Gobble-town

Back in September when Adrie and I discovered our mutual love of food, we remarked on how much we would miss Thanksgiving and we then made a pact to bring the deliciousness to Oxford this year. We even invited Francis and Penelope to come celebrate with us.

The bird!

The closer it got to Thanksgiving, the more our mouths watered for the homecookin' that we were missing by being here in England. On Wednesday, Britney, Adrie, and I went shopping at Tesco for the ingredients for our feast. We got everything except pumpkin (for the pie) and a TURKEY. We then went to Sainsbury and Marks and Spencer and neither had pumpkin, nor a turkey. So first thing Thursday morning the three of us set out for the Covered Market and there we talked to three different butchers trying to find the best deal. We ended up getting a Turkey breast instead of a whole bird.

Decorating the apartment

We were so disturbed from spending so much time looking at dead animals hanging from the ceiling in the butcher shops that before heading home we stopped in the flower shop and bought some flowers to decorate the apartment.

The rest of the morning was spent cooking. While the turkey baked in the oven in the downstairs apartment, the three of us used the kitchen upstairs to make everything else. This resulted in the upstairs apartment looking like a culinary war zone. Especially after the massacre of my pumpkin. The pumpkin that I bought on Halloween has been sitting on my desk uncarved for the last month. I spent so much time looking up ideas for how to carve him that eventually Halloween had past and it was mid-Novemeber...and my pumpkin had a name, Pip. There was no longer much point in carving him so he has just been sitting on my desk as company during my paper writing. That is, until yesterday, when we were still without pumpkin for the pie. Anyway, RIP Pip.

 

At 2pm Penelope and Francis arrived and Cameron welcomed them into the (clean) apartment downstairs where we had set the table. Meanwhile the others girls and I brought down the remaining dishes and soon the group was seated and enjoying the Thanksgiving feast: turkey, dressing, sweet taters, regular taters, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, and American biscuits. Then for dessert: pumpkin pie, pecan tarts, and Oreo truffles. Penelope and Francis were great company and said that we were the first group to have them over for Thanksgiving. It was an honor. And when they were leaving Penelope gave us all hugs. SCORE!

The rest of the evening was spent back upstairs in the living room. Britney was reading while Adrie and I passed out on the couch. We were seriously exhausted from the work we put into the day. This morning however I had to wake up early in order to finish my paper for today's tutorial...because classes didn't stop this week.

I am so thankful to have this opportunity to be in Oxford. And even though I was unable to be with those back home, I am thankful I had people here to celebrate the holiday with. I'm also thankful to have recently found Downton Abbey on Netflix.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! said no Brit ever.