What a weekend! I'll briefly recap Friday - I went to work (nothing exciting here) and came home. I took a much needed siesta. Come to think of it, this siesta was probably the best one I've taken in four months. It was that good! That afternoon my friend Tep and I went out to Gran Via for a little bit of Black Friday shopping. Emphasis on the word little. I picked up a few gifts, but an hour into it, I was exhausted and tired of fighting through crowds. (The first time I was in Madrid, I loved Gran Via and Sol. Now that I'm actually living here, I hate it!) Yes folks, I lasted an hour and got sick of shopping. I have changed tremendously!!!! That evening, I cooked my cobbler so it would be ready for Saturday. Interesting note, some things are so much cheaper here than they are back home. Milk, sugar, and flour are ridiculously cheap. I spent less than three dollars on those three things. Last I remember, three dollars was what a gallon of milk was going for. I went to sleep fairly early - part because I was exhausted and part because I had a long day on Satuday.
Saturday was the day of our Thanksgiving Dinner for church. I went over to my friend Amy's flat around twelve and that's when the fun began. First we had to peel a monstrosity amount of potatoes and sweet potatoes. (I found it amusing that everyone else was using a potato peeler. Me, being the good "Southern" girl I am, refused to use one and used a knife, just like my Great-Grandma and Grandma taught me. Of course, I also learned to cut towards myself and not away, but hey, who cares?!) After the potatoes, came turkey #2. Amy's roommate, Laura and I were on turkey duty. FYI, if you have a faint stomach, I suggest you skip down a little bit....So turkeys here in Spain are completely different from the Butterball turkeys you buy in the states. They come straight from the carniceria (butcher), so they are really fresh. Which means, they are still bloody on the inside, have feathers on the outside, and have a few body parts left intact. On this particular turkey, the esophagus was still attached to the body, so after we plucked out some feathers, Laura ripped out the esophagus and we then gave it a good bath. Speaking of the carniceria, I went to one on Friday and it was kinda gross. Spaniards really like to eat conejo (rabbit) and rice. In the display was a conejo and when you looked up close and personal, you could see its eyeballs!!!! Things like this make me want to resort to being vegetarian again....
However, our food was amazing. We had turkey, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn, bread, and gravy for 70+ people! Cooking for that many people is no joke! My appreciation for two people skyrocketed during the evening. First, it went to my Grandmother, who has cooked Thanksgiving for as long as I can remember. I now know why she is ready to find someone else to pass Thanksgiving off to in our family. The second person/persons who I under-appreciated before yesterday is those who work for Butterball. How easy it is to pop a turkey in an oven bag and cook the bird. You don't realize how much work a turkey is until you actually have to prepare it the old school way. Seriously. Try it sometime! I went home around 11:30. My feet were killing me and I was consumed with exhaustion. However, I did call and tell my Grandmother about my experiences and somehow in the course of the conversation, we decided that I will be taking over Thanksgiving duties from her starting in 2012. (If I decide to come home then. May stick around here for awhile longer!)
This morning, I woke up at ten because I had another turkey to conquer! Today was Thanksgiving with the family. There is nothing to wake you up like ripping out the esophagus of a turkey at ten-thirty in the morning, before you've drank your morning coffee. And I will say, although the whole concept is gross, it's kind of neat to hear the POP that occurs when you've made your break. It gave me a sense of accomplishment :) I buttered, oiled, and spiced the turkey up and stuck it in the oven. We ate the bad bird (get it, bad bird instead of bad boy! tehehehe.) for dinner, along with french fries. Yes, I know that is unconventional, but the kids don't like mashed potatoes, so it would have been a waste! Needless to say, dinner was a success and we had ice cream for dessert. Even better!
I feel like I've officially joined the adult club this weekend, and it's all because I ripped out the esophagus of a turkey. Oh, and countless feathers from a turkey....
Quote of the Day: " Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence." -Erma Bombeck
Spanish Word of the Day: pavo - turkey
No comments:
Post a Comment