Thanksgiving Weekend Recap

I just had a real fun weekend. On Thanksgiving afternoon - I decided that it was 100% required that I have a turkey for Thanksgiving dinner that was to be eaten on Saturday night. But as everyone knows - it takes forever to defrost one of those suckers if you buy it frozen. But what you might not know is that it is impossible to find a frozen turkey in any town smaller than 100,000 people... I am in a town of about 4,500 people. Well, I was running out of time. I had a small window to acquire a frozen turkey so it would be ready for dinner on Saturday. The window closed. I now had a small problem. I told a few people here of my problem and soon the resolution was reached - we must find a live turkey in Koynare, purchase it, kill it, clean it, and cook it. And that is exactly what we did. I found a turkey for 30 leva, had to explain to the man selling it that I wasn't crazy and that eating a turkey at the end of November is an American tradition and that I didn't want to wait until Christmas when it is customary to eat turkey here. So I bought the young turkey a month before he was supposed to fulfill his destiny. Pepi and I tied up his legs and tossed him in the trunk of the car. I was the proud owner of livestock. First time ever I owned something alive with intent to eat it. (Garden plants don't count. They can't blink). So that was Friday. Pepi told me that I was not allowed to do the actual killing of the turkey and that his wife would handle it for me. I had other things to do that night, like pick Cveti up from the bus station in a neighboring town, so I really didn't have time to clean the turkey.

So Saturday - the day of the big party - I was given my turkey, cleaned and in a bag. Got up on Saturday and per Thanksgiving tradition I spent the entire morning in the kitchen cooking. First I made dessert - Apple Crisp. The smell made me want to dance. Then Cveti and I cooked together the rest of the stuff all day long. We made homemade stuffing, creamed onions, gravy, mashed potatoes, deviled eggs, and of course the turkey. Dan came in the afternoon. During the day, we got bored waiting to put the turkey in the oven, so I made chocolate chip cookies. Literally, a whole batch of cookies was consumed by Dan, Cveti and myself within an afternoon. They were quite the treat. At around 8pm, Cveti had 2 of her friends come and they brought more food - traditional Bulgarian food - and we celebrated together. Per tradition, we filled our first plate to the brim with food. We finished it, then we went back for seconds, again filling our plates. The second plate proved a challenge. And of course, after we couldn't eat any more, the warm apple crisp with whipped cream came out and was delicious. We ate it all and wanted to explode. We sat at the table for the next few hours talking, listening to music, and having drinks. It was a grand Thanksgiving and I won't forget it anytime soon... Check the picasaweb site link for pictures.

On Sunday - we played football at the stadium. Cveti, Dan and I started throwing the ball around and soon we had a crowd of children with us playing too. It was like 60 degrees outside and sunny. A heck of a weekend.

Honestly - the memories I am making here are amazing. I am so freaking thankful for the opportunity to be here.

So with that said - I go to Sofia tomorrow for my MRI. Let's hope all is well. I'm nervous.