Happy Thanksgiving! As I write, all my Western friends are waking up with a food coma from yesterday's festivities. I'm getting ready to crash because we've had two days of feasting and fun here in India. Hey, just because they're not AMERICAN Indians, doesn't mean we can't party right here with our neighbors, right? Hopefully, our kids will be one up on quite a few people in the U.S.A. who didn't know there was a difference.
I think our Thanksgiving may even have had a bit more of the spirit of the original Thanksgiving. I mean, we have been through a very hard year. We have been welcomed and helped by our new neighbors and the friends. We had to make our meals from scratch -- improvising on what we know from home and making it homey right here. So, with that, I'll share a little bit about what it looked like to Thank God right here in India.
Just so we're clear, we celebrated Thanksgiving this year because we're so thankful that God has blessed us in so many ways this last year. To some it might be an excuse to sit around with your family, eat lots of food and watch football, but here . . . oh wait . . . we did that. It was our Indian family, the food was a bit different, and the football was prerecorded, but hey, we really came close! We had two celebrations this year -- much like we would have if we'd been back in the States. Usually, you visit both sides of the family. One on Thanksgiving day and one later in the weekend. So, we celebrated with our American friends here on Thanksgiving and our Indian friends today -- Friday.
So, what makes Thanksgiving dinner so special? The TURKEY! Well, you can't really find that here, so we settled on a lot of chicken. One family made chicken, sweet potatoes, carrots, stuffing, and berry pie. Another family made mashed potatoes, rolls, and apple pie. I was in charge of the green bean casserole, cornbread casserole, collard greens, and pumpkin pie. I'm not sure how my friends turned out such delicious dishes, so I can't write to you about that, but I'll try to share how I finagled my way into getting my contributions on the table.
Green Bean Casserole -- my ultimate favorite Thanksgiving food!!! Seriously, I'd eat a truckload of this stuff! So, how do you make it without cans of cream of mushroom soup or little fried onions in a can? What's a girl to do? I almost feel silly writing about this stuff. Did you know that my Grandmas didn't have that stuff when they made their Thanksgiving meals? Or any meals when they were younger? So, what have I to complain about? Really, it's pretty silly to be even blogging about doing something like this that's been done for centuries. But my Grandparents don't have the internet. And most people who will read this have lived in a world of canned goods and pre-packaged, floor to ceiling, everything-you-could-ever-dream-of-right-at-your-fingertips grocery stores. So, for your information, here's what I did. I used the internet!!!! I found a recipe for from-scratch condensed cream soups. I made the mushroom soup from scratch a few days early. I also made up my own recipe for crispy fried onions. I made those the day before. I washed and cut a ton of green beans and pre-cooked them a few days early since I was worried that they wouldn't get cooked all the way in my oven. So, that morning, all I had to do was put them in the oven.
Time out. Just put them in the oven? Really? Well, not exactly. Our oven is actually a microwave/convection oven. It only works if the power is on. When the power is on, I have to turn whatever is cooking several times so certain areas don't get burned. I also have to cook something for at least twice the time that the recipe calls for or it won't get done. So, really, I prayed all day that my power would be on when I needed it and it would be on long enough for me to get everything warm. So, the pre-cooked green beans and soup and onions really came in handy. I just needed to warm it all up. It only took an hour.
Cornbread Casserole -- Well, here's where I cheated a little. You can't find corn at the veggie stands here. But Chris found corn in a can at one of the stores. I was going to make a can into creamed corn (because the recipe calls for one can regular and one can creamed corn) until Chris informed me that he could get creamed corn, too. Joy of joys!!!! One more cheat? I had brought a box of Jiffy cornbread mix with me from the U.S. when we were there for Caroline's wedding. One of the very few moments in my life where I planned ahead. Go me! So, besides substituting unsweetened yogurt for the sour cream the recipe called for, this was pretty easy. Until the power went out with at least 10-20 minutes more needed to bake it thoroughly (it had been cooking for an hour and a half already.) So, it was a bit undercooked, but tasty.
