Thanksgiving 2008

I thought we were a large group at 16. But then I ran into a gringo at the flower Mercado who said that he was attending an event of 35. Who does that? Who hosts 35 people for Thanksgiving dinner? I imagine someone very wealthy. Why don’t we know this person?

Alex wanted to provide a farm raised turkey from his family’s ranch. “By the time it gets here, it better look like a store-bought turkey,” I told him. “I wouldn’t know how to deal with a feathers and a head.”

In the end it turned out that their turkeys won’t be ready until Christmas. So off to Costco I went. Picking out a turkey in kilos instead of pounds was relatively easy. And I know the difference in Spanish between a smoked turkey and a regular turkey. I found the regular turkeys but was momentarily confused by a notation that read, “Doble Pechuga!” Double breasts? What? Are there four? What kind of turkey is this? A phone call to Rod cleared it up. He said that it probably meant that the breasts were twice as big.

While searching for sage (“Salvia” in Spanish) I ran into one of Rod’s clients; a Greek woman who lives here. “You’re so lucky,” she said. “Rod cooks too. I have to do the whole dinner myself, for 10 people.”

“Why are you doing that?” I said. “Rod and I are doing the bird, the stuffing and the gravy. Everyone else is bringing everything else.”

“Well that is not the Greek way. You know. In Greece it is the women who do all the cooking.”

“I know. But in Greece the kitchen is full of women all helping each other. You’re just one person.”

“You’re right. Next year it will be different.”

Three stores later I found the sage and bought enough for her in case she couldn’t find any. She did the same so now we both have enough sage to last us for several years.

Christine and Mario joined us, finally reunited in Mexico (after US immigration separated them at the border after their wedding). It is looking like Mario overstayed his tourist visa and therefore will not be able to return to the states for at least a year and maybe as many as 10 years. So Christine has quit her job teaching in Denver and will be renting out their house and moving back to Mexico. They plan to relocate to Queretaro which is only an hour from San Miguel. While I’m sorry that things have not played out as they had planned, I am delighted that “mi hija” will be back in Mexico and so very close.