Chile

A little over a year ago we made our first trip to Chile to visit Josh, Vivi, Olivia and Simon – the occasion was Simon’s first birthday and we were excited to see him and meet Josh’s Chilean family. Well, we also got to meet a slew of doctors, an emergency room and an ICU cuz I got turned around in a bathroom, fell against the ol’ porcelain toilet and fractured 8 ribs, some in a compound way. The good thing out of that was I got to spend an extra two weeks there because the doctors wouldn’t let me fly and I got to know all of the family and some of the country a little better.

This time I walked like I was really old, like my age, and kept my head down most of the time and my eyes open. The occasion this year was Thanksgiving, a non-holiday in Chile, but one that Josh has brought to his extended family in the form of an entire gringo-style authentic Thanksgiving dinner prepared last year entirely by him – solo, loner, no relief pitchers. This year he enlisted Jan and myself, Olivia and Vivi, and Simon to help a little with a dinner for 29 people.

 

Lots of helpers…

I have included all the recipes at various points along the way, a journey of three full days of shopping and prep – an undertaking that is mind boggling considering Josh did it pretty much himself last year.

brown-sugar-and-black-pepper-bacon

sweet-and-salty-pecans

These people are authentic Chileans and while they have travelled a lot to the United States and Europe they really had not experienced a true  American feast. They loved it.

my-favorite-roast-turkey

classic-sage-and-sausage-stuffing

campbells-classic-green-bean-casserole

This had to have the real thing – Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom. Took three days to find it.

garlic-parmesan-mashed-potatoes

sweet-potato-pecan-casserole

Like the Cream of Mushroom soup the pecans took a few days to track down and a few pesos to boot.

Amazing that we got all 29 people at one long table.

president-reagans-favorite-macaoni-and-cheese

This was a huge hit!

cinnamon-apple-cranberry-sauce

The cranberries were equally hard to find and they were a pretty peso, ounce for ounce by far the most expensive thing on the menu.

A mutual admiration society. And a speech completely in Spanish!

The desserts were store bought but included the usual suspects; pumpkin pie, pecan pie and lots of ice cream. The dessert table was popular!

A little post meal dozing and Vivi’s Dad proving to me he’s a big Frank Sinatra fan! And a few bottles of my favorite Chilean wine.