As I'm sure you are aware, Thanksgiving is an American holiday (it's also Canadian, but celebrated in a different month). We both worked on Thursday and Friday as Dan's office was open and I worked to support the UK office in case they needed support with the US offices closed. We decided a few weeks ago that we would attempt a Thanksgiving meal and invite some friends over the Saturday after the holiday. Needed a little taste of home... literally.
Challenge 1: Find a turkey. I found some frozen ones at a grocery store here but they were only 4 kilos (8.8 lbs). I thought maybe I'd just get two and then I realized they were 250 cedis each! Seems a little steep for such a puny bird! Luckily, a woman posted in one of the expat forums on Facebook that her husband had turkeys for sale. I called him, ordered one and scheduled it for delivery (yes, he delivered it to my door). We paid 350 cedis for an 11 kilo turkey (23.2 lbs). Expensive? Yes. But on a per kilo basis, he was definitely the way to go. Worth it.
Challenge 2: Obtain "the fixin's". Potatoes, veggie, salad... those are all easy to find here. Stuffing, gravy, pumpkin... not so much. Thankfully, we have awesome families who put together care packages with the goodies we needed to put together the meal.
Challenge 3: Receive the care packages containing the goods. One box arrived USPS and Dan was told he needed to go pick it up. Four post offices and a sweaty Dan later, we had one box. The other package was sent UPS (in the exact method that three other boxes had successfully shipped). Did this one arrive as smoothly as its predecessors? Nope. Of course not. So Dan had to go to customs again and pay them off to give us our other box. Are we taking nominations for Sainthood? I think Dan deserves one.... or several.
Challenge 4: The surprise when you realize that a "dressed turkey" is not an organ-less one. I asked if Dan would clean out the turkey on Friday evening for me. It was quite heavy and I wasn't sure if I'd be able to maneuver it wet (and frankly thought I would find it gross). Luckily, I have a wonderful husband who didn't mind. He quickly got more than he bargained for when he had to de-organ our turkey. Not organs in a sanitary little baggie placed in the cavity by Butterball. This was legit. Points for husband of the year.
Now we've made it to the big day. Dan played in a golf tournament sponsored by the Ghana Oil Club on Saturday morning so I was on my own to get this massive bird stuffed and in the oven. (Side note: Dan won the golf tournament. I asked him to do a post about this but he's too humble. So, I'll gloat on his behalf. Man can de-organ a turkey and drive a golf ball with the best of 'em.)
Stuffing the turkey went fine and I only had one cursing meltdown trying to get the bird into the oven. Our oven is European... meaning that it is quite small and doesn't have the normal settings (Bake, Roast, Broil, Clean, etc). Instead I have a dial with little pictures on it. No words telling you what these symbols are. So I guessed and figured I could change it later (and I did haha). The roasting pan was a tight fit and even so the turkey's legs were grazing the top of the oven. He cooked quicker than expected as we have a convection oven, so he got to sit out for a bit while the remainder of the sides were assembled. I made the gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes and salad. Hannah brought the squash, since my turkey was in the oven and I couldn't roast anything else at the same time. Amanda brought some desserts to accompany my family's traditional pumpkin roll. I attempted pecan pie but it did not turn out well as for whatever reason my oven refused to fully cook it.
All in all, we had 9 people for dinner, including Dan and me. Food turned out pretty well for my first attempt at Thanksgiving and the challenges listed above. I'd love to share some photos but we were all pretty hungry when the food was carved and side dishes ready, so I don't have any. After dinner, we watched football and people slowly fell into the turkey comas on the couch.
It sounded like everyone had a nice time and enjoyed the meal, both the people who are accustomed to Thanksgiving as well as those who had never had it before. It was a nice way to cap off our last weekend in Accra for awhile. Yes, you read that right. We're off to the good ol' USofA on Friday... snowfall at JFK airport permitting :)
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