Thanksgiving in Tel Aviv - Success!

While Thanksgiving is a huge event for most people in the US (a whole day of eating recklessly as if calories and heart disease didn't exist - how much more American can you get?), in Israel it was quite the experience organizing a Thanksgiving dinner at my apartment. Let me take you through what I had to do:

1. The Turkey - the centerpiece of Thanksgiving dinners. Of course I had to have one at my Thanksgiving feast. Forget the fact that I am vegetarian; I wasn't going to make my guests suffer for my dietary preferences. After attempting to search online for a place to order a turkey, I finally asked my Hebrew-speaking friend to go online and try her luck, and sure enough we found a number for a butcher in Shuk Hacarmel who would have a 7 kg (= 15 lbs) turkey ready to be picked up Tuesday morning. This was the first time I purchased anything from a butcher. First question butcher Shaul asked: "Do you want the neck?" Er...? (Note: the neck is apparently wonderful for making turkey soup. I unfortunately did not acquire this knowledge until after my trip to the Shuk).

 

2. Disposable plates/napkins/silverware/tablecloths/etc. - Luckily I was already at the shuk so I stocked up on all the essentials so that my dinner would not be negatively overshadowed by my clean up experience.  Not very green of me, I know.

3. Music - I actually had a Thanksgiving playlist ready to go on my computer, but due to the fact that the day-of-dinner events unfolded quite stressfully, my computer was not at my apartment for the dinner. Thank you roommate's computer and Grooveshark, you really saved the day.

Why was her day so stressful, you may be asking yourself, could a simple potluck dinner (the dinner was slightly less stressful because it was a potluck) really be that difficult? The answer is yes. Let me explain. The night before the dinner I was trying to get a hold of my mom through Skype to get her turkey recipe (you don't understand, every year at Thanksgiving I consider quitting being a vegetarian just so I can eat my mom's turkey). Unfortunately she was also really busy with a much bigger Thanksgiving soirée - a family dinner of 50+ people - so of course she was busy and not signed onto Skype. I went to sleep after watching the Thanksgiving episode of How I Met Your Mother (which I think must have jinxed my planning somehow) with no recipe in mind.

Dinner in...

Turkey on the left, groceries on the right.

T minus 10 hrs: I awake at 8 am to try my luck on Skype again, and finally speak to my mom. I realize I need to run to the supermarket to get a few missing ingredients. But things are looking up. I place my thawed turkey into a bag with the plan of grocery shopping and going straight to my friend's place to cook the turkey. (Oh, yeah, by the way I have no oven).

T minus 8 1/2 hrs: In line at the grocery store I call my friend to confirm plans. He says, "Great, you'll have two hours to cook the turkey because I am going out of town." TWO hours. This is not enough time to cook a turkey, I don't care what Mark Bittman says, my mom says 4 hours, so I begin to panic a little. I call my other friend who has an oven and she does not pick up her phone. I sit outside the grocery store with a bag of groceries and one bag of turkey in tow. I ponder the meaning of life for a bit. I take deep breaths. Finally I decide to head back to my place because having the turkey out of the fridge for too long without cooking it can attract bacteria. It occurs to me that I am carrying a carcass around in my bag.

T minus 7 hrs: Twiddling my thumbs in my apartment.     

T minus 6 hrs: My other friend calls and tells me I can come over whenever I want. I grab my bags and head out the door. Door closes behind me. I realize I have locked myself out of my apartment. Life: 1, Amy: 0. I tell myself I'll figure it out after I get the turkey in the oven, so I catch a sherut over to my friend's place to start on the turkey. The turkey has seen a lot of Tel Aviv at this point.

T minus 5 1/2 hrs: I run to get the last ingredient: spicy red peppers. I had been unable to find this ingredient at the market in the morning.

T minus 4 hrs: The sauce took much longer to prepare than I had anticipated, but the turkey is in the oven. Phew.

T minus 2 hrs: People start calling to cancel/say they will be running late. I think I'm running late too, so all's good.

T minus 1 hr: Head over to my roommate's work to pick up his key. Take a cab back to my place, arrive exactly at 6pm (the time my dinner is set to start), change out of my yoga-looking clothes and into something presentable.

T plus 15 min (this is Israel, after all): People start trickling in. My computer is at my friend's place so there's no music. The turkey is at my friend's place, so there's no turkey (she ends up cabbing it over to my apartment - she truly saved the day). Finally food is on the counter, people's mouths are watering, small talk dwindles...

End result: an amazing Thanksgiving feast!

This was the first of three Thanksgiving dinners in a row for me. I have never gone to so many Thanksgiving dinners in my life. Yum, yum, yum, delicioso!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING from TEL AVIV!