Peru Preparations

"Peru" is how you say turkey in Portuguese. We are definitely getting ready for Thanksgiving, though we are about as far away from the US as one can possibly get, geographically speaking.

Rico and I managed to find turkeys this year at our favorite local butcher, Talho Polana. The turkeys came from Brazil, specifically from the massive poultry company Saida. I know my carbon footprint this Thanksgiving is not wonderful, but we are compensating by not traveling internationally this holiday season.

Anyhow, we got two 10-pound birds to serve at our second annual jointly-hosted Thanksgiving party. We are expecting about 30 people, so this will barely be enough for everyone. We are supplementing with roasted chickens, but still, it is nice that we will have turkey at all. I know a lot of people who have given up completely on procuring the birds here and are going with fish and prawns for the holiday. But for us, it's turkeys, through and through.

Of course, while turkey #1 was in the oven, the cooking gas ran out after the first hour. Dona Lídia had to run out post-haste and buy a new canister. In all, I don't think the delay negatively affected the bird. From the smell and the crispy brown exterior, it seems absolutely delicious. Rico and I were tempted to dig in tonight, but we practiced restraint and ate bread rolls with prosciutto instead.

This evening I also made stuffing from scratch (so easy, but SO much butter, my God!), giblet gravy (yum) and chopped vegetables in preparation for turkey #2's stuffing tomorrow afternoon. It's a shame we don't get the day off tomorrow, but I think I'll be able to slink off a few hours early to go tend the bird while it cooks.

I'm really excited for our dinner gathering tomorrow. Not often I get into holidays, but Thanksgiving Maputo-style is sure to do it every year.