Thanksgiving, Dhaka Style (November 26)

Shockingly enough, Thanksgiving is not a Bangladeshi Holiday, so we didn't celebrate until the Friday after Thanksgiving.  Since we're ten to twelve hours ahead of the US, though, we sort of celebrated on the right day.

Mom, Dad and I started off with a do-it-ourselves turkey trot of about 5Ks.  Maybe next year we'll have to organize one for others to join us!  That was immediately followed by Dad's softball game, church and then our first Starbucks coffee in months.  (Thanks, Grandpa!)

Dad's very excited about trying out the new French press.

While Dad made coffee and tried to teach me to sweep and set a table, Mom stuffed four chickens with fresh garlic and lemon, along with peppercorns and rosemary. In the absence of twine or unwaxed dental floss, she toothpickid them together.

Mom then carried casserole dishes all over our apartment building and ended up with green beans, apple stuffing, pumpkin mash, corn bake and cheesy carrots in three different ovens, two of which were missing a temperature gauge.  At three o'clock, the Larsons (American) showed up with rolls, fresh veggies and two pies; the Snowdons (British) brought their table, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce; Auntie Kim (Australian) brought a chocolate pie, Coach Sam (British) brought some drinks, and Dipak (Bangladeshi) brought his Bangla expertise (he's Mom's teacher).

They all started playing Mom's dorky quiz games (one American and one non-American per team, please) while I tried to keep track of what was in which oven for how long.

Ben, Zach and Gary won the first game of the day!

Finally, all four chickens, the extra pieces Mom roasted at the last minute, Ruth's perfect gravy and all the other dishes were ready and Dad taught me a little about carving up a bird.  It reminded me of all of our grilling lessons in Baltimore and I got a little sentimental, but was distracted by the acrobatics it took to get all fifteen people sitting in our dining room.

After dinner was the American football game attended by a hoard of Bangladeshi mosquitoes, so I ducked out early to play hot and cold with Gracia and help her and Auntie Kim get the pies out and ready.

pumpkin, chocolate, banana cream and apple, plus the ice cream
Happy first Thanksgiving, Kim!

There were quite a few more games that evening, including Gobble-Gobble (which involves loud gobbling that increases in speed as the contestant nears a hidden turkey), Thanksgiving Paper Rock Scissors (Turkey, Plymouth Rock, Pilgrim) and Settlers of Catan.  I was most excited about Ruth's Pumpkin Race game, which never happened because I just couldn't stay awake through all of the fun.  Maybe next year!

Thanks to everyone who helped to make our Bengali Thanksgiving a success.

P.S.  I apologize that there aren't any group shots to share.  I've tried to take over the photography duties from Mom, and find the camera's culinary value much higher than it's picture-taking value, so I can often be found jerking it into my mouth at the most important photo-ops.