I've been pretty sick on and off for about two weeks now, so all things considered, I've decided to swear off street food. Its delicious, cheap and quick, but its not worth laying in bed feeling like death all the time. This also means that life is a bit more expensive, but at least I'm cooking more at home now and eating healthier. The day before Thanksgiving was one of those days in which I woke up, moved to the couch and couldn't move off the couch till I went back to bed at night. Because of this, I wasn't expecting much out of Thanksgiving day, but when I woke up on the 25th, I felt much better and ready to eat. Some friends invited us over for a Thanksgiving dinner at their house a couple blocks away, so I was ready to feast.
For this Thanksgiving dinner, I went about making the only turkey day dish I know: grandma's pumpkin pie. Of course, I started out by heading off to the grocery store without even looking up the Spanish for the ingredients I would need. I figured I would be able to recognize everything by the picture on the label. Butter, eggs and milk were easy since I buy those all the time. Cinnamon and ginger were also easy since they had titles in both Spanish and English. Nutmeg was impossible, but fortunately, my boss's wife had some to lend me. At first, I couldn't find the key ingredient though, pumpkin, either fresh or canned. Eventually, my Kiwi friend brought me what he said was pumpkin from the fresh produce section. I didn't believe him at first. This vegetable was cut into sections so it didn’t have the distinct pumpkin gourd shape. It was also green with a smooth green outside. I told him it didn't look like any pumpkin I had ever eaten and he said, “what do your pumpkins look like?” I said, “orange and rumply” and he replied that he had never seen a pumpkin like that. It must be a southern hemisphere thing, so I took his word for it, bought it and looked up the word on the label when I got home. He was correct. According to Google translator, zapallo translates to pumpkin. However, if you translate pumpkin into Spanish, it gives you calabaza. Makes me wonder what the difference is. Any way, took it home, steamed the pieces and blended it to produce a pureed greenish mess. Tastes just like pumpkin though. Using the blender for the first time since I moved into this house has also made me realize that I definitely need to be utilizing its ability to make dank smoothies much more often.
With my pumpkin taken care of, there was only one last detail. Mostly out of laziness, I have never bothered to learn how to make the pie crust. I've always just bought one of those frozen store bought crusts. People say they don't taste as good, but I've always thought the pie tastes awesome even with a store bought crust so I just never bothered to go through the hassle and time of making the crust. However, turns out that in Bolivia, one cannot purchase just a pie crust. You can purchase all sorts of pies in the supermarket, but not just a crust. Now is as good a time as any to learn how to make a crust. It turns out that its quite easy. I even experimented with throwing some finely diced almonds into the dough and I think that really ended up taking the pie to a whole new level of goodness. This adventure has also taught me that I need to do some research about baking at high altitudes. The filling never really set as thick as it should have and it took much longer to cook than usual. I have heard that cooks need to use slightly different proportions of liquid to dry ingredients than at normal heights. We'll have to see what the all knowing Google has to say on the subject. Now remember, my pumpkin was a bit greener than I'm used to and it showed in the pie. Usually pumpkin pie has a sort of orangy/brownish tint, but this one instead had a more greenish to brownish tint. Still tasted awesome though and some people at the dinner had never had a pumpkin pie before, so they didn't know the difference and loved it.
Dinner itself was definitely a great experience. Unfortunately, there was not turkey to be had, but we did enjoy a wonderful chicken instead and an amazing stuffing made by our Irish friends. I believe there were five people from the US among the 17 people there total, which was an awesome way to introduce a lot of people to some real USA foods. None of the people present from countries other than the US or our northern neighbor had ever had sweet potatoes with marshmallow melted over the top. My Kiwi roommate especially thought it sounded like the most disgusting thing he had ever heard of when I first told him about the idea earlier in the day. Of course, this kid will eat Vegemite like candy. Once he tried a portion, he absolutely loved it. How could you not like sweet potato and melted marshmallow? On one hand though, the girl who made this specific dish could only find pink and blue two-toned marshmallows at the store so it had a bit different look to it. However, like the green pumpkin, it still tasted like the same great recipe we see every year at most Thanksgiving tables. Overall, definitely an awesome Thanksgiving with a sweet group of friends; many of whom are far from home.
