making pizzas from scratch...then we went on to cookies, and muffins, and tortillas...(our first two attempts at chocolate chip cookies were disasters). We have mastered that problem...less butter, hotter oven, and a bit more flour...and now I have started to cook things at home more. I made brownies the other day for Guilio. They turned out pretty well, considering it was a recipe I had never made before and it called for fruity olive oil and I used regular. I was already taking a risk making olive oil brownies to begin with, but I just added an extra teaspoon of vanilla and they were good to go. I did, however, forget that I didn't know how to turn on the oven...still, and had to cook them in the toaster oven again.
I will be making brownies again for a dinner that we are going to tomorrow. I am going to make the regular chewy brownies for tomorrow...real American style :)
Also, Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas here. There are a lot more lights and decorations here then I thought there was going to be. It makes me happy. This is my favorite time of the year. This Tuesday is "festa" for the Italians. It is the day when EVERYTHING is closed, everyone is off, and they put up their decorations and tree, but it's really the day of the "Immaculate Conception." Everything will be closed Tuesday for sure, and probably tomorrow too. Tonight is St. Nick's and it will be the first Christmas without a stocking...strange. I think I might go buy a few decorations to make it feel more like home :)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment