A few of my friends including myself were starting to feel homesick as our friends back in the states head home, so we decided that despite the inconveniences of not having a large oven or all those appliances and random spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, etc.) that accumulate over time in our cabinets at home, and that we take for granted, we would have a home-cooked meal for Thanksgiving with no essential dish spared.
We had stuffing, a roasted chicken, garlic & dill potatoes, roasted onions, jelly cranberry sauce retaining its canned figure, pan-seared tuna, strawberry & mango salad, creamed corn, sweet potatoes, and even a pumpkin pie to grace our table.
I was not looking forward to making the pumpkin pie, but Thanksgiving is just really not Thanksgiving without a pumpkin pie. So I bought some butternut squash (I couldn't find pumpkins in the shouk!) and spent two days wondering how I would steam them and then puree them without a steamer or a blender.
Thankfully, Jerusalem supermarkets are more accommodating to the Americans living in Jerusalem than I had anticipated (since the costume turn-out on Halloween was pretty disappointing). I spied the last two cans of canned pumpkin hidden on the top-shelf and triumphantly returned home to the large squashes awaiting their fate on the dining room table. They would have to wait another day.
Despite having to substitute a pie crust with filo dough and evaporated milk with extra condensed milk, the pie turned out pretty well.
All in all, Thanksgiving tonight was really wonderful, and I feel genuinely lucky that I got to spend it in Israel.
I hope everyone both abroad and at home had a great Thanksgiving!
