Thanksgiving

Ten days after the real day had passed, my roommates and long time friends Ben and Joey and I put on a harvest festival.  We had been planning this since day one in New Zealand, anticipating the myriad friends we were likely to make before the special Thursday in November, and ordered ourselves a turkey from the local butcher well in advance.  We bought fresh produce from the Sunday farmer's market that we love, and made a traditional menu including from scratch stuffing, root mash, green beans, cornbread (with honey butter), turkey, cranberry sauce, gravy, salad, and apple crumble with whipped cream for dessert.  To prepare all this food was a task for the three of us in a sarcastically small kitchen with an electric range.  We were also lacking some key kitchen accessories, such as enough bowls and baking dishes.  Still, with some strategic day-before work, and Pulp Fiction playing in the background we managed to crank out enough food for 15 people by 2pm.  That's right, this even went down on time.

Our dining room, which lacks a dinning room table and volume, wasn't gonna cut it for this little soiree, so we crossed our fingers for the weather (a considerable gamble in these parts) and planned a picnic style feast.  Some of our guests helped out by driving the food down the steep hill on which our house is perched to the park tables at the community center below.  We threw all semblance of class to the Wellington wind and used our own bed sheets as tablecloths, any available receptacles including tupper wear and unused electric skillets as serving bowls, and the public rubbish bins for our empty beer and wine bottles (no, it's not really okay to drink in the parks here, though interestingly and scarily, it IS okay to drink in cars as long as you aren't the driver).  

Dinner went off without a hitch.  Our company mingled beautifully, and there was just the right amount of food to go around.  Nothing ran out too quickly, but we finished almost everything.  Every dish was highly praised, especially my cranberry sauce and apple crumble.  The day was sunny and warm with a light breeze, and we played bocci with a set that Ben and I won at a recent ultimate tournament for being co-MVPs.