Of course Thanksgiving dinner in Argentina had to adapt, in part, to Buenos Aires customs. I had tried to have the dinner a bit earlier than is normal for Buenos Aires but due to our guests' schedules, the time was pushed back. The boys arrived from school around 6:00pm and then the first of our guests. Everyone was in our house around 7:45pm. I don't think we ate until 8:00pm. We were lucky that Friday was a holiday (the holiday was originally scheduled for Monday but due to the run-off presidential election, the holiday was rescheduled for Friday so that people would not be out of town for a long weekend on the voting day). This rescheduling was great for us. The festivities lasted at our house until 12:30am. Imagine if the kids had school the next day - I'm guessing that the festivities would have lasted until after 10:00pm.
Managing the final touches was a bit chaotic. I couldn't figure out how to de-grease the gravy (I always wait until the liquid is cold and then skim off the fat), and the green beans were a tad bit overcooked. One of our guests helped me with the garlic mashed potatoes, which was great because I could focus on other stuff.
In sum, making and hosting Thanksgiving dinner in Buenos Aires was a tiring but very worthwhile experience. We enjoyed ourselves. My food was mediocre as far as taste but the effort to make traditional Thanksgiving dishes made it special. It was also very nice to share this holiday with two Argentine families. We enjoyed spending time with them and opening up our home and our lives. They were also super kind to bring food to share, compliment us on the food even when it didn't taste all that great, and to help us clean up afterwards!
I was surprised to learn that the father who had lived in the United States for two years had never had a Thanksgiving dinner. This was a reminder to me to think about, and open my home, to foreigners and people who are away from their home during the holidays. What a shame that he lived in the United States and no American invited him to a Thanksgiving dinner!
I look forward to Thanksgiving next year. I'm guessing that we'll be in Phoenix. I look forward to sharing the holiday with our friends there, or wherever we are.
I was surprised to learn that the father who had lived in the United States for two years had never had a Thanksgiving dinner. This was a reminder to me to think about, and open my home, to foreigners and people who are away from their home during the holidays. What a shame that he lived in the United States and no American invited him to a Thanksgiving dinner!
I look forward to Thanksgiving next year. I'm guessing that we'll be in Phoenix. I look forward to sharing the holiday with our friends there, or wherever we are.
Late Sunday afternoon I remembered that F was going to make a PowerPoint presentation about Thanksgiving to his class the next day and I had committed to supplying pumpkin muffins. So, I got the recipe and brought F into the kitchen. He prepared all of the ingredients and the first batch of muffins. I made the rest. In total, we made over 60 muffins for both F's and B's classes.