One 10K Turkey, Hold the Head Please!

Halloween hasn't even rounded the bend yet and already our plans for Thanksgiving are in full swing. They have to be. Gone are the days of center aisles filled with all the popular holiday favorites-Campbells cream of mushroom soup, Durkee fried onions, Pepperidge Farm breadcrumbs, Oceanspray cranberry sauce, canned yams, kraft marshmallows...I could go on and on.

Instead, my girlfriend and I made our list from the menu we devised and almost everything will come from the street market on the morning of Thanksgiving. The market will be operating as normal because here in Brazil, November 24th is just an ordinary Spring day.

We debated celebrating on Saturday instead, but decided that we deserved to have as normal of a Thanksgiving as possible. Both the hubbies have to take a vacation day, we have to pull the kids from school, and crazy of all, we have to arrange the "killing" of our Thanksgiving Tom.

No pardon from the President here. We have delivered the fate for some poor bird to satisfy our need for normalcy. After a long conversation with our "meat guys (and girl)", they will be bringing us a turkey on November 24th. We determined the size in kilos and begged to have it plucked, beheaded, gutted, and the feet amputated. If you don't ask for these things here, you could very well end up with a freshly killed turkey ready for the taxidermist instead.

We're fairly confident the turkey will show up as ordered and they'll leave the head and feet behind, unlike the whole chicken I purchased today. As much as I hate taking out those little packets of giblets in the US, I really hate removing the entire head and clawed feet here in Brazil. Thankfully my maid is happy to take them home to make a soup.

We're trying our best to make it feel like the real deal here, but we won't have a few of my favorites, like sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce, as neither are available here at anytime of the year. Lucky for us, there is a type of pumpkin and my friend Jennifer loves to make pies, so we'll have that favorite for sure (although the pumpkin needs to be cooked and then pureed).

Regardless, I'm looking forward to spending the day in the kitchen with someone I love, hearing the guys yell about football, and the chatter of the kids as they run around the house (which is really an apartment). I'll miss my family, our annual traditions, the old recipes, and the chill in the air.

This year, I have so much to be thankful for (which will be a future post), but today I'm thankful for the friends that make my family here, being forced to make a meal entirely from scratch, and knowing that the Lion's may have a chance to actually win.