Let me start this post with a quote from one of my favorite holiday shows.
Charlie Brown: Holidays always depress me.
Sally Brown: I know what you mean. I went down to buy a turkey tree and all they have are things for Christmas.
Charlie Brown: For Christmas? Already?
-A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving-1973
To those people who wondered about those long lost American holidays in Morocco… have no fear. I was fortunate enough to have not just one, but two Thanksgiving celebrations this year.
Back in the states, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. To me, it just seems more family oriented, based on food, family, and friends. This year marks the fourth time I have had to spend this holiday away from my family members. While they were certainly not forgotten (I talked to them the day of,) I know that my friends here in Morocco are feeling the same emptiness and yearning to be with their families.
So we gather in groups, cry, feel bad for ourselves, cry some more, then go home…
Nope, we don’t do that.
We try the best we can to create a loving friendly environment, filled with music, dancing, food, drink, and Americans yearning to celebrate the holiday.
As I said, I was fortunate to have two this year. One big (16 people), one small (7 people), yet in each of the places, the food was good, the atmosphere was light, and the people were lovely.
Here in Morocco we lack some of the typical “staple” foods of the holiday. So we improvise, get a few things shipped over, and rock out. For example, sweet potatoes in Morocco are white. When cooked and mashed, they oxidize, taking on the color of pale-green gray. They don’t look very appetizing, but they make a fantastic flavorful dish. Here we buy live turkeys, slit their throats, then take them to the shop to get de-feathered.
This year I cooked 9kg of mashed potatoes. That is roughly 20 pounds. It was ridiculous. Cook ‘em, mash ‘em, season ‘em, eat ‘em. The spices I used this year were lemon, garlic, rosemary in half. The other half contains hot spices as well, with fewer garlic.
This year’s holiday away from home was certainly my favorite of the holidays I have spent away from the States. It was relaxing, loving, and full of the foods that fill our stomachs with cheer.
I hope you (my dear readers) had a good thanksgiving as well!
-Much Love.
The mashed potatoes sound delicious. You sure as fuck better make 20 pounds next year as well hahahaha.
Sounds delicious!! So glad you got the defeathering done at a shop – our crew always wanted to do it ourselves (much to my chagrin…) – and it was quite a difficult process, all the tiny pinfeathers that don’t come out!!! Glad you had a lovely celebration – it’s my favorite holiday as well, and ours spent in Morocco were wonderful. Did the moroccan family come out for some food? Both years ours came over, and they always loved the food and commented on how EVERYONE was helping to cook (not just two women in the kitchen, waiting on everyone), and how fun it was.
Now it’s time for Christmas…..