Adrienn came over around 1 to start preparing the stuffing with me. We semi-followed a recipe and made lots. After questioning Henry (Kehl's resident chef) about how to prepare the chicken we set about removing the innards and figuring out what was what. Eventually we managed to get the chickens stuffed, sealed and seasoned, and put them in the oven to cook. Next we went about making our side dishes: Adrienn was bringing mashed potatoes and I was making carrots. I helped her get about 7kg of potatoes boiling (since Shane had convinced her that 4kg was not enough) and then we peeled and cut up carrots with help from Aisling (Henry's friend that was visiting). I tried 2 different carrot recipes: standard butter and herbs, and one batch with brown sugar, honey and ginger. The second was a bit of an experimentation, but it turned out alright, though not amazing. By then it was about 5 and Adrienn had to go home to help the boys with final preparations. Henry, Ashling and I went over shortly after.
Adrienn and I preparing the chicken.
The chickens are spooning! Haha (well, we thought it was funny).
Everybody had arrived by about 5:30, bringing with them lottttts of food. We had greek salad, corn, sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts, mashed potatoes, carrots, cranberry sauce, curried lamb, sticky rice, chicken, 3 kinds of stuffing, garlic bread, wine, pumpkin pie, cake and ice cream. Adrienn's room had been transformed into a dining room to seat 15 people (they borrowed a table from some other praktikants) and we laid out all the food. It might as well have been buffet style though, because everybody was so eager to eat (after a few civilized photos) that they just stood up and helped themselves, haha. The one thing missing from the menu was gravy... Shane had attempted to create it out of chicken sauce and cornstarch (no flour so Evan could have some, he's allergic to wheat) but sometihng went horrible wrong and it ended up as a crunchy crumbled mess. Oh well, the meal was still awesome without it.
Good gravy that's bad gravy! Seriously, it looked like ground beef.
Waiting for dinner. Henry, Pawel (Polish praktikant), Lucas (Polish praktikant).
Socialzing before dinner. Lucas, Javier (praktikant from Peru), Anthony (praktikant from Windsor, ON), Devon, Henry.
Horence the Thanksgiving Turkey Centerpiece (made by Shane).
Everybody (minus the near end of the table) ready to eat!
Shiraz (praktikant from India), Olivier, Henry, Aisling, Travis, me, Adrienn, Lucas, ___ (praktikant from Poland), Shane, George, Anthony, Javier
The other end of the table. George, Anthony, Javier, Evan, Devon, Shiraz, Olivier, Henry and Aisling.
Time to eat! Look at all the awesome food.
The aftermath. Lots of leftover, mmmmm.
Everyone ate lots and lots, but we still managed to have lots of leftovers. Richard and Bernard came over later (they were in Amsterdam for the weekend) and ate some food, and so did Mike and Nate from Ziegel D (the ones who lent the table, they were at Oktoberfest this weekend). Even after that there was still food left, so we packed it up an I got to take some home (yay!). We tied up the dishes, and after a bit of a break had dessert. Travis's homemade pumpkin pies were awesome, he made them completely from scratch. We demolished dessert, and then chilled out playing some guitar and talking.
Thanks to Ziegelhau for hosting such a wicked dinner. It was nice to have a Thanksgiving dinner even though we aren't at home, and awesome that everybody are such great cooks!
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