Giving Thanks in Colombia

As you might assume, Colombia doesn't usually celebrate Thanksgiving, and for obvious reasons (no Pilgrims, duh).  However, because my school is a bilingual school AND there is a large population of American teachers at our school, I actually got to celebrate it twice this year.  This almost made up for the fact that I was missing my first Thanksgiving with my family.  Ever.  I made the trip home every year in college for the family party and food and never had a serious enough significant other to render missing dinner with my own family (we got lucky last year that David's family had Thanks-o-ween so we could both go to both celebrations).  Oh and work shwork.  Thus giving me, I think, the title of the only cousin/granddaughter to never miss a turkey dinner.  Until now.  Sad.  But like I said I had TWO celebrations here with friends and what I can call my Colombian family. 

The Saturday before Thanksgiving, Mike and Mandi hosted 70+ people for Friendsgiving.  They made three turkeys, and the rest of the dinner was left up to the guests.  Of course I immediately signed up to bring dessert, the same Sour Cream Apple Pie I made for my family last year, but this time I had to make it with homemade pie crust.  However, as the dinner approached, it looked like there was going to be a lot of desserts and not so many sides, so I offered to bring something else and Mike requested stuffing.  I promised nothing, having never even thought about making stuffing before, but set on my way to track down my Aunt Lori's stuffing recipe.  Growing up, I was never a fan of stuffing, until I tried this stuff, it's awesome.  And upon getting the not-so-recipe-recipe (which is great because its pretty clear I never follow recipes anyway) I discovered the key to delicious was butter, and lots of it.  Mmmmm.  I did end up cutting down, especially because I was making a double batch.  And of course nothing ever goes smoothly, like when I realized the GIANT aluminum pan I bought for said double batch was not going to fit in our tiny oven.  No problem.  Stuffing loaves it is!  They turned out preeeettty tasty.  Thanks Lori for the yummy recipe!  I also made homemade spiced apple cider from scratch: 'lotta apples, little cider.  But also pretty good.

Homemade crust is a lot easier than I thought

Mmmmm Apple Pie

Too big.

Crispy Stuffing Loaves!

On Tuesday that week, our school hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for the whole faculty and staff.  It was nice to see so many people come together from so many different backgrounds to celebrate and enjoy time together.  I am extremely grateful for the wonderful community at my school, which has made this transition amazingly easy.  For this dinner each section was in charge of something different; David had vegetables in high school and middle school had desserts.  I thought about making the Sour Cream Apple Pie again, but then decided to try something a little more traditional, and so I stumbled upon this video and recipe for caramel apple pie:

http://foodwishes.blogspot.com/2008/10/my-favorite-apple-pie-recipe-getting.html

also with homemade crust.  Other than having to make to batches of caramel because the first hardened too soon and having a crust that stuck to the pan a bit, it seemed this was a hit. 

Flour coated apples for filling (caramel added late)

Lattice crust with a little CB pride.

Toasty and warm in the oven.

Although I couldn't be with my family in the States for Thanksgiving, I have to say all of this and the friends down here were quite the place fillers and I think in the future these celebrations with friends and my family away from home will be something I miss too.