Happy Turkey Day!!!

The day began a bit earlier than I would have preferred with the late night that just occurred, but there was cooking to do.  I arrived at Caroline’s this morning ready to follow instructions.  I have learned so much from spending time with Caroline in her kitchen and love cooking with her.  We started with making the stuffing for both birds and quickly moved to making four mushroom casseroles.

    

Mushroom Casserole: butter, mushrooms, sour cream, parsley, bread crumbs and red pepper…what is not to love!

Caroline ordered the birds from her local meat vendor in a nearby bazaar.  They were about 10 kilograms a piece or about 25 lbs.  For those who are curious they were 40UAH per kilogram which is about $1.75USD a pound.  Which is actually fairly expensive for poultry in Ukraine.  There is a reason I eat more chicken. 

    

Time to stuff the bird.  Just like at home.  Thanks for all those lessons, Mom.  I can actually brine, stuff and truss a turkey.  Although the trussing in Ukraine without the materials I am used to was interesting. 

Kurt was in charge of the mashed potatoes.  He used an old family recipe and they were amazing!

         

No Turkey Day is complete without some good old American football.  And Turkey Day in Lugansk was no exception.  I had to leave before the game really got started (there was a turkey that needed to spend some time in my oven), but I did manage to catch some of the fun!!!

Cary, a PCV from Lugansk, arranged for the Americans to play a group of Ukrainians who have an American football team.  Cary was really nervous that there would not be enough Americans to have a game or that if we did all show, we would lose.

    

And of course, as we are in Ukraine, the snow arrived just in time for our Turkey Bowl game.  It was cold, but everyone seemed have a fabulous time.

    

Pre-game stretching.  And no that is not an ambulance in the background, but it probably would have been a good idea.

The Americans Won!!!!  Thanks Cary for setting this up!  It was a blast!  

    

And here is the bird.  T2, aka. Turkey Two, was stuffed and baked at my flat.  As you can see I barely had a pan big enough and the lid concept was interesting.  I took two oven cooking bags and tucked it around T2.  The other concept that was interesting was trussing this bird.  Turkey are slippery so you cannot just stick shish kebob sticks in and think it will hold.  So I got a bit creative with my weaving of turkey skin and sticks.  It worked like a charm.

And once cooked, it was now time to think about how to transport this fabulous smelling bird a couple of miles to Caroline’s.  HUH!!!  But one IKEA bag and a couple of towels, and we were ready for transport via marshutka.

   

T2 all unwrapped and ready to be sliced.  Love the trussing!  So about using whatever you have available.  T2 and T1 side by side.  There was a lot of turkey and 20 something Americans had no problem eating it all.

Rachael and Kristin.  They both made treks to get to Lugansk for the festivities and it was awesome to have them around.

Our fearless leader, Caroline.  She is the brains behind this entire operation and we could not have done this without her.  Already there is talk about a Thanksgiving at her house in San Diego in a couple of years where fitting 20 some odd people is not so stressful.  And we were crowded, but I don’t think anyone even noticed.  We were so excited to have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner and celebrate with so many old and new friends that nobody even cared that there were so many of us.

Many, many thanks to Caroline for such a fantastic job.  We love you and truly appreciate everything you do for all of us.  You have saved many of us from meltdowns and terrible bouts of homesickness.  You are amazing!!!

    

    

So much fun!!!  At one point I believe there was a challenge of how many PCV’s can we fit into Caroline’s kitchen.  Because the above picture is nine or ten in a 6x9 space that also includes all the kitchen appliances and cabinets.  Yup, that is how we roll!!

I feel like I should have an opinion poll about right here…The Best Turkey Day Tush!  These guys always make me laugh and this picture is no exception.  Thanks for the laugh, boys!!

    

Quite a spread for Turkey Dinner, even 6000 miles from home.  Wahoo!!!

Amy and Rebecca.  I love that even the full plates look like a turkey dinner.  So yummy!!!

    

Lots of people and lots of food….the perfect combination!!!

And it was another Thanksgiving celebration for the record books.  Thanks everyone for the traveling, cooking, hosting and making the 2011 Thanksgiving holiday so fabulous!!!