My Quest for a Turkey

This year I won't be able to celebrate Thanksgiving in the US, so instead I am hosting it here on Friday.  Initially it's exciting!  I love to host!  Thanksgiving is my favourite holiday!  The food is amazing, I get to eat as much as I want without feeling guilty, and I don't have to buy any presents.  After the initial excitement, the anxiety sets in.  I've never hosted a Thanksgiving.  I don't have a proper table, so it won't be as formal as my family's Thanksgivings.  More importantly, I've never baked a pie.  Or stuffing.  Or a turkey.  I've been a vegetarian for a year - I haven't cooked any type of meat in a long time.  Six of my guests are British and I don't want to disappoint them - even though they'll have nothing to compare.

In Type-A Cathy fashion I started planning really early.  I made lists of what I wanted on the menu.  I am co-hosting with my fellow American friend, so we talked about what things our families do and what types of food we have.  I looked up recipes for every thing, made lists of ingredients, broke down the lists into dry ingredients and perishable ingredients.

Saturday I went to ASDA, the English Wal Mart.  I figured it'd be the easiest place to find every thing I need (hopefully) and for the best price.  I went with my dry ingredients list and it took my probably two hours.  Some things are named differently, but I found almost every thing.  For example, I need jello mix to make a cranberry mould, they call it jelly.  I need corn syrup to make pecan pie - ummm, I'm not sure what exactly I bought but it was the closest thing I could find.  I have my fingers crossed it works well enough.  I needed marshmallows to top my sweet potato casserole, and the only marshmallows I could find are bigger than any one I've ever seen in America.  But beggars can't be choosers.

So far the only thing I can't find is fried onions to top the green bean casserole.  To solve this problem I think I'll just fry my own onion slices - or mix in onions and top it with breadcrumbs... haven't fully decided yet.

Anyway, the whole point of this is actually about my quest for a turkey.  While I was in ASDA I looked for a turkey to see how much it would cost.  All I could find were chickens!  So I went to my local grocery store, the Waitrose.  They have signs "order your turkey now for Christmas!"  I asked the woman in the butcher section, and she said they wouldn't be getting their shipment until 22 December.  So I went to Tesco Local, nothing.  So I went to Sainsbury's Local, nothing.  Finally I went to the big Tesco and FOUND MY TURKEY!  Since I had such a hard time, I decided to buy it.  It's frozen, so it'll take a few days to thaw in the refrigerator any way and then it should still be good by the time to bake.

Now I'm just researching how to bake a turkey!  I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.  Have a wonderful celebration of your own! X