Thanksgiving day. Eight Americans. Four curious non-Americans. Two ovens. ¡Vamos a empezar!
Looking back, several humorous things happened in the process of making our dinner here in Spain. Just to give a few examples:
1. The cashier heading our supermarket queue happened to be an expat. What are the chances of that? They gave tips on how to use cherries in place of cranberries for cranberry sauce. Funny. Completely random.
2. Need marshmallows for sweet potato topping? The only ones available were the British hot pink Haribo. Funny. Completely random.
...and finally...
3. If you find sage in the mountains of southern Spain, don't pick some and use it in stuffing. It might be a poisonous. Oh, wait. It is poisonous. Funny. Completely random.
I keep telling myself that I should not feel stupid, ridiculous, or sad, but that my "stuffing story" is funny. Please read on:
Here, in Spain, I am friends with another distance runner . We try to go for one run together a week. Thanksgiving morning, (in our last attempts to boost our metabolism pre-feast), we go for a run. I passed a sage bush. "Ooooo!", I thought, "I have yet to make the stuffing and I find sage? Awesome. Who doesn't love stuffing with fresh herbs"? I picked a section off, stuffed it in my pocket, and didn't think twice. Three hours later, as I am putting the finished product in the oven, I can no longer ignore the fact that my hands are (and have been) itchy. The only thing out of the ordinary I handled was the sage.
After much research, we found that the specific type of sage I picked is the only non-edible species and it is not suggested for consumption. Even the smallest amount can be toxic if ingested. It also may cause skin irritation... This was why my hands were itchy.
Irony be what it is, I did NOT try the stuffing while I was cooking. It smelled good. It looked good. I did not take a single nibble. Can you imagine if I did? My biggest sadness is that I roasted chestnuts only to throw them out in a batch of poisonous stuffing. (Insert heavy sigh here.)I quickly re-bought the ingredients and made a quick 30 minute fix. Sadly, the final batch was without chestnuts, but turned out just fine.
Other than this, Thanksgiving was a smashing success. We all agreed that it was the best Thanksgiving menu EVER thanks to our NOT having the usual standbys. Every single item made from scratch and was too delicious for words. The other consensus was that it made us all wish we cooked double the amount, because if we did, we would all have more of that magic word: leftovers. Thanksgiving leftovers is just as big of a deal as the dinner itself! Well, happy holidays everyone. Hope it was special as well as ¡delicioso!
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