THANKSGIVING

I seriously did not think I would miss the beginning of winter weather as much as I do.  The weather here is in the 80s and 90s, and it feels nothing like the holiday season.  I had just given into the fact that I was going to miss holiday festivities this year in exchange for an extended summer, when Roman 'suggested' that we have a Thanksgiving dinner for his family.  My reluctancy didn't seem to matter, and he invited his family over for an afternoon feast on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

We cooked for ten hours.  I do not exaggerate.

Luckily, things turned out well and we created our first entirely vegan (minus some last minute empanadas from the neighbor for the meat-eaters) Thanksgiving.  I might add that this was sufficiently more of a challenge in a country where pre-made vegan helpers like Tofurky are not available.

Here are the results:

Lentil and walnut paté (a.k.a. lentil loaf), quinoa cornbread, garden salad with dill, smashed potatoes, green beans and almonds, mushroom gravy.... 

...and a semi-raw pumpkin pie for dessert.  Roman's sister Anahi and her boyfriend Lizandro are in the background. 

Here's a closer look. ;-)

Everything we made was vegan (except for some honey) and gluten free.  After it was over, I was very glad that Roman made us do it.  We spent the rest of the day doing what you would normally do on Thanksgiving...napping and watching movies.  Roman saw A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving for the first time and got a taste of what it's like to be an elementary-school student in the US.  :-)