Collard Greens -- You may be asking yourself: Why would a girl from the Midwest be making collard greens for a holiday meal? Well, because some of our friends are from Alabama. And I wanted to make them feel at home. I was imagining a Thanksgiving without green bean casserole and couldn't let it go. So, I went to the veggie stand and asked the guy for a big ol' mess of those greens right there. I was asked how you say 'big ol' mess' in Hindi. Well, it's 'bohot jzadah'. Now you know. He gave me a full kilo (2.2 lbs) of them. They turned out to be mustard greens mixed with some other green I didn't recognize, but I hoped greens would be greens. You may be asking yourself: How would a girl from the Midwest know how to make collard greens? God bless the internet! Now, every recipe I looked up told me to cook those things along with a hunk of red meat -- the kind you can't get here. What to do? Bullion cubes are super awesome (another plan ahead from my suitcase). So, I just cooked those things up the best I could with lots of seasoning and everyone said they turned out right. So, woohoo! Don't put them up against Nana's, though, or they might not pass the test. But, to people living in India who are missing home cooking, they worked.
Pumpkin Pie -- Well, here's where I wasn't blazing a hugely new trail. I've made squash pies from scratch before, so I wasn't too worried. We have a funny, green, pumpkin-shaped squash here that I cooked ahead of time and drained some of the water out of. Then, I mixed up my crust using the wonderful pastry blender that my Mom gave to me so I didn't have to use a fork like last year! I mixed up my filling -- grinding my cloves with my mortar and pestle -- and shredding my fresh ginger. I took my rolling pin -- also from Mom -- and rolled out my pie crust. As I was placing the crust into the pie pan -- Mom -- the power went out. AAAHHHHGGGGHHH!!!! I should have written this part first because it happened around 8 AM. I figured that since I was up with the kiddos at 6, I might as well get busy and get a pie baked before the power went out. Epic fail. So, here I was. I hurried and called up my friend who has a gas oven to see if she was using it. She didn't answer. So, into the fridge went my crust and filling. I proceeded to pace around the house muttering about India. When my friend called at 10 AM, I sent Chris over with the pie and as he was on his way home, the power came back on. AAAAHHHGGGGHHHH!!!! It came out pretty good all the same. And, when Chris went back to pick up the pie, he drove it straight to our other friends' house where the party was being held. So I didn't have to figure out how to balance yet another thing on the motorcycle.
Which brings us to: What do you do when you don't have a nice trunk of a car or a minivan or a picnic basket, etc. to bring all the goodies for the potluck? Motorcycle it up! Our diaper bag (with extra change of clothes for the kids and jackets for the ride back) is in front leaning against the speedometer. Jed is on the gas tank. Chris is next, precariously fighting to keep us all upright. Then Abe. He likes to forget to hang on, so it's good he's squashed between us so tight that he couldn't fall off if he wanted to. Lucy is slung to my side in the sling. Thank God for the sling! And I'm sitting side saddle, feet placed precariously on a little shelf, keeping Abe in place with one hand, arm around Lucy in case she fidgets, and a large bag with all our food in containers that I hope won't leak all over my nice clothes sitting on my lap and burning red spots into my thighs.
And now for a Thanksgiving song (to the tune of Over the River and Through the Woods):
Over the potholes and through the poo
To our neighbor's house we go.
The bike is upright, it's just turning night
We've got to keep it slow
Over the speed bumps, around the cows
Mosquitoes up your nose
But who gives a care if we all get there
As over the potholes we go.
The evening was great! We ate and ate and ate and everything really tasted a lot like home. We even somehow found time to chat and hang out around the 9 kids -- yes 9!-- 8 and under. It was so fun to swap stories and make new memories with these people who have truly become family as we've shared this new life together. Thanks for Thanksgiving, friends!!!
Wow, you may say to yourself, that was quite a celebration. Well, folks, we're not done yet! You may remember that we also invited some Indian friends over for Friday. These friends included the girl who helps me with kitchen and housework and her family, Chris' language helper and his family, our apartment building's guard and his family, and my language helper. In fact, they're all related. It's funny how God has brought us into such great relationship with them. We really wanted to celebrate our friendship with them, thank God for how they've welcomed us and blessed us, and give back a little something. It really did remind me of the first Thanksgiving because the Pilgrims really were blessed by their new neighbors and wanted to thank God and their neighbors for that relationship. Thus, the first Thanksgiving. Also, these were not the same settlers who later turned on their neighbors and drove them from their homes and land -- don't get me started on that. Our hope and prayer in this new place is that we can learn from our new neighbors, receive the blessing of their friendship and lives, and bless them in return. So, here was a little attempt at that.
We started telling this family that we wanted to invite them for this party for a special American Holiday. They told us that they'd love to try American food. Now, we and others here have experienced how most Indians don't enjoy American-style food so much. It's a completely different palate. They will eat a little, tell you how good it is, and then say that they ate a big breakfast. So, we decided that we would honor their request, but also do things our own way. We decided that we would have American appetizers and dessert and an Indian main course. So, I made grilled cheese sandwiches and french fries for before dinner and peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and pumpkin bread for after dinner. I can make Indian food well enough to pass for Americans or for Indians who have been in the U.S. and miss their Mama's cooking. But for Indians here, I'm afraid I have a lot to learn. So, we ordered out. Chris went to several restaurants and came home with 10 lbs of friend rice with buffalo meat, a large bowl full of mutton curry, a larger bowl full of lentils, and 50 pieces of flat bread. YUMMY!!!
The grilled cheese and french fries were no different than any other day. But, the desserts had a few tricks. Chocolate chips are an oddity here. I knew this and packed some a while back. But, I didn't account for the Indian summer and the chips turned into a block. A very big block. So, Chris and the boys did a number with a hammer and knife so we could have the cookies. Also, I had to bake them in shifts since the power went off a lot and the cookies took 22 minutes in my oven to bake. I wasn't going to trust the pumpkin bread to my flighty oven, so I mixed up the dough, poured it into 4 stainless steel cups, covered them with foil, and steamed them in my pressure cooker. They turned out a little doughy, but otherwise, tasted good.
So, we told them to come between prayer times in the afternoon. The prayers were at about 1:30, so we figured to not expect them before 2:00. Chris came back at 2:15 with about 30 lbs. of food strapped to himself. At 2:30 he called his friend who told him that he was still at prayers. At 3:00 he called him again and was told '5 minutes.' The first wave of friends showed up around 3:15. Others wandered in as late as 4:00. The next prayers were to start at 4:30. In all, there were 20 guests. 7 adults and 13 kids.
We didn't have enough chairs and it would be rude for some to sit up and others on the floor, so we all sat on blankets on the floor. Everyone ate with their hands and we put the big bowls of extra food in the middle and Chris was force feeding everyone just as if we were at his parents' house. "I thought you'd eat at least 10 flatbreads!" "What, you only had 3 helpings! Take some more!"
After the main meal, I made chai and we passed out desserts. Each of the families brought a box of sweets with them. We tried to open them up to go with the chai, too, but they wouldn't hear of it. "Those are your gifts!" So, now we have about 6 lbs. of Indian sweets to share if any of you wants to come over. What a great afternoon. Everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves and ate quite a bit. We even got to send the leftovers home with them, "Our family is a lot smaller. We could never eat all this food before it goes bad."
So, after an Indian Thanksgiving, I can say that God has been thanked. Thanked for the many blessings of the past with our friends and family in the U.S. Thanked for new joys and adventures in this new place. Thanked for our new friends who are becoming family right here. Thanked for food of all kinds that filled our bellies these last few days. Thanked for being who He is and loving us enough to see us and share of Himself with us. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
The 3 pies!
And here's where we're kicking ourselves because we meant to take a pic while all our Indian friends were over. Duh!!!!! Sorry folks, maybe Christmas time. . .
I think our Thanksgiving may even have had a bit more of the spirit of the original Thanksgiving. I mean, we have been through a very hard year. We have been welcomed and helped by our new neighbors and the friends. We had to make our meals from scratch -- improvising on what we know from home and making it homey right here. So, with that, I'll share a little bit about what it looked like to Thank God right here in India.
Just so we're clear, we celebrated Thanksgiving this year because we're so thankful that God has blessed us in so many ways this last year. To some it might be an excuse to sit around with your family, eat lots of food and watch football, but here . . . oh wait . . . we did that. It was our Indian family, the food was a bit different, and the football was prerecorded, but hey, we really came close! We had two celebrations this year -- much like we would have if we'd been back in the States. Usually, you visit both sides of the family. One on Thanksgiving day and one later in the weekend. So, we celebrated with our American friends here on Thanksgiving and our Indian friends today -- Friday.
So, what makes Thanksgiving dinner so special? The TURKEY! Well, you can't really find that here, so we settled on a lot of chicken. One family made chicken, sweet potatoes, carrots, stuffing, and berry pie. Another family made mashed potatoes, rolls, and apple pie. I was in charge of the green bean casserole, cornbread casserole, collard greens, and pumpkin pie. I'm not sure how my friends turned out such delicious dishes, so I can't write to you about that, but I'll try to share how I finagled my way into getting my contributions on the table.
Green Bean Casserole -- my ultimate favorite Thanksgiving food!!! Seriously, I'd eat a truckload of this stuff! So, how do you make it without cans of cream of mushroom soup or little fried onions in a can? What's a girl to do? I almost feel silly writing about this stuff. Did you know that my Grandmas didn't have that stuff when they made their Thanksgiving meals? Or any meals when they were younger? So, what have I to complain about? Really, it's pretty silly to be even blogging about doing something like this that's been done for centuries. But my Grandparents don't have the internet. And most people who will read this have lived in a world of canned goods and pre-packaged, floor to ceiling, everything-you-could-ever-dream-of-right-at-your-fingertips grocery stores. So, for your information, here's what I did. I used the internet!!!! I found a recipe for from-scratch condensed cream soups. I made the mushroom soup from scratch a few days early. I also made up my own recipe for crispy fried onions. I made those the day before. I washed and cut a ton of green beans and pre-cooked them a few days early since I was worried that they wouldn't get cooked all the way in my oven. So, that morning, all I had to do was put them in the oven.
Time out. Just put them in the oven? Really? Well, not exactly. Our oven is actually a microwave/convection oven. It only works if the power is on. When the power is on, I have to turn whatever is cooking several times so certain areas don't get burned. I also have to cook something for at least twice the time that the recipe calls for or it won't get done. So, really, I prayed all day that my power would be on when I needed it and it would be on long enough for me to get everything warm. So, the pre-cooked green beans and soup and onions really came in handy. I just needed to warm it all up. It only took an hour.
Cornbread Casserole -- Well, here's where I cheated a little. You can't find corn at the veggie stands here. But Chris found corn in a can at one of the stores. I was going to make a can into creamed corn (because the recipe calls for one can regular and one can creamed corn) until Chris informed me that he could get creamed corn, too. Joy of joys!!!! One more cheat? I had brought a box of Jiffy cornbread mix with me from the U.S. when we were there for Caroline's wedding. One of the very few moments in my life where I planned ahead. Go me! So, besides substituting unsweetened yogurt for the sour cream the recipe called for, this was pretty easy. Until the power went out with at least 10-20 minutes more needed to bake it thoroughly (it had been cooking for an hour and a half already.) So, it was a bit undercooked, but tasty.
Collard Greens -- You may be asking yourself: Why would a girl from the Midwest be making collard greens for a holiday meal? Well, because some of our friends are from Alabama. And I wanted to make them feel at home. I was imagining a Thanksgiving without green bean casserole and couldn't let it go. So, I went to the veggie stand and asked the guy for a big ol' mess of those greens right there. I was asked how you say 'big ol' mess' in Hindi. Well, it's 'bohot jzadah'. Now you know. He gave me a full kilo (2.2 lbs) of them. They turned out to be mustard greens mixed with some other green I didn't recognize, but I hoped greens would be greens. You may be asking yourself: How would a girl from the Midwest know how to make collard greens? God bless the internet! Now, every recipe I looked up told me to cook those things along with a hunk of red meat -- the kind you can't get here. What to do? Bullion cubes are super awesome (another plan ahead from my suitcase). So, I just cooked those things up the best I could with lots of seasoning and everyone said they turned out right. So, woohoo! Don't put them up against Nana's, though, or they might not pass the test. But, to people living in India who are missing home cooking, they worked.
Pumpkin Pie -- Well, here's where I wasn't blazing a hugely new trail. I've made squash pies from scratch before, so I wasn't too worried. We have a funny, green, pumpkin-shaped squash here that I cooked ahead of time and drained some of the water out of. Then, I mixed up my crust using the wonderful pastry blender that my Mom gave to me so I didn't have to use a fork like last year! I mixed up my filling -- grinding my cloves with my mortar and pestle -- and shredding my fresh ginger. I took my rolling pin -- also from Mom -- and rolled out my pie crust. As I was placing the crust into the pie pan -- Mom -- the power went out. AAAHHHHGGGGHHH!!!! I should have written this part first because it happened around 8 AM. I figured that since I was up with the kiddos at 6, I might as well get busy and get a pie baked before the power went out. Epic fail. So, here I was. I hurried and called up my friend who has a gas oven to see if she was using it. She didn't answer. So, into the fridge went my crust and filling. I proceeded to pace around the house muttering about India. When my friend called at 10 AM, I sent Chris over with the pie and as he was on his way home, the power came back on. AAAAHHHGGGGHHHH!!!! It came out pretty good all the same. And, when Chris went back to pick up the pie, he drove it straight to our other friends' house where the party was being held. So I didn't have to figure out how to balance yet another thing on the motorcycle.
Which brings us to: What do you do when you don't have a nice trunk of a car or a minivan or a picnic basket, etc. to bring all the goodies for the potluck? Motorcycle it up! Our diaper bag (with extra change of clothes for the kids and jackets for the ride back) is in front leaning against the speedometer. Jed is on the gas tank. Chris is next, precariously fighting to keep us all upright. Then Abe. He likes to forget to hang on, so it's good he's squashed between us so tight that he couldn't fall off if he wanted to. Lucy is slung to my side in the sling. Thank God for the sling! And I'm sitting side saddle, feet placed precariously on a little shelf, keeping Abe in place with one hand, arm around Lucy in case she fidgets, and a large bag with all our food in containers that I hope won't leak all over my nice clothes sitting on my lap and burning red spots into my thighs.
And now for a Thanksgiving song (to the tune of Over the River and Through the Woods):
Over the potholes and through the poo
To our neighbor's house we go.
The bike is upright, it's just turning night
We've got to keep it slow
Over the speed bumps, around the cows
Mosquitoes up your nose
But who gives a care if we all get there
As over the potholes we go.
The evening was great! We ate and ate and ate and everything really tasted a lot like home. We even somehow found time to chat and hang out around the 9 kids -- yes 9!-- 8 and under. It was so fun to swap stories and make new memories with these people who have truly become family as we've shared this new life together. Thanks for Thanksgiving, friends!!!
Wow, you may say to yourself, that was quite a celebration. Well, folks, we're not done yet! You may remember that we also invited some Indian friends over for Friday. These friends included the girl who helps me with kitchen and housework and her family, Chris' language helper and his family, our apartment building's guard and his family, and my language helper. In fact, they're all related. It's funny how God has brought us into such great relationship with them. We really wanted to celebrate our friendship with them, thank God for how they've welcomed us and blessed us, and give back a little something. It really did remind me of the first Thanksgiving because the Pilgrims really were blessed by their new neighbors and wanted to thank God and their neighbors for that relationship. Thus, the first Thanksgiving. Also, these were not the same settlers who later turned on their neighbors and drove them from their homes and land -- don't get me started on that. Our hope and prayer in this new place is that we can learn from our new neighbors, receive the blessing of their friendship and lives, and bless them in return. So, here was a little attempt at that.
We started telling this family that we wanted to invite them for this party for a special American Holiday. They told us that they'd love to try American food. Now, we and others here have experienced how most Indians don't enjoy American-style food so much. It's a completely different palate. They will eat a little, tell you how good it is, and then say that they ate a big breakfast. So, we decided that we would honor their request, but also do things our own way. We decided that we would have American appetizers and dessert and an Indian main course. So, I made grilled cheese sandwiches and french fries for before dinner and peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and pumpkin bread for after dinner. I can make Indian food well enough to pass for Americans or for Indians who have been in the U.S. and miss their Mama's cooking. But for Indians here, I'm afraid I have a lot to learn. So, we ordered out. Chris went to several restaurants and came home with 10 lbs of friend rice with buffalo meat, a large bowl full of mutton curry, a larger bowl full of lentils, and 50 pieces of flat bread. YUMMY!!!
The grilled cheese and french fries were no different than any other day. But, the desserts had a few tricks. Chocolate chips are an oddity here. I knew this and packed some a while back. But, I didn't account for the Indian summer and the chips turned into a block. A very big block. So, Chris and the boys did a number with a hammer and knife so we could have the cookies. Also, I had to bake them in shifts since the power went off a lot and the cookies took 22 minutes in my oven to bake. I wasn't going to trust the pumpkin bread to my flighty oven, so I mixed up the dough, poured it into 4 stainless steel cups, covered them with foil, and steamed them in my pressure cooker. They turned out a little doughy, but otherwise, tasted good.
So, we told them to come between prayer times in the afternoon. The prayers were at about 1:30, so we figured to not expect them before 2:00. Chris came back at 2:15 with about 30 lbs. of food strapped to himself. At 2:30 he called his friend who told him that he was still at prayers. At 3:00 he called him again and was told '5 minutes.' The first wave of friends showed up around 3:15. Others wandered in as late as 4:00. The next prayers were to start at 4:30. In all, there were 20 guests. 7 adults and 13 kids.
We didn't have enough chairs and it would be rude for some to sit up and others on the floor, so we all sat on blankets on the floor. Everyone ate with their hands and we put the big bowls of extra food in the middle and Chris was force feeding everyone just as if we were at his parents' house. "I thought you'd eat at least 10 flatbreads!" "What, you only had 3 helpings! Take some more!"
After the main meal, I made chai and we passed out desserts. Each of the families brought a box of sweets with them. We tried to open them up to go with the chai, too, but they wouldn't hear of it. "Those are your gifts!" So, now we have about 6 lbs. of Indian sweets to share if any of you wants to come over. What a great afternoon. Everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves and ate quite a bit. We even got to send the leftovers home with them, "Our family is a lot smaller. We could never eat all this food before it goes bad."
So, after an Indian Thanksgiving, I can say that God has been thanked. Thanked for the many blessings of the past with our friends and family in the U.S. Thanked for new joys and adventures in this new place. Thanked for our new friends who are becoming family right here. Thanked for food of all kinds that filled our bellies these last few days. Thanked for being who He is and loving us enough to see us and share of Himself with us. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
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