Without the Commissary and the ARA, Thanksgiving would have been missing some key ingredients. We were able to go buy all the supplies we needed for our desserts on Tuesday evening at the Commissary. Karo syrup, chocolate chips, ground gloves, ...etc. Thanksgiving here was perfect! I woke up, watched Love Actually without having to get out of bed, then had some cereal with Savanna as we made our plans for the day: roll out dough, bake pies, shower, eat a feast.
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| Rolling out her homemade pie crust! It was such nice baking process because every few minutes Misti was there cleaning up behind us. Baking pies today will be a different experience without her... |
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| Pecan pie and chocolate pecan pie: our two favorite from our family traditions at home. Catherine- I think it may have rivaled some of your best pies... |
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| Bree volunteered to make the pumpkin pie! Even though she is Australian, she has pumpkin pies because her parents are Canadian! It worked out perfectly because she knows how to make a pumpkin pie from scratch (real pumpkin instead of the can) because they don't have the canned pumpkin pie mix in Australia! AND it was deeeelicous!!! Great job, Bree! |
After everything was baked and our apartment smelled just like 78 Angelo Drive after the pies come out of the oven, we went downstairs and Wahid took us to Tracy and Ian's. He was almost as excited about Thanksgiving as we were! The set up at Tracy's was beautiful! How she managed to get all of us into her apartment comfortably and have enough dishes to make us happy, I'll never know! Must be her awesome hostessing skills at work. If we'd had them over at the intern apt, half of the people would be on floor cushions and the other half would be eating with serving spoons and paper plates.
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| The dessert table courtesy of the AIS/D Interns! |
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| Two of the tables! I was sitting at this front table on the right. The laundry basket is in the background because Kristen brought over so many treats she needed the hamper to help her carry them! |
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| Another table! Sav is setting the tables with a few of the staples: here she has delicious gravy. Everyone else is enjoying a glass of wine and socializing until it is time to sit down and FEAST! |
The meal itself was DELICIOUS! We had all the staples: turkey, ham, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, bread, and mac-n-cheese... along with a few new additions: yummy salad, cabbage rolls, sweet curried fruit, brussels sprouts, broccoli and parsnips! I tried almost everything, but the sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes were my favorites :)
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| My first serving... mmm! |
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| Creepily perfect turkey. But so yummy doused in gravy! |
After dinner it was time for the YUMMY desserts! Everyone tried a sampling of the sweetness, and our bellies were soooo full we could barely fit back into the car. We gave Wahid big slices of all the desserts to take home, and he was STOKED!
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| Check out the treats! Bree also made sticky date pudding (the loaf with the homemade caramel sauce drizzled on top). I'm bringing the recipe home for a Christmas dessert this year! |
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| Samplings of heaven. (Note legit Cool Whip from commissary- woudn't be Tgiving Pie for Di without a huge dollop.) |
All in all it was a beautiful Thanksgiving! Not the same as at home, but so thankful to have friends here who are like a second family to me :) I came home last night and was able to skype with Mom, Dad, Catherine, and Katie (& Harper!) at their hotel room in DC as they got ready to head out for the big Thanksgiving dinner with some of the O'Brien clan. I also had the special treat of skyping with Aunt Maureen, Sean and Kevin :) I am so thankful for SKYPE because it allows me to be closer to my family on special days like Thanksgiving. Miss and love everyone!
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