A Stuffed Thanksgiving

in Aussie lingo, "stuffed" means screwed up.  i'd like to think we pulled this one off by the skin of our turkey.

thanksgiving is LT's favorite holiday. we've been having a michigan/ohio state party the last several years despite our locations and any guests interest in the game.  less than two weeks before "the game", we decided to throw a thanksgiving/michigan vs. osu party in a place that had little knowledge of either.  we invited a good number understanding it was little notice in an increasingly hectic season with an unusual pretense for a foreign land.  we didn't expect many to show.

the sunday following thanksgiving, we hosted 35-40 in our little condo for a full thanksgiving meal with american football on the teli.  our place was stuffed.  as for the meal, i just put the beer on ice and fried three 5kg turkeys (not easy to find here) in a char broil big easy.  at a manic pace for several hours, laura managed to prepare the rest.  massive amounts of food.  getting it out hot and together using an oven not wide enough to fit a cookie sheet.  defies comprehension.

the good news is people left stuffed.  we hope thanksgiving food coma stuffed.

i'll admit that as the number of rsvp's grew, i began to dread the thought of hosting this thing with the limitations of space and tools to cook and serve ... but then people started talking about it the week leading up to the party.  we don't understand it, but the level of excitement people expressed over the opportunity to eat a thanksgiving meal was overwhelming.  it was just turkey and mashed potatoes and stuffing and the other usual turkey day sides, but somehow it was all new to everybody.  i still don't get it, but people continue to talk about how cool it was and how good and different the food was to this day.  bizarre.  even more bizarre, nobody had ever had pumpkin pie.  what we call butternut squash is what they call pumpkin, but they've never even had a butternut squash pie.  they put "pumpkin" on everything.  pizza. salads.  sandwiches.  risotto.  meat pies.  everything.  but nobody's ever made a pie out of the stuff.  laura made two and, amongst an impressive spread of delicious desserts brought by some guests, they were history in no time.

we're hoping everybody enjoyed the day as much as we did after the first few hours.  if nothing else, several guests went home with improved spirals after a few lessons from yours truly.  and in case you missed it, michigan won.  though not displayed in this game, who could have imagined the defensive turnaround in one year.  for those not obsessed with college football, michigan went from 110th (out of 120) in total defense to 16th or so with identical players after a coaching change.  call me a hoke skeptic converted.

due to time constraints, pictures of this event are limited.

some of the food at some point in the day.  laura loves the pictures on the wall.

john setting a good example for the kids

laura and alicia