First Annual Immigrant Dinner (a.k.a. Thanksgiving)

Now that we have a dining room that can hold more than 4 people and several friends that are away from their families during the holiday season, it seemed appropriate to hold the First Annual Immigrant Dinner on Thanksgiving. Even if the walls weren't painted and we had to cobble together the tables and chairs from the random collection of furniture that we have.

The criteria for getting an invitation was that at least one of the couple should be a non-UK citizen. So, we had some folks you know already from the blog: Hachie Gal and Budman--Texans; Banana (Canadian/Croatian) and Sven (Swedish/Croatian); and newcomers to the blog, The Skids (Mrs. Skid is Texan, Mr. Skid is English) and The Falcon & Buffy--both Aussies.
Here's a terribly blurry shot of all of us (except Paulster--the photographer):


I was in charge of the Turkey and Potatoes Supreme--no holiday celebration is complete without Potatoes Supreme...So, my local butcher hooked me up with a 15 pound (weight, not price) turkey--which cooked up nicely thanks to a tip from Nigella Lawson--Domestic Goddess.
The other immigrants brought the rest of the fantastic fare...and in true Thanksgiving Day fashion, there was TONS of great food.

Due to the vet trip (see last posting) I didn't quite have everything together, but thankfully, Mrs. Skid arrived early and helped me unpack the china and crystal and silver and get the table set. And the Budman was travelling back from Iceland that day--he arrived just in time to help his plate with the rest of us!

Here's a picture of the bird halfway through carving.


Thanks to having double ovens, we were able to get everything warmed so that we could eat on schedule. It was imperative to eat in enough time to watch the Dallas Cowboys stomp the Seattle Seahawks! How 'bout them Cowboys!!!

The Falcon was in charge of the playlist and it was wonderfully entertaining--especially the track with The Falcon himself on vocals. Great songs in the background of the evening chatter.

A Thanksgiving Day spread isn't complete without an array of desserts. Of course, the Pumpkin Pie. Hachie Gal brought the ingredients and I made the crust (thanks to Ouidie's tutoring when I was young). The Falcon made his famous Rum Cake--beautiful and tasty. And Banana made Raspberry and Blueberry Blondies and a Canadian dessert bar whose name escapes me...special multi-cultural treats topped off our feasts.

Here's a shot of the dessert table.


As a stranger in this country, I am truly thankful to have such a great group of friends to share a special day. And I'm not sure we'll ever know the meaning of 6 lemons in a line.