Thanksgiving (Köln Style)

Mood: content, full
Stage notes: German Christmas musik dancing in my head

Dinner went well today. My dorm-sized apartment was filled to the brim, and 7 nationalities (about 13 people) were represented. Everyone seemed to enjoy eating together, and the language barriers proved to be only a minor problem. I was especially glad to be able to introduce Martin and Daniel to several of the friends that I have been spending a lot of time with lately, but whom they have not had an opportunity to meet.

The highlights of the day included preparing a full Thanksgiving meal having only a pocket knife to cut things and open cans (this included carving a 15 pound turkey!). The turkey was too large for my oven, so I had to partially close the door and seal the gaps with aluminum foil. Comically, I have a full set of very nice glass serving dishes, silverware, and cookware. The only culinary regrets were forgetting to make gravy in time and having no pumpkin pie. The lack of pie was especially disappointing. Although I was able to find a can of pumpkin filling (there were only two cans in the only English specialty shop in the city), there are no instant pie shells and no pie pans here. It is also difficult to make your own pie crust because there is no shortening. I ended up lining a pan with foil and cooking the pie anyways, but it did not cool in time to eat.