Thanksgiving in Nairobi

This weekend Jessica, Sam and I decided to throw a big Thanksgiving dinner. Monday morning at work and I am still exhausted from this weekend. It was very busy but mega-fun. Since this is all about food and friends the best way to blog about this is photos! So here is goes…

Saturday – Off to the Market!
We have finally figured out where to find virtually (almost) everything we could ever need in Parklands. We managed to find everything we needed for our dinner, including jars of cranberry jelly for our turkey. Our friend Fahim owns a meat factory and he used his connections to hook us up with a GIANT turkey and 2 lovely pumpkins. So Jessica decided to tackle a pumpkin pie made from scratch. After locating all of our ingredients for our 10 person dinner it was time for a light lunch and a beer at a local indian café.

Grocery shopping always seems to take double the time that I expect it to take because there is a lot of walking and hunting for things. And stops for lunch. On Saturday we decided there was no way we were going to make it home with this massive amount of (heavy!) groceries. Solution: Jump in a Tuk Tuk, a little 3 wheeled tin box.

Later, our friends Fahim and Soariah dropped off our massive turkey. 11 Kgs!… was it going to fit in the oven? Was I going to be able to cook this giant to perfection? I was beginning to wonder. But Jessica and I were feeling motivated to throw the best Thanksgiving dinner we could.

In order to complete our giant menu, Saturday night was dedicated to baking. Jessica made a homemade crust for her pumpkin pie and we worked on a glorious red wine chocolate cake and the result was to die for. Best cake I’ve ever had (apart from my Gramma’s Chocolate Zucchini Cake…)

Sunday – The Big Day

We woke up Sunday morning, bright and early at 8, to get everything started… and everything started to go wrong.
1) No water in the Kitchen
2) Power went out for 45 minutes.

Our kitchen also has a strange array of dishes and cooking tools. Imagine cooking a turkey dinner for 10 people using camping utensils. Everything went smoothly in the afternoon, but just required more work than cooking this dinner at home would be.

I was so tired by 5 pm! But we were just heading into the evening. We had wonderful company who were all very helpful and entertaining. The evening went by quickly and in the end everyone was very full, satisfied and ready to hit the hay. I am happy to report that my turkey came out perfectly, and so did my gravy! Ska-Doooosh…

The Menu – Butternut Squash and Pumpkin Soup with roasted pumpkin seed garnish (Sam), Roast Turkey with Cranberry Garnish, Mashed Dill Potatoes, Roasted Potatoes and Carrots with Rosemary (Sam), Green Bean Salad with Lemon Zest and Garlic, Turkey Stuffing with apple, and gravy.

Dessert – 2 Pumpkin Pies (Jess & Sam) and Red Wine Chocolate Cake.

Our guests brought Banana Bread, ice cream and lots o’ wine!

Now we get to enjoy Turkey Din-Din leftovers all week!