28th novembre 2012 Thanksgiving in Italy

28th novembre 2012 Thanksgiving in Italy



Last Friday we were lucky enough to be invited to a friend's place for Thanksgiving. He's an US ex-pat, living here with an Italian wife. The occasion was fantastic and a nice mixture of americans and europeans.

This is my third Thanksgivings meal. The first happened a couple of years ago and in Italy. In fact, three years ago to the day give or take was when I left the green and pleasant land of my fathers, to move to Italy. I started on 2nd December 2009 after the annual holiday on 1st December (not getting it this year as it falls on a weekend, and in Italy you lose national holidays if they fall on a weekend), and also just towards the end of the swine flu epidemic, which partly saved the company financially, and partly destroyed the people and processes, and that we are still definitely recovering from. So yes, when I arrived Dawn had arranged some activities for me to initiate my Italian life, one of those being a thanksgiving party at a work colleagues place. I made my key lime pie, the recipe that I got courtesy of Sensei Paul a few weeks before I left at an amazing Hallowe'en and ROctober Rock Band Beatles night that he hosted.

The reicpeis quick, and easy. And tasty. Of course, it can be hard to find the right sort of stuff in Italy. Condensed milk is ok (latte condensato), digestive biscuits are tricky, but the singular worst item to find is limes. Limes are a rarity in Italy. This may be because they keep their foodstuffs seasonal and fresh - but hey - when do I know when I'm going to want a delicious G n T?

This year my pie went down a treat. A lot of delicious foodstuffs were on display. A huge turkey - now that's another that's a challenge in Italy. Unlike at home where you start getting christmas stuff in early September (when I worked for Wilkos, many many years ago, I kept a little track of when Xmas stuff was first displayed, adn the earliest was the 3rd September), here you would not know that Xmas was approaching. Again it has good and bad parts. You are not overwhelmed and overburdened with commercial christmas crap and then you do not have access to any christmas stuff. Oh the yin and yang of commericalism. So, turkey is hard to get. Turkeys are rare in Italy, certainly it is hard to find in the supermarket, we found one last year but that was the first time we had seen one. Apparently you can order one from the butchers (macelleria) and that is what we will do this year, but it is very different. There does not seem to be a traditional Italian xmas meal - just lots of food, but the usual food: lasagne, bruschetta, other meats and pastas - gallons and gallons of food.

Last year we were at Dawn's family in the US and had my first proper thanksgiving spread, that was great, sweet and salty abounded.

So here's some pics.

Thanks to all

JJ