Happy Thanksgiving!

It's an interesting thing to celebrate a holiday in a country where doesn't happen.  I've done this once before.  We celebrated Thanksgiving in Belize on our honeymoon 17 years ago.  On that rainy evening we ate stew chicken and rice on the front patio of a little restaurant with 4 young LDS missionaries who were far from home.  One of the elders looked at the menu and said, "I keep looking at the menu, but there just isn't any turkey."  He was more than a little wistful.  It was a great evening.

Fast forward 17 years and here we are in Rome, Italy celebrating a very American holiday.  My Girl got the day off of school, but my boy did not.  Her school is more American in many ways.  My Boy's school is more international even though the instruction is in English and there are a lot of Americans there, maybe a third of the students.  One nice thing is that the grocery stores and other shops are open, just in case you need more cream.

The main challenge was to find all of the right ingredients for the traditional dinner.   I had heard you can order whole turkeys from your friendly neighborhood butcher, but you need to do so about a week ahead.  I didn't get to it so I went in search of whatever turkey bits I could find.  You can find thin sliced breast, filleti, and I had seen turkey legs at a store that I couldn't find again.  On my wandering way back from an unsuccessful trip to find turkey legs I found the holy grail of butcher shops, Multicarni, on Via Gallia, not far from home.  In addition to whole rabbits (head, eyes, and feet included) you could buy turkey parts!  I am now convinced that this is the only way to go when cooking turkey.  I bought a massive turkey breast, two thighs, and two legs for broth.  It was perfect.  I seasoned the outside with a dry rub of salt, pepper, sage, and other herbs, then let it sit for several hours to soak up the salt.  I then covered the skinless breast with bacon and cooked the light meat and the dark meat in separate pans in my microscopic oven so that I could give them the loving individual attention that they need.  I turned out so good.

For next year:

Less salt in the rub

One leg

Smaller turkey breast

I put a lot of thought into how to get everything baked and roasted one tiny pan at at time.  I started the day making pumpkin bread and pumpkin pie, my Grandma's recipe.  Last time John was in California I had him bring me cloves.  You can find a lot of spices, but I haven't found cloves.  It's strange what you can and can't find.  Libby's canned pumpkin is a regular item at the Elite grocery store.  They have more of the nontraditional things.  I've also heard of another store, Castroni, that has similarly exotic items.  There isn't one close but I'll have to check it out.  Maybe they have cloves and evaporated milk.  I ended up having to evaporate my own milk for the pie filling.  There are rumors that the Esquillino market has more spices and foods for the immigrant community.

Next came stuffing making.  For this I had to get the family recipe from my in-laws.  It turned out yummy.  Just like Grammie's.

The bird bits roasted while I prepped the stuffing.  The stuffing baked last.  I did figure out a way to get more in the oven by stacking a pan on the bottom of the oven on top of metal cookie cutters.  It seemed to work out OK and helped relieve the oven traffic jam.

I made cheater gravy from a turkey leg and a few vegetables simmered in chicken stock.  It tasted very turkey-y and turned out yummy.  There was even enough for left overs.

Our full menu for four included turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, green beans, and pomegranate, with pumpkin bread and pie for dessert.  We missed the Brussels sprouts, cranberries, and creamed onions as well as the berry tart and cinnamon rolls I usually add on.

We had a nice dinner with our little family, but missed the extended family we usually celebrate with.

On my quest for turkey on Wednesday I saw that the door to the San Giovanni di Laterno baptistery (also here and here) was open.  It is a pretty nondescript building from the street outside, unlike the basilica it is attached to.  I later learned that this was built during the time of Constantine and was the first baptistery in Rome.  I had read that it was worth a look inside and it did not disappoint.  The first thing I liked was the scale.  It was much more human scale than the massive basilicas.  The decorations were incredible.  The walls of the main area were covered in frescoes.  One shows the story of Constantine's conversion to Christianity.  The ceiling was decorated with a dove from the story of Christ's baptism in the Bible.  A side chapel had an amazing mosaic almost hidden behind an alter.  I'm so glad I stopped by.  I'll definitely be back.