It’s gonna be legendary!

Turkeysgiving day

I’ve been waiting for this day for the last month or actually more, since the day I knew I would have come to Boston: the magic Thanksgiving! With the huge turkey, the parade and the football game. I was hoping to be able to celebrate it in the real American style, the one I have seen only in movies.

I have to tell you, I’ve been really lucky, and I must thank my dear friend Carla, since her landlady invited us both to her family Thanksgiving’s dinner.

Thanksgiving for Italians, and I believe for all the Europeans, is a myth, and you ask yourself if it is really going to be like the one shown in movies or if it is just an exaggeration.

Now, I’m going to tell you a secret..: Thanksgiving is actually like that!

Carla and I decided we wanted to bring something and prepare something Italian for the occasion, also to thank the family who was so kind to invite us. Talking with her landlady we chose to buy some Italian wines from the regions we are from (a Pinot Grigio from Mezzocorona for me, and a Chianti from Tuscany for her, she didn’t find anything from Marche or Sicily where she has origins, but a Chianti from Tuscany is always a good choice). Then, we thought that it would have been nice to make Tiramisù. So on Wednesdays evening we prepare it, following the same recipe I posted on this blog: http://cultrend.blogspot.com/2013/11/good-for-your-spirit-and-your-soul.html. I love Tiramisù, and let me tell you, without modesty, it was AMAZING!

On Thursday morning, I wake up, full of expectation and hoping everything would have been as great as I dreamt. I dressed up nicely but not too fancy and in a way to feel comfortable, since there would have been a lot of food!

We left home around 11.30 am direction Billerica, just a 40 minutes drive from Boston: 5 girls (me, Carla, her landlady, the landlady’s daughter and her housemate from Germany), a lot of wine and happiness. When we arrived to the landlady’s sister house we have been welcomed by everybody. There were about other 7 people among relatives and friends, and we felt like home! I can no express with word the feeling we got; it was like we have known them since forever.

We started eating some delicious appetizers (note I didn’t eat any breakfast that day), a lot of them, and we started to drink some wine, a lot, and with the appetizers and the wine came the games. Have you ever heard about “Crime against humanity”, if you know it you know what I mean when I say it has been so much fun! We all laughed a lot, and I can’t tell what came out from that game. If you have never played it, you definitely have to!

We also watched a part of the Parade in New York: super nice!

When it was carving time I sat in first line cause I wanted to see the procedure! By the way the turkey was a 20 lbs one. It was HUGE!

The table was set, the food has been brought and we were all ready to eat. The menu included: Turkey (of course), mashed potato, green beans, two types of stuffing, a mix of grilled vegetables, homemade gravy and cranberry sauce and jelly. This is just the beginning because after finishing this, we took a 30 minutes break to tide and clean up and to prepare some coffee, just to start again with desserts. Tons of them: Tiramisù, two pies, two flavors of ice cream, cookies and a birthday cake since it was Carla’s landlady brother birthday!

So, you can understand that I was going to die! It has been probably since last Christmas that I felt so full!and so sleepy!

After dinner, we stayed over to watch some TV: football game, the Lady Gaga and Muppets Show, and the Simpson; everything kind of American. 

It has been a long but awesome day. I feel I can never thank enough all those people that opened their house to some strangers like us, that made us feel home (which meant a lot for us since we have not been home for some months now), that for one day have been our family.

Thanksgiving was THE EXPERIENCE: the one that allows you to still feel the importance of family and the affection connected to it. It didn’t let my expectation down at all!

Xo Xo Camilla