Thanksgiving Part 2

        Thanksgiving was a truly wonderful day! Everybody chipped in, and we had a hugely successful dinner--nearly on time! 

        The day started with the NLC class giving a presentation on their home countries/states/towns. I talked about Massachusetts history--Pilgrims, Revolution, Salem--some big events like the Super Bowl, and eventually got more personal until I was talking about Rockport and Gloucester, and some of our favorite traditions--Santa coming by boat, the Greasy Pole, etc. I wore my Patriots jersey, and talked about how it was Thanksgiving. I told the school what the holiday is about, and what we traditionally eat. The presentations were only supposed to be 10 minutes long, but in the rehearsals, all of us had 20-30 minutes, so we had to go super speedy though most of it. It was still fun, and a lot of people commented after about how nice it was. 

        After lunch, some of my friends walked to Kiwi, but I stayed at the school to make a game plan for the day. I also got a few games of King's Corners in--a Thanksgiving tradition. I taught a few of the Norwegians how to play, and since then, I've heard from some others that they really like my card game, so I guess people are still playing!  

        I was feeling really stressed, because while we'd done most of it, we hadn't finished the stuffing, and we couldn't cook the turkeys without first stuffing them. I had no idea how to cook a turkey, or for how long, and the kitchens have an insane industrial oven which runs hot, and throws off the cooking times. We had planned to eat at 7:30, but I wanted to aim for 7, since it always takes longer anyway. Giving them three hours in the oven, as well as time to cool and carve, we wanted the birds in by 3. 

        Dinner is at 2:45, so my friends and I met up at two to get to work finishing the stuffing. When it could be packed like a snowball, Ananda and I opened up the turkeys and began shoving it in. That happened to be right at 2:45, and everybody coming into dinner was hilariously confused seeing two girls up to their elbows in turkey. We got the birds in right at three, so we were all able to to let go of that stress factor. 

        Then came time for the side dishes! We peeled about 50 potatoes, and 3 butternut squashes. Setting those to boil, our day was significantly more chill. We had done so much of the prep on Wednesday that Thursday was relatively easy. One of the most difficult parts was dealing with the cooking turkeys. After an hour and a half they were a nice color, so we tried to wrap them in tinfoil for the rest of the time. However the oven heats all around, and is basically a wind tunnel, so the tinfoil kept coming off. We tried wrapping the whole pan, but then it didn't fit on the rack. I was not having it, but Ananda somehow figured it out and from then on was in charge of the turkeys. 

        Mashing 50 potatoes was rough going, but Elise and Sofia did that while Alina worked on the vegetarian stuffing, and I took the squash. Bjorn got going on the vegetarian gravy, but Ananda and I waited for the turkeys to come out so that we could use the drippings in ours. 

        The turkeys came out after about 2 and a half hours--less than we had originally planned for. Ananda and I were skeptical of the meat, because it would have sucked to serve raw turkey, so we facetimed my parents and did all sorts of poking and prodding until we determined that they were all right. We left the stuffing in for a while so that they wouldn't get cold, and got to work on the gravy. 

        Meanwhile, the art students were setting up the art classroom with tables and chairs, and the most American decorations they could find. It looked more like a Fourth of July party, but it was super sweet! Most of the food was finished around 6:30, except for the whipped cream and the green bean casserole--made specially for Heiden. I worked on that while the others began putting the food onto serving platters and bowls. We had to be very sure what was vegetarian and what wasn't, so we wrapped yarn around the vegetarian gravy boats. 

        Ananda took out the stuffing from the turkeys, and the last thing left was carving them! Eric from NLC is from Mozambique, and his father owns a restaurant so he has a lot of cooking experience. Fabian is in the Outdoor Class, so we just assumed he knew how to cut up a bird. The boys got to work, helping each other along, and learning as they went. It was a very homey process, and they even separated the light and dark meat on the platters. (We pleaded some more with Marianne, so in addition to Elise, Fabian and Eskil were both allowed to eat with us!)

        Finally, everything was ready to go! It was just a smidge over 7, when we all sat down at the table. It wasn't big enough to fit everything, but Bjorn and I were pretty adamant that passing things around is an important part of Thanksgiving. We compromised by putting the small things--gravy, cranberry sauce, and applesauce--on the tables, and serving the rest buffet style. Before we got up for food, I gave a quick speech (I got one single sentence in before I started crying) where I explained the importance of Thanksgiving, and what all of the food was. 

        We all ate together, and drank sparkling cider that Marianne had found. I had a wonderful time! We heated up the apple and pecan (walnut) pies, and served them with the pumpkin (sweet potato) pies for dessert. I made sure to tell everyone that there was enough for them to have a slice of each. It's tradition! It was so funny listening to people argue over which pie was their favorite.

        There was a great moment at the table when everybody had their food and it was just dead silence because they were all eating. It took two full days of cooking, but I'm so proud of everything that we accomplished, and that it all turned out so well! So many people approached me after saying how great the meal was, and how they want to incorporate Thanksgiving into their family holidays. 

        The other half of NLC--the ones that didn't help cook--were on dishes, so Bjorn and I thought it would be fun to put on the Patriots/Seahawks 2015 Super Bowl (where the Patriots win, of course!) in the peisestue. Thanksgiving just wouldn't be the same without football! A bunch of people stuck around, and I went over as many of the crazy football rules as I could, explaining throughout the game. 

        Thanksgiving has been one of my favorite experiences at Folk High School so far. It was definitely an adventure. We had so much freedom--too much almost, given our lack of kitchen experience--but it was something I'll never forget. I got so much positive feedback from everyone, and the cooking was an event all on its own. I'm not sure I'll ever cook Thanksgiving for that many people again, but it was a really special time for everyone who helped. We've been joking that in a hundred years, people will say "the reason Norway celebrates Thanksgiving is because of a very stubborn American who couldn't let go of her traditions for a year" It's true, I couldn't!

        The traditions didn't end on Thursday, because Friday morning I snuck into the kitchen to steal a piece of pie for breakfast. We ate the leftovers for lunch, and a few of us took plates full to eat for dinner on Saturday. Thanksgiving's not over til the leftovers are gone! I really can't emphasize enough how grateful I am to Marianne and the Agder staff that made this special day possible. It was such a wonderful experience, and I'm so glad that I was able to share it with so many lovely people! 

        (I'm still collecting pictures, so I'll try to do a picture post tomorrow or something)