Thanksgiving Melting Pot(luck)

Pre-dinner table

I am proudly posting this blog update from the comfort of my home.  We have a strong internet connection where we do not need to purchase an overpriced coffee and pastry in order to 'login'. Yippee!  And the bonus is.... it hasn't been shut down on us yet, so we are thrilled.  With so many hiccups in the 2 month period of trying to acquire a simple internet/cable/phone hookup... we are still refusing to get comfortable with the idea that our struggle is finally over.  Surely there is a surprise ending, right?  Happily ever after in the horror flick always has a shocking finish with danger lurking around the corner/under the bed/hiding in the bathtub, doesn't it?

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Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year, in terms of stuffing my face with fantastic eats.  You just can't get any better than a turkey and cranberries, mounds of stuffing & pumpkin pie (Grandma Helen's recipe, of course).

Now that we are among the 'mericans, our Thanksgiving celebrations were delayed from the usual 2nd weekend in October.  Not going to lie, my stomach knew something was up when mid-October came and went and it didn't have its lining stretched out.  "WTF!?", exclaimed my stomach.

Luckily, American Thanksgiving is just a few weeks later than the Canadian version... so I dodged a bullet.

Jer and I discussed a Thanksgiving feast and quickly realized that without any family here, it would be a lot of food for just 2 people... not to mention, a little lonely.  (cue the 'awwww!')

This got me thinking.  We are not the only people that beIN Sport imported into Miami.  In fact, the majority of the people I work with have also left behind their families and friends and everything familiar to be a part of this startup channel - many considered 'legal aliens', just like us.

It took us all of 2 seconds to decide our next move.  Let's host Thanksgiving dinner for all of our friends from work whose families are thousands of miles away... let's gather together with our Miami family for the holiday!

We had a feast for 10 guests, which meant we had to rent a long table and some chairs.  I took care of the traditional North American staples and invited our guests to bring a dish, 'potluck' style.

My mom... and Bob Frey... would be proud.

I picked up an 18 lb turkey at Sam's Club, let it defrost overnight and listened to one of my favorite former Steinbach client's words of advice, "Don't be afraid to leave your turkey out!"  Bob Frey, who runs Clearspring Centre, also said "The key to a good turkey is the brine!", but I ignored that.

Instead, I seasoned the thawed turkey with a top secret family recipe passed through the generations since the Schwartz' were in South Russia...  that's a lie.  I called my mom.  Mom said to sprinkle the bird with garlic powder and pepper.  Oh, and don't forget to baste every half hour.  I may have forgotten to baste that often, but the final product was pretty tasty!

Workin' it.

I also stuffed the turkey... classic recipe of onions, celery, poultry seasoning, slightly stale bread pieces and a little bit of bouillon.  Shove it up the turkey's butt and stick it in the oven for 5 hours.  Leftovers that didn't fit went into a pan and baked separately for those who are 'creeped out' by eating stuffing that's been baked inside a bird.

Thanksgiving is not complete without Grandma Helen's pumpkin pie.  And Grandma Helen's pumpkin pie is not complete without Oma Alice's pie crust.  I spoke with both the day before with long-overdue phone chats, informed them of my baking plans.  Oma had words of caution,  "Don't work the shortening too much, or your crust will shrink!"  My crust shrunk.  And Grandma sounded impressed... then she promptly asked me what time she should arrive for dinner.  I told her anytime after 6pm was fine.  If only it were that easy...  When are they going to hurry up with those Star Trek transporters?

Seeing as our South American, Spanish and Italian friends don't celebrate Thanksgiving, obviously, we suggested that they each bring something that was considered traditional in their country, something they would eat if they were gathering with their own family members.  I can tell you, we had a 'melting pot' of cuisine on our Thanksgiving table.  And it was awesome!

Figured we should stock up with some 'international brewskies' - Kroenenbourg 1664 from France and England's Newcastle Brown Ale.

Carmen, Edgar, Ana

I had the best intentions of documenting every second of our evening... but as every host of a dinner party knows, once people arrive, you have little time outside of serving up beverages and food in a timely fashion.  And by the end of it all, I realized I failed miserably in capturing the evening properly.  But I did snap a few pics!  To the right, you see the two beIN en Espanyol hosts Carmen and Ana, from Honduras and Spain respectively.  Carmen brought a potato salad her mother makes in Honduras, complete with peas, peppers, corn... and green olives!  It was mighty tasty.  Edgar (also in the picture) is my fabulous producer, and he brought a catering tray FULL of Colombian coconut roasted rice that could feed everyone on our street.  And I am begging him for the recipe as it is the BEST rice I've ever tasted in my life.  When he left me all of the leftovers (bless him), I couldn't bare to throw any of it out.  So it's frozen for future use.

Coconut Rice, made by the gods, and stored in my freezer

Jesus (Spanish channel producer) brought over a Venezuelan dish called Hallacas.  They are tamale looking things...  and because I failed to ask Jesus what they were, (I only wolfed them down, they were magnificent!), I looked it up on Wikipedia.  Apparently they are a mixture of beef, pork, chicken, raisins, capers and olives wrapped in cornmeal dough, folded inside plantain leaves, tied with string and then boiled.  I'm going to learn to make these and will blog about the process.  Stay tuned.

A watched Hallacas never boils...

Jesus also brought Pan Jamon, or translated to Ham Bread.  And that's exactly what it is!  Looks like a loaf of French bread, but it's more like a sweet dough that is rolled with ham, raisins and olives and baked.  Yum!

And last but not least... Xavi (office jokester and one of the most musically creative composers out of Spain) and fellow Spaniard Ana brought a pig.  Sorry, a piglet.  Sorry, HALF of a piglet.

...and this little pig cried "Wee wee wee"...

According to Xavi, it's a delicacy in Spain.  He did some Google research, found a place to buy a piglet here in Miami and when he arrived at the location, he discovered he had his pick of LIVE piglets to choose from.  Feeling a little squeamish, he pointed at one and left, choosing to remain ignorant of what would happen next.  And next thing you know, we have a half of a piglet on our Thanksgiving table.  I'm not a fan... I actually forgot to try it in the end.  But it is not for us to judge another culture's tradition!  We asked them to provide tradition, and that's what they did.  

In all, we had people from Spain, Honduras, Colombia, Venezuela, Scotland, England, Italy, Germany, Canada and the US.  And those who didn't cook, brought wine, which was a-ok in our books!

We also had a birthday girl in our bunch!  Ana's birthday was the next day, so I dug out some birthday candles and the pumpkin cheesecake I made to supplement the pumpkin pie turned into her birthday cake.

Happy Birthday!  Sorry there's no chocolate involved!  Oops.

We had a great dinner that was created collectively with everyone pitching in.  But even greater than that was the chance to spend a holiday in the company of great new friends... and people we consider our Miami family.  We're already planning for Easter...

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Our next blog will be from another land.  We're off on vacation next week!  A quick 5 day trip to Mexico (only a 2 hour flight from here), where we will meet my parents at the El Dorado Maroma.  Ahhh, sweet relaxation, gourmet food and tequila sangrita!