eating thanksgiving dinner

Thanksgiving is not celebrated in Mozambique of course.  However, there is one missionary that was very insistent that we have a Thanksgiving dinner on Thanksgiving this year.  Thanks to him, our President, Pres. Koch, gave the go ahead for this Thanksgiving dinner.  The person in the front of this picture is Naldo, our first interpreter.  He has too many hours with us so passed off the Interpreting to his brother, Benildo.  Benildo is two people down from Naldo at the table.

The decoration on the table is the famous, Acacia blossom.  I have been told that Maputo is the city of Acacia trees.  I have sent pictures of this tree before in the blog.  Aren't they beautiful?

Acacia blossom

This yellow pedal is striking within each set of pedals in a cluster of blossoms.  The trees are covered with these blossoms right now in this beautiful spring weather.

This picture below shows Elder Christiansen.  He is the reason for Thanksgiving.  His part of the dinner was the potatoes.  He had an interesting recipe that he followed.  You know, that is what makes Thanksgiving special.  The traditions people bring to the dinner.

His recipe is as follows.
10 lbs potatoes boiled till soft
1 cube butter
1 pint of sour cream
3 eggs
1/2 lb cheddar cheese
Mash the potatoes, butter, sour cream together.  Beat the eggs and mix into the hot mixture.   Top mix with grated cheese. Salt and pepper to taste.
They were delicious.  This picture is of his second

Elder Christiansen

plate of food with the drum stick in hand.  Elders can surely put away the food.  All these elders ate and ate and ate.  We are very thankful that Elder Christiansen wanted Thanksgiving dinner.

Thanksgiving Dinner was served at the Mission Office.  It used to be the mission home until they moved the President and his wife to another home.  There are still the office worker missionaries that live here upstairs.  It has a thatched roof and is two stories.  It is a nice place that we will have the Christmas Day celebration for the missionaries as well.  They are moving a piano in for the Cantata that I have been asked to conduct.  I am glad for that.  These little Casio keyboards have a lot to be desired when it comes to accompanying or for real quality sound.

Sis. Koch's turkeys and my dressing

Sis. Kimball is one of the other Senior missionaries in Maputo.  She and Elder Kimball serve as the office missionaries.  Sis. Kimball dropped off two turkeys to Sis. Koch's house.  Sis. Koch does not like turkey and hadn't ever cooked turkey before.  She had quite a tell to tell about her first experience with turkey.  They don't do Thanksgiving in Brazil either.  However, the turkey was most delicious; a sign of a great cook.  She said the wings and thigh and drumsticks just fell off the carcass so she put them in another dish and just served the breasts with fruit around it.  Doesn't it look pretty?

Pile of food

 Sis. Kimball did the fruit salad.  She put every kind of fruit she could find.  The only odd thing in there was the mangoes and they added a wonderful taste.  I suggested we put whip cream in it.  That is how I like it.  Ummmm!

My part of the Thanksgiving dinner was stuffing.  I was asked if I wanted to do something else.  I said I wanted to make a berry pie.  I went searching for the ingredients for my part.  There is no stuffing mix.  I looked for bread that I could use for stuffing.  I found some and tried a recipe that was similar to the one I knew my mother used.  The first trial for stuffing came out dry and unflavorful.  I was glad to have a week to try a recipe.  On THanksgiving, the dressing was perfect.
The pie, however, was a different story.  We looked and looked for berries, fresh, canned, frozen, anything.  Nada!  No berries except Strawberries.  Strawberries are too hard to make sure they are clean so we stay away from them.  I changed my mind about berry pie.  There is no shortening anyway.  We made apple crisp instead.  It was delicious.