THANKSGIVING!
Friday, November 21st, 2008
Hoy hemos pedido a nuestra profesora Cristina que nos hable sobre la fiesta de Thanksgiving y aquí está lo que nos cuenta.Thanks, Cristina!
When I think back upon my Thanksgiving memories, I remember a great big feast and all my family gathered at the dining table.
I will always remember the waiting period before eating: my eyes widened open with excitement; all I used to think was that I was finally going to eat my favourite dessert: pumpkin pie. On Thanksgiving Day, I didn’t usually eat anything during the morning because I knew that there was going to be a lot of food to eat later. My mouth watered, with the smell of the huge turkey in the oven. Turkey is a meat that always takes a long time to cook, so we had to wait until the late afternoon to eat it. When I was younger, I used to get excited when the different family members started arriving, bringing different dishes, desserts and drinks; it was a sign that it was almost time to eat!
I’ve always liked Thanksgiving because it is a nice tradition for the family to join together before the holidays. Each family has its own traditions, but most are similar. In my family, we like eating together in the late afternoon and then going to the movies. Thanksgiving is a good day for a lot of good movie premieres. Another thing I always enjoy doing on Thanksgiving or the days after Thanksgiving, is decorating the house with Christmas things, or shopping for a Christmas tree. After Thanksgiving, the official Christmas season starts: it’s time for the countdown!
An interesting anecdote is that the day after Thanksgiving is called “Black Friday” because it is one of the busiest shopping days of the year. It’s called Black Friday because stores sell at big discounted prices, losing money. People start to shop like crazy to get ready for Christmas.
Now that I live in Spain, I miss Thanksgiving. It is very difficult to travel to the USA during Thanksgiving because it is a busy travelling weekend thus I usually just stay in Spain. Now I try to celebrate my own little Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to find all the ingredients for some of the most typical dishes, such as pumpkin pie, but I manage well without them. Each year (maybe not on the official day) I celebrate Thanksgiving with a turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy and some vegetables. I have learned to cook these special dishes because my mother and both grandmothers passed down their recipes to me. Here is a great recipe to make stuffing (what is quite similar to “migas” from the South of Spain). It is called stuffing because, after mixing the ingredients together, you actually stuff the turkey with them and put it in the oven to continue baking it.
The Best Turkey Stuffing
3/4 cup butter
2 1/2 cups chopped onions
2 cups chopped celery
4 teaspoons dried sage
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried savory
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon marjoram
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
14 cups dried white bread, cubed
In a large frying pan, melt butter over a medium heat. Fry onions and celery together with the dried herbs, salt and pepper, stirring often, until vegetables are tender, about 10-15 minutes.
Transfer the mixture to a very large bowl. Add the bread cubes and mix well.
If you are making the stuffing ahead: Transfer the cooked vegetable mixture to a large bowl. Let cool and refrigerate in an airtight container for 24 hours. Mix with bread cubes before stuffing the bird.
Stuff the turkey at both ends with this mixture. IMPORTANT: Stuff the turkey just before baking it. Do NOT stuff the bird ahead and let it sit, even in the refrigerator. It can become infected with bacteria and make you quite ill.