And a Happy Thanksgiving it was!

We had decided earlier in the week that we wanted to go to Xapuri for our Thanksgiving supper. Eric got home about 6:30 last night and we got ready to go out. Xapuri is an open air restaurant here in BH that serves typical Minas Gerais food family style. We figured it was about the closest thing we could get to a Thanksgiving dinner! (And not to mention that we do really love this type of food!!!)

So, here it is folks, Thanksgiving . . . Brasil style!

So we ordered frango com quiabo in the big black pot (chicken with okra), couve in the cast iron skillet (sort of like collard greens), in the small silver pots starting at the top left and going clockwise: chuchu (a green veggie sort of like cucumber), arroz (white rice), angu (think grits with a smoother texture), and feijão (red beans), and in the red dish, vinegarette (chopped tomatoes, onions, and peppers). Oh, and I guess I shouldn't leave out the bottle of Riesling grown and bottled in Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil.

My thought here was something along the lines of "hurry up and take the picture-this smells awesome and I am hungry!"

Enjoying our after dinner espresso (very common here)

One content fella - he's got his belly full (and he's so good looking too!!!)

We really wanted dessert, because, well, it was Thanksgiving and no matter how full you are you HAVE to have some dessert. We decided against it at the restaurant though because we were seriously stuffed. However, we stopped at the store on our way home and bought a 2-liter carton of sorvette de coco e abacaxi (coconