You might think that since my team is in Nepal for November, we probably didn’t get the chance to celebrate Thanksgiving. After all, they don’t sell turkeys here, all of our meals have been curry, lentils and rice and we’ve had to explain the concept of Thanksgiving to pretty much every person here since they’ve never heard of it before. The prospects of a Thanksgiving meal seem pretty hopeless.
But fear not, my friends and faithful readers. We did, in fact, celebrate Thanksgiving. Stuffing and all.
I had asked our main contact this month, Samuel, if I could take over the kitchen on Thanksgiving Day to make an American meal. I love to cook, as most of you know, and I knew my team was really missing home and familiar food. Okay, let’s be honest – I’VE really been missing familiar food this month. He and his family graciously agreed and the hunt was on for any American-type foods and spices we could find.
This might be a good time to tell you that this month, we are living in the foothills of the Himalayas. Villages are tiny and shops are even tinier. I mean, we’re talking small shops on the side of the road that sell a plethora of things, such as eggs, chintzy jewelry, Nepali snacks, etc. Pretty much the farthest cry from Meijer that you can get. We were able to find potatoes, onions, apples, cinnamon and bread for stuffing.
Also, now might be a good time to tell you that Nepali kitchens (at least the one available to us) are quite different than American ones. Ours has a dirt floor, a clay fire oven that nothing can actually be baked IN, just cooked on top of, two gas burners and no counters. Also, the power goes out about five times a day. So there’s that.
Our Thanksgiving Day started with Madisson and I getting up at about 8 am to make breakfast for everyone. This was a surprise for the rest of the team and we made scrambled eggs, French toast and hash browns. After breakfast, the rest of the team went to use the internet in the next town over and Madisson and I waited for Samuel to take us into town to buy two chickens.
Like I mentioned earlier, there is no turkey to be found in Nepal (I also encountered this problem in Japan), so I decided we would have to have chicken instead. Madisson was the perfect teammate to accompany me during the buying and cooking of the chickens because she was really excited at the prospect of killing and cleaning them. Thank goodness, because I only wanted to handle the chicken when it got to the point of looking like it had just come out from under cellophane wrapping.
Madisson and I jumped on the back of Samuel’s motorbike and returned about a half hour later with two live chickens in a box. Jake came home shortly after and joined Madisson in her chicken mission.
There of course was an audience in the kitchen during the process as Samuel’s family gathered around to watch the two crazy Americans kill and clean the chickens. I imagine it was pretty intriguing to them, since when they cut chicken, they seem to normally just hack it into pieces, bones and all, to add to curry. Luckily, we were able to give them a bunch of chicken parts we didn’t want to use, so it was a win-win situation for all.
Kyle and the other girls picked green beans in the garden while Madisson, Brittany, Jake and I worked on chicken, potatoes and stuffing. Katie was smart enough to make us pack some different seasonings in our packs back in Romania for such an occasion, so we busted those out to make it as American-tasting as possible.
After about four hours, we had a Thanksgiving feast of pan fried chicken, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans and fried apples with cinnamon and sugar. We invited Samuel and Raj, our translator, and we went around the table and shared what we are thankful for this year. Then, we ended the night by watching Elf and eating popcorn, which Brittany, Katie and I made just like the pilgrims did, by shucking kernels off of dried ears of corn to pop.
By the way, here’s what I said I was thankful for:
For the graciousness of Samuel and his family in letting us use and make a complete mess out of their kitchen.
For my supporters.
For my teammates; two men who fight for us, respect us, and are giving our future husbands a run for their money by setting such an incredible example of men of God to live up to and for the four women who are now like the sisters I never had.
So Happy Thanksgiving, from our little Perisseuo family in Nepal to all of you back home. We miss you, we love you – never stop praying for us.
