A Toledo Thanksgiving Celebration

Since everyone knows Thanksgiving is my most favorite holiday (yum, yum), some of the PCVs down in PG and I decided to make as big of a deal as we could of it! So we formed the Toledo Thanksgiving Party Planning Committee! (yes, I now have every season of the Office on my computer, so this is my latest addiction! haha) Anyway, we invited Belizeans, staff, and volunteers from all over the country to come celebrate with us and it was a HUGE turn out! We had roughly 50 people come celebrate the holiday with us! We had every kind of traditional American Thanksgiving dish, along with some Belizean dishes as well! And-- get this-- I cooked the turkey!!! No joke!!! Now, I can't take all the credit-- Dan did spend 5 hours in the kitchen at my office helping me baste this bad boy-- & solving minor obstacles as they came our way! First the gas wouldn't light, then the aluminum pan cracked and all the juice leaked out, then the juice burned everywhere and it was a smoky disaster..... but after those minor speed bumps, we ended up with a juicy, delicious bird! It was a big hit at dinner and I was so proud of myself!!! Only a few weeks before this cooking triumph, I messed up making hard boiled eggs for breakfast--- true story! hahaha

We started the holiday off with a traditional American football game at Union Field in PG town. It was a fun morning event-- and I actually got sunburned without even realizing it! haha November and still in the heat-- oh Belize! My team won.... I think.... even if they didn't, I refuse to admit anything else! haha. But I did jam my finer pretty badly! So I'm typing to you with a sore finger.... and I keep trying to quote Gretyl from the Sound of Music and saying "I have a sore finger" in my best Austrian accent, but I've been told my accents just aren't really that good! shocking! After football, we cooked and showered all afternoon before the big dinner event! We held everything in Parish Hall-- we were legit with these Turkey Day festivities! Everyone ate lots and we took pics and had a general fun time! It was really nice to spend the holiday with my favorite people from Belize-- made me miss home a little bit less that day!!

Thanksgiving seemed to last from the Tuesday before til the Sunday after! It was tiring by the weekend! People were trickling in and out all week long-- but it was a fun time! My house was a BIG disaster-- it was traffic central. But it was totally worth it!

We got to celebrate Dan's birthday early, which was just another excuse to make more food and party! haha We ate some nice vegetarian food and made him a cake with homemade icing! (courtesy of Amy!) And we found trick candles at the Chini!! It was hilarious! My new favorite Canadian, Marina, had never seen trick candles before and basically flipped out when they kept relighting!! It was amazing! hahaha.

Having had the serious responsibility of cooking the turkey--the most important part of Thanksgiving-- for a party of 50, I now consider myself an expert chef. haha. So I decided to try my hand at one next cooking experience: breakfast! On Wed I made French Toast for the first time! It was delicious-- if I do say so myself! (& I cooked for 2 other people-- they said so too!) hahaha. I'm pretty much the next, cuter, slightly more feminine, Emeril! Bazinga!

And I'm gonna learn how to make latkes on Friday! I'm pretty pumped about it, too!

Welcome to the holiday season!!