Mi Vida en México: A Mexican Thanksgiving...take 2

So as you all are probably aware Thanksgiving was last week. This also marks my second Thanksgiving in Mexico *GASP*. As I have mentioned in previous blogs, I often can't wrap my head around how quickly the time flies as a volunteer. It seems like only yesterday when I was preparing for my first Thanksgiving away from family and friends. Now I am a seasoned pro spending holidays away from the family...a distinction I am not too proud of, but sometimes that is how it goes in life!

As you may recall, last year in Ciudad Guzmán Whitney hosted a Thanksgiving at her house where we invited friends from around town to come and experience the American holiday. We had such a good time last year sharing this American custom with our Mexican friends that this year we decided to do the same, only this time the hosting duties were left to me....albeit with a lot of help from Cassie and other visiting volunteers who came in town to celebrate.

All the cooks in the kitchen! (with Alicia and Cassie)

A few weeks ago we began the planning for this event. Between Cassie and I, we were going to have to make a full Thanksgiving dinner. I was in charge of Turkey, stuffing, a vegetable/celery dish (it was good I swear), gravy, and pumpkin pie. Cassie made the cranberries, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, green beans, bread, and an apple pie. Alicia, a visiting volunteer from Querétaro, contributed by making some jalapeño poppers and a peach cobbler. Needless to say, we had an excellent selection of dishes...and ALL of them turned out well.

Turkey is ready for the oven! Unfortunateyly, I don't
have an 'after' photo

I was pretty nervous about my side of the meal. I had never made a turkey or stuffing before and these are pretty significant staples of the meal. It would be one thing if I were in the U.S. and had not made these dishes as I could have chosen pretty much any recipe and been able to find the ingredients at the grocery store with no problem. Now I can find most ingredients in my city, but not all, so I do have to be selective in choosing recipes to ensure I will be able to find everything. This just means you have to put a little extra thought and care into planning the meal. Anyways, probably the most interesting adventure of making the meal was the turkey. In order to maximize available oven time (we have small ovens here) I decided to make a 'quick turkey' recipe that would only require the turkey to be in the oven for 1.5-2 hours. This is made possible using a method called spatchcocking (I learned so much making this meal). In a nutshell, spatchcocking entails sawing/cutting the backbone out of the turkey and then breaking the breastbone of the turkey to allow it to lay flatter. This allows it to cook faster because the heat of the oven doesn't have to penetrate such a thick bird as it cooks. It is not a pretty or gentle process, but let me tell you it worked! A few broken bones (the turkey's, not mine) and two hours in the oven later- we had a one of the best turkeys I have ever had. It was moist (sometimes that pesky bird is a bit dry) and packed with flavor from the seasoning. I was very pleased and relieved with how the turkey turned out.

Spatchcocking the Turkey (sawing out the spine)

With all the food preparation out of the way, now it was time to enjoy the feast! We estimated that 18 people were going to come...this in and of itself is pretty large number and we were hoping there would be enough space...but it turns out 25 came! This was unexpected and we were JUST able to fit everyone inside. My couch and everything else in my living room had to be moved into the hallway to make room for 2 long tables. My aunt, who has been to my apartment before, saw the photo below and asked where it was taken because she didn't recognize the place...my house was temporarily transformed into a party space to make way for everyone.

The crew...but we are missing 5 in this photo. There was another table to the left
where we were able to squeeze in for people to eat at

All in all the meal was a success. Attendees began to arrive at 7pm and the last people left at 1am after enjoying good food, spirits, and company!

With another Alicia, a visiting volunteer who came from
Guadalajara to celebrate with us for the night

And here comes the part in my blog where I mention the national park, I apologize for the redundancy, but I think it gets mentioned so much because I get good photos while I'm up there and I like to share them with you all! This aside, my friend Alicia (yes, there are 2 different Alicia's mentioned in this blog if you have been a bit confused) who is a volunteer in Querétaro stayed the whole weekend with me to explore Cd. Guzmán. Fortunately, we were able to go up to the park the Saturday after Thanksgiving while she was here. We were blessed with a beautiful day to hike to the summit of the Nevado de Colima. The skies were clear, it wasn't too cold, and we even got to see the Volcán de Fuego erupt on our way down. This volcano erupts daily and you can see the ash plumes from the city, but it is even cooler to see it erupt when it is so close to you! As a disclaimer, this occurs daily and there is no danger for us to be up there at this point so no need to worry about me!