Thursday, November 27, 2008

To Turkey Trot, or Not


One of the best things about Thanksgiving is the Turkey Trot. For non-Americans, this is the tradition of participating in a low-pressure family fun run on the morning of Thanksgiving. In Falmouth, Mass, the race is called “Chase the Turkey” and one lucky Falmouth Academy senior gets to dress up like a turkey and start the race...so cool! This whole concept got lost somewhere in my subconscious until the other day when I remembered and decided to institute the First Annual Trieste Turkey Trot here on Saturday when we celebrate Thanksgiving. So far there are three participants: Me, Cristian, and Luna. It’s going to be great. We’re going to eat like pigs in the afternoon.

Which brings me to next year. No more turkeys, only pigs. Turkeys are too big for my little European oven. Yes, for this year I have ordered my turkey from Remo the butcher and also bought a roasting pan, all for the benefit of friends who would like to have a real Thanksgiving “like on TV,” but this is it. I already know what Remo is going to say when I get there on Saturday morning to pick up the turkey and it is huge. “You want me to cut that up for you?” Last year he let me buy half of it. This year I have enough people to eat a whole one but it won’t be the same if he cuts it up. A real thanksgiving Turkey “like on TV” is served whole and carved at the table with an electric knife (Rocky Horror Picture show anyone?). Anything else is just a giant TV dinner.

Like I said, next year is going to be different. Forget ordering a turkey. I’m going to concentrate on Trieste’s strengths. But that would mean Jota and assorted boiled meats, and, certainly there is a time and place for both, but perhaps not at my table in an effort to substitute THE BEST FOOD IN THE WORLD. Plan B. Ham baked in bread dough- now there’s a good one, you don’t have to even bake it yourself. There’s a baker in town who does it for you in his BIG OVEN. I’m going to do that next year. And then I’m going to have a Pig Trot in the morning, and since we have a year to plan, we have time to find just the right person to dress like a pig and get the race going.
(photo caption: I thought it only fitting to scan a photo from our year in Belgium. This photo is from a Thanksgiving Dinner that friends of mine invited me and some of my friends to. The family who hosted this dinner had an American mother and a Belgian dad. They had quite a time getting the turkey, but they imported their entire American kitchen, so it fit nicely in their oven AND the leftovers felt right at home in their side by side fridge. - Laura)
P.s. The turkey was big-- 7 kilos. It fit in my small oven, and it was DELICIOUS! So was the homemade pumpkin pie (made from a real pumpkin)... YUM!!!!!




12 comments:

  1. I can't wait for the comments on this post, Kari. I am finishing my coffee, pulling on my sweaty cold-running clothes from last night, pull out my turkey costume, and trot trot trot. There will be no one following me, that I know of. For that matter, I don't even know if I will be pork trotting next year, this may be the only year that I am crazy enough to train for a marathon. All the while, I will be thinking of you and your butcher.

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  2. That dinner was my total inspiration for my Thanksgiving feast abroad! I can't believe you posted that picture! I couldn't remember how the hell I got invited to that dinner. Now I know! I feel like we're together again for Thanksgiving. SIGH! Have a good trot!

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  3. Just back from my trot - and at a fairly good pace, I might add. It must have been thoughts of that feast 18 years ago, sitting next to my now marathon partner. That was a great day. Outside that house, life was going on as a typical Belgian day. Inside, we were feasting like Americans do on the day of Thanksgiving. The only thing missing was the Macy's Day Parade - which I am watching right now with my kids.

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  4. You know, I have been thinking about that dinner all day. I am now sitting in front of the fire at my mom's house as the kids play some pre-historic game pulled out from the bowels of my mother's playroom. My kids love my mom. She even got them to eat cranberry jelly and broccoli tonight. I am going to run home and post some more photos from that dinner 18 years ago. Kari, the thought even occured to me - what will happen to our blog in 18 1/2 weeks from now? I'm going to dream of Belgium tonight, for sure and worry about the future of our blog later.

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  5. Oh yeah, let's see some pictures!!!

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  6. The best part of my week, coincidentally, is that I woke up this morning to a facebook message and friend request from Martha, the lovely woman who graciously opened her home to us for that Thanksgiving dinner. It all comes full circle.

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  7. AND - I have to post an entry, for sure but I am beginning to love the life of our blog. I am always sad to see the more recent posts descend down the page. I love this Thanksgiving post, the photos and comments in particular. My brag about my 6 mile run can wait for one more day. I can't wait to get others' input on my itchy hands and hives - YIKES, don't like that.

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  8. I will post pics from my Thanksgiving at my house. There was a Rotary exchange student with us who is 18 years old and was born the month that I left for Belgium 18 years ago. Freaky, huh? I can't believe you heard from Martha, too!

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  9. I think you should evaluate two other solutions: find a smaller turkey (sorry for the blasphemy :-) or find a bigger oven.

    A part from that, don't underestimate triestinan food. I think we can find something, for example a good goulash with "gnocchi de pan", as me and Cristian ate in Dresden.

    You can get some other ideas here too:
    http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cucina_triestina

    However, I really hope you find a solution and keep on backing your turkeys.

    But... wasn't this blog about some kind of sport? :-P

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  10. Karoline: Thanks for the shout out to Falmouth Academy and Chase the Turkey. It's nice to have an international following!
    Jayne Iafrate
    FA Development Director

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  11. We totally heart FA and invite you all to Paris in April!

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  12. Thanks for the link, Marko! I'll check it out and pass on interesting recipes to keep these runners strong! ;)

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