Italian Thanksgiving

So this thanksgiving turned out pretty good! I ended up cooking for about 12 people, and it was just about the perfect amount of food. Mom's recipes helped so much! Everybody loved the artichoke stuffing recipe and lots of people said that the turkey was the best they had ever eaten in their life. I can't really take that much credit for the turkey though, it is just the Italian philosophy on food that made it so good! I bought the beast at the central market here in Florence and it was just more fresh and delicious than anything you could find in the states. It had never been frozen, and I even had to pick a few feathers off myself!

Finding all the little ingredients was the biggest trick though. Luckily I had Marco to help me out, but even with him it was so hard to explain some of the things I was looking for. The entire concept of canned food seemed totally foreign to him! Canned pumpkin was absolutely out of the question, as was any sort of cranberry. People had at least heard of sweet potatoes, but nobody seemed to carry any. Other things like "sour cream" took a long time to figure out since they don't translate at all in Italian -- sour cream here is known as "Greek Yogurt." Also, you have to say goodbye to any sort of concentrate, like the mint and vanilla which the brownies call for, so unfortunately that desert was definitely out of the question.

I also was extremely lucky that everything turned out so good because I didn't have any measuring utensils -- but that is really what cooking is about I guess, just going with what feels right. I also had a lot of help from the guests here. There was a jewish woman who works as a chef in Spain who helped me make caramel from scratch for the apple pie, and also the gravy once the turkey was done. Also, just having 20 people here to consult with on cooking turkey or mashed potatoes really helped a lot. Not that many of them really knew how, but combined they all had enough good ideas to make the thing a success. So all in all, here was the menu:

15 lb Turkey (bought and cooked the same day)
Artichoke stuffing
Mashed potatoes (which Marco peeled)
F*ing good Gravy (Turkey drippings prepared by the spanish chef)
Pumpkin pie (made from some sort of fresh squash)
Salad (contributed by Tony[canadian] and Justice[from new york])
Cheese with fruit (contributed by Tony and Justice)
Sauted vegetables (contributed by Colin[from new york])
Pumpkin Pie (with help from Huey[aussie girl])
Carmel Apple Pie (With help from the spanish chef)

All this with about 22 hours of work on my part! I really appreciate what Mom goes through every year now. I never realized how much work it took took to organize a feast like this.

Also, I had to cook everything in two different buildings about 5 blocks apart, so that made things a little bit more difficult. It was really nice that everyone seemed to jump behind this idea... I mean, of course all backpackers would love to have a good home-cooked meal, but I really appreciated that everyone got excited and willing to help out to make the meal possible. In the least, it was nice to be able to share a purely American tradition with people from around the world who had been curious about it but really knew nothing of it before.

Everyone seemed to love the food though! Even the people who would never imagine eating food this way. The pumpkin pie was one of the biggest hits, and that was from a bunch of Australians and Italians who could never imagine eating pumpkin in combination with sugar. Not only that, but most of the Australians and Germans had never even eaten turkey before!

Birthday in Florence

I just had what turned out to be a really really nice birthday out here. I was honestly surprised and impressed that so many people noticed and cared. There was just such a good group of people at the hostel for that night. Every now and again you get people that all just click and for a few days, the entire hostel just feels like a massive 20 person family. We all just hung out on and drank wine on the terrace. I honestly didn't drink much myself. When a bunch of college age people get together and say "stick around, we have a surprise for your birthday," it usually ends up with somebody passed out in the corner in a puddle of vomit... especially when there are Australians involved. Luckily I escaped unscathed this year!

It actually turned out to be a really simple and sweat time. As soon as it turned midnight on Monday night everybody from the hostel got together and sang happy birthday, this girl painted me a really funny "happy 23th!" poster. These two German girls gave me a couple TINY boxes of wine and a finger puppet too, which was really funny. It really wasn't anything huge, but it all just seemed so sweet at the time.

I made up the for the light drinking last night though! Last night was actually really good too! We all went to a local pub that I like and just the people that were there were all so great. I was talking to this British girl the whole time and I absolutely love the way she talks. God they have the coolest words! Them and the Australians, I've been picking up a lot of Aussie slang since I've been out here.

I really like living here. Every time I talk to somebody from a country that I've never even thought of going to, I just feel so blessed to be living in such an interesting and diverse. The amount of different cultures that pass through here make me feel like I am living at the center of the world.

Anyways, just a random little update on recent happenings and my state of mind. Now I have to start cooking. I want all these foreign bastards to have a good experience for their first thanksgiving!