Monthly Archive for November, 2008
Well, the turkey was a success! We were all so pleased with how moist it was, and it was really delicious. Julie had the tables decorated nicely – girls at one table, boys at another, and grownups in the dining room. It was a bit tricky cooking dinner in three different places, but it worked out fine. After dinner we sang a few songs and shared some things we were thankful for this year. Julie, Deb and I headed out to an international art fair late in the afternoon, which was really fun – we found some good bargains. And we ended the day with a Skype call – complete with video – from my family, who are gathered in Massachusetts today at my sister’s house. That was very, very special for me – a wonderful way to end the day! I’ll try to attach a few photos from the day…
I was concerned, as we approached our first big holiday here in Senegal (Will would disagree – he thinks Halloween should be considered a “big” holiday!), about what we would eat for Thanksgiving dinner. Up until about a week ago, I had never seen turkey in any market – not our local one, called the “Caddie,” or the larger “Casino” grocery store, which is much farther from our apartment but much more western – with lots of aisles and products to choose from. I thought we were probably going to have to make a chicken do – which would have admittedly been a bit of a treat too, since we rarely eat chicken here. (It’s quite expensive.)
But a few weeks ago, when we got together with the other two families on our team for our annual planning meeting, we found the answer to our turkey dilemma. Our colleagues, Brad and Deb, live about 3 hours from Dakar, in a small town, and were pretty sure they could purchase a turkey or two from a friend in a nearby village. When they returned to their home, they were able to buy three turkeys! They kept them in their yard for a few weeks, trying to fatten them up on cracked corn. Brad said they got away once, but he ran after them and got them back – clipped their wings and tied their feet so they couldn’t run that fast or far. He butchered them this past Saturday, and Julie and I are cooking two of them for the meal that we will all share together tomorrow. One of them is in our refrigerator now – I can tell you it is not your standard Butterball (Deb said rigor mortis set in – so it is very long, with legs sticking WAY out!), but it is really fun to think that we are actually going to be eating turkey tomorrow. I was especially glad to know that we had our meal all set when about a week ago I finally did see one turkey in the butcher case at the Caddie – it had practically no meat on it, had the neck and head still attached (!), and cost $70! (The ones Brad got were only $18 each – a real bargain.)
We’re all making things for our meal together that each family considers traditional – I’m bringing my Mom’s baked mashed potatoes with sour cream and cheddar cheese, a baked corn casserole (”corn pud” to the Thompson family), and a chocolate pecan pie, along with the turkey. I had to make several substitutions for things they don’t have here, but hopefully things will still taste fine.
We have had several wonderful care packages here in the past month – some mailed to us, some hand delivered (thank you, thank you Tannie!), and we are so enjoying the treats from America. Thank you especially to Tannie and the Danylaks, for the Nestle’s chocolate chips, canned pumpkin, canned cranberry sauce, and pecans – all things that you cannot get here – all things that will make our Thanksgiving feel more like “home.” We have so many friends to be thankful for this year.
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!![](http://martinsvoyage.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/baobab-10.jpg "Caleb at \\"Accra-Baobab\\"")
