Turkey and Friends

A little late….but….I sent this e-mail out to the AUC community:

“Thanksgiving is, for most Americans, a time of getting together with the family to eat too much.

For many of us in Cairo, our families are a LONG way away. Many AUCians travel for the Thanksgiving long weekend, and others stay in Cairo.

On the occasion of Thanksgiving, members of my family being in town, and … because it is fun, we are having an ORPHANS THANKSGIVING at our flat on FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 28.”

We didn’t know how many would come. We ended up with about 18 in total (including myself, gozi, my mom and my aunt). It was WONDERFUL.

Mom and Auntie took care of all the “arrangements” – furniture, table cloths, dishes, serving stations, bar, etc. They did a FAR better job than I could have done, and seemed to actually enjoy doing it!

Jack and I cooked – Jack did the turkey and stuffing, I did appetizers and dips, gravy and tried to manage the other dishes as they arrived with guests. Somehow all the chaos turned into a really fun gathering of people – family, AUC, visitors. The conversation was lively, the appetites were hearty, the tupperwares left FULL of leftovers and we went through nearly a case and a half of wine (thankfully much of it was brought by guests – we couldn’t have supplied all that wine!).

I have to admit – I LOVE Thanksgiving (on time or belated) because it is all about the food and the friends. And just for fun, a few TERRIBLE photos. 🙂

We had to set up both our dining room table, and push together two desks from the offices to make enough space for everyone to sit. We were a bit mashed together, but it worked out ok.

We were very worried about having enough food, a common paranoia for both gozi‘s upbringing and mine. We had MORE than enough. AND desserts that were to DIE FOR.

Good friends, good food, can’t beat it!