Rush to the Middle: Happy (American) Thanksgiving!

We didn't get this holiday off from work or school, of course, so we had Thanksgiving dinner at actual dinnertime (as opposed to the noon meal I usually serve because I can't wait any longer!). This year, our first Thanksgiving in Doha, we hosted, and we had a full house of 20, including lots of kids and friends from the US, New Zealand, and Canada.

For the first time ever, we cooked a fresh turkey. In the run up to November, I began to wonder what the turkey situation would be like. It turns out they do sell frozen birds here, Jennie O's in fact, but I also found a farm about an hour north of Doha where they sell turkeys, ducks, duck eggs, goats and goat's milk, and rabbits. They kill and pluck the turkey and bring it to your door within the hour. We were a little skeptical since ordering was very informal, through Facebook private message with the supervisor of the farm as opposed to the Qatari owner, and they increased the price by 30% upon delivery the day before (so we were up against a wall!), but it all worked out! Granted, the plucking they did was a bit less thorough than we were used to (picture the husband and I hunched over the sink with tweezers!) and the bird was not gutted, nor was the neck cut off, so we also had to do a bit of surgery the night before. It was a much more hand's on holiday than I was wishing for but certainly an adventure!

Here is the husband after he cut off the neck; he was very proud!

Post turkey surgery.

In addition to turkey, I made cornbread stuffing, gravy, a strawberry/granny smith apple/pecan jello mold, mashed potatoes, cranberry relish (from scratch, another first), and pumpkin bread pudding made out of croissants (a substitute for my usual pumpkin gingerbread trifle, which is a bit too labor intensive to came completely from scratch). Sadly, right before I was ready to mash the potatoes, I discovered one of my children had taken the potato masher outside and either lost it or broke it, so the potatoes ended up more squashed than mashed with the help of a ladle and a rice paddle. My cleaner, who was home helping me set up the tables and such, was completely mystified about what I was making and how--try explaining the appeal of mashed potatoes to someone who has never seen them before--it's harder than you would think! I also served rolls (store bought), apple and mango chutney (homemade by someone else) along with the cranberry sauce (for some international flavor), and dill and sweet pickles. Others brought homemade rolls (we used hers instead!), pavlova, more stuffing, sweet potatoes, an apple cheesecake dessert, and veggie spring rolls. I'm of the opinion that if you don't end up in a food coma after Thanksgiving, you're not doing it right! Plus, I love all the Thanksgiving fixings so much, I wanted to be sure to have plenty of leftovers (there were!).

Working on decorations before the guests arrived.

We used two of my green table clothes and decorated with just a few Ikea candles (hint: the most versatile colors for year round entertaining and decor? Plain red and plain green--think Valentines, Christmas, and 4th of July, and then Thanksgiving, St. Patrick's Day, and Easter--so be sure to pick up what you need at an after Christmas sale!). I borrowed additional dishes and glasses from our neighbors (thankfully, we all have the same set, which makes things easier) for the main meal, but we went with cheery yellow paper goods for dessert to save us all a little work. We had a toast with sparkling apple juice, and the kids stayed fairly well-behaved, especially since they ranged in age from 3 to 18! It was a late night for the boys since we leisurely had (herbal) tea with dessert and were all in the requisite turkey coma after dinner, but everyone had fun, I think, and dinner was a yummy success!