An International Thanksgiving Extravaganza

About a month ago, right around the time that all of our friends stateside were getting excited for the Halloween festivities that we were going to miss, Ez and I decided that we weren't going to let Thanksgiving pass by unnoticed.

A proper Thanksgiving presented a challenge, as of course Denmark does not celebrate the holiday, and neither do any of our Italian, Polish, Australian, etc friends. So, grabbing the turkey by the horns (feet? neck?), we decided to make our very own and very first Thanksgiving by ourselves, in order to share the best of American culture with Denmark and our new friends.

Although most of our Danish and international friends had seen TV shows or movies depicting Thanksgiving, none had ever partaken in the dinner and were pretty eager to see what it was all about. As exciting as it was to be Thanksgiving's ambassadors to Denmark, the job came with a lot of pressure. Up until now, our experience with Thanksgiving dinner was mostly eating it, and maybe baking the occasional pie or serving as the sous chefs to the parents slaving away in the kitchen.

So, we enlisted the help of fellow American, Uyenii, who knew all the traditional dishes but had also never made them, due to the fact that her Vietnamese family always eats lobster on Thanksgiving.

Another issue was that with our guest list at 25+, we needed a big enough venue. Our one-room studio apartment was out, as was Uyenii's chic pad, which came with a landlady who didn't appreciate dinner guests. Luckily, our good friend Maria had just the right digs for the occasion, a large 3-bedroom flat in the center of Copenhagen, and two flat-mates who weren't adverse to having three Americans take over their kitchen for two days to make them tons of food.

And that's just what we did: Starting at 2:00pm on November 24th, Uyenii, Ez and I trekked through the freshly-fallen snow carrying about 35 kilos of food, three of which were onions alone, and moved into Maria's house. That night we baked two large pumpkin pies and an apple pie. It took us about 5 hours since canned pumpkin isn't really a Danish thing, and we had to chop and microwave fresh pumpkin for an hour or two. Progress was further slowed by having to share one chef's knife among three chefs. However, Maria kept us nourished and in good spirits with a spaghetti dinner as we hacked away at the squash.

Prepping the pies

As the pies cooled and the snow fell harder, we took celebratory shots of Amarula and devoured the pumpkin custard that we put together with the extra filling. The snow finally let up a little bit and we trudged home, tired but happy. We were ready to call it a night despite it only being 8:00pm, but the night had just begun! I then baked and mashed 10 lbs of yams, and we cooked enough stuffing for about 25 people. Four hours after that, we collapsed, as smells of butter and onions clung to our hair.

Tired but happy bakers

The next morning, with about another foot of snow on the ground, we bussed back to Maria's carrying the yams, stuffing, and two thawed-out 10-lb turkeys. We cooked all day long, listening to Christmas music (there really aren't any good Thanksgiving songs) and watching the snow fall outside the kitchen window. We made ourselves right at home, drinking endless cups of tea and somehow having time to make and eat crepes along the way. After caramelizing onions for literally hours and watching Ez obsess over perfecting the gravy, all the dishes were complete. Everything smelled amazingly good, and we each took turns sticking our noses into the turkey cavity until we realized what we were actually doing.

By 6:30pm when the guests started to arrive, the table was groaning with the weight of candles, two turkeys, green beans, sweet and citrus yams, mashed potatoes, herb and apple stuffing, two types of cranberry sauce, three types of gravy, and giant carafes of (formerly boxed) red and white wine. We didn't come away unscathed however... Neither Ez or I have ever had so many burns on our hands. I also somehow got a blood blister, and have no idea when or how. And I won't even count how many times the turkey got cut!

Our first turkey!

Despite our injuries, the night was a huge success. Our friends loved the food, though they admittedly said they would tell me that even if it was terrible. But I believe them-- I think things turned out pretty well. The only hiccup, if you can even call it that, was when I lit my head on fire.

As guests started to arrive, I went to take a picture of some friends gathered around the food, unknowingly leaning over one of several dozen hyggelig candles. As the camera clicked, I started to hear a strange crackling noise, wisely ignored it, but then noticed some flames from the corner of my eye. Quickly realizing my hair was on fire, I started smacking my own head with a motion that was later described as "a lazy cat swatting a fly." Thankfully I quelled the inferno while losing only a small, unnoticeable chunk of hair to the flames. The real casualties were the delicious Thanksgiving smells, which were replaced by the slightly less appetizing aroma of burnt hair.

After a long, delicious, and super fun evening, we cleaned up Maria's kitchen and packed up most of the leftovers for her, (she and Ezra got into a "who's nicer" argument as they tried to give bigger chunks of the turkey to each other) then headed home, even managing to catch the last bus to leave the city center with one minute to spare.

It's good to know that although we are thousands of miles away we can still create our own Thanksgiving, and spread the joy to others. I've made new friends, learned some more cooking skills, and even managed to keep most of my hair.

There's definitely a lot to be thankful for.