Thanksgiving feast!

Wow, what a long and wonderful day we had Friday! My wife didn't sleep very well, so she was quite tired but did a yeoman's job getting the dinner together all day. I ran out in the morning to do some shopping for the day, including rolls, bread, and needles for turkey surgery. My wife got the bread for the stuffing dried out in the oven and then left overnight to get a little stale.

We left early for the Institute, getting there by 11:30am. The turkey legs went into the oven immediately to finish cooking while my wife prepared the stuffing and put it into the turkey, then sewed it shut.

The turkey went into the oven at 1:30pm. 

We then realized that we didn't have a baster, so I ran around with a printed photo of a baster syringe to two grocery stores, two hardware stores, and a pharmacy to find one; no luck, but I did get a nice walk out of it. Meanwhile, my wife found a basting brush and made that work. The turkey was really too heavy for my wife to handle, particularly once it was hot, so I got to lift it in and out to rotate and baste a few times.

Once the turkey was cooking, it was time to work on the rest of the stuffing, the sweet potatoes, and everything else. I taught my Seminary lesson at 4pm (on faith and repentance), and people started trickling in about then.  By the end of the evening we had four crockpots running: two for sweet potatoes, one for turkey legs and extra stuffing, and one for mashed potatoes (made by Trevor). 

My wife had made it clear on the WhatsApp Institute group and that there was no room (and in particular no oven time) available for anyone else, so if they wanted to bring things, which we encouraged, they had to be brought ready to eat. So, of course, around 5pm four different people showed up asking for counter space to prepare their food offerings. My wife, who usually doesn't do well with surprises like that, took a big gulp and welcomed them all in. It worked out great, though the kitchen was crowded! We got a tuna/corn salad, mashed potates, zeppole (from Alessio again), porchetta (a deliciously salty Italian cold ham for sandwiches), pumpkin pie, apple cobbler, and several other desserts.

The sweet potatoes went into the oven at the very end, covered with sliced marshmallows which we roasted to perfection. There were also two cans of cranberry sauce, which was very expensive but worth it.

The Balzottis showed up to help us out. They had volunteered, and we particularly wanted them to help with portion control, which ended up being critical. They were amazing. They love Thanskgiving, and Anziano Balzotti is quite expert at carving turkeys. We figured out how to get traffic flow working fairly well, rearranging the kitchen a bit. Then the Balzottis and I scooped out helpings of everything, pacing the portion sizes pretty well. Everyone got to try everything on the first round (we ran out of mashed potatoes on the last customer), and then we opened it up for seconds of turkey, stuffing, and sweet potatoes. There were a bunch of takers, and everything was soon devoured.

 The Institute lesson ended early so we could start eating, and there were about 30 kids who showed up by the end of the evening. All the rooms were filled to capacity, and the kids were having a blast, including a room full of karaoke participants. There were several non-members present as well, and they seemed to fit in quite well.

There are far too many photos (well over 100) to post here, but you can go see them all here if you wish, including a few brief videos. We took a lot more photos of prep than of the event, because we were so very busy once it kicked off. Many of the food items were unknown to the kids, but they all had a taste. My wife noticed that none of the discarded plastic plates had any food left on them, which is quite different from what usually happens at home. However, there were desserts left on the sweets table, which again is probably different from the USA!

Anziano Waddell showed up a bit late, with his companion on an exchange. The blissful expression on his face when he saw the full spread was heartwarming!

The Balzottis were also awesome at cleaning up; he washed all the dishes, with me and a young GANS drying. We were actually done and on our way home by 10pm, earlier than I had feared. The party was still going on when we left 😊. We made a list of things to do better next year. We were exhausted but very delighted with how well it had gone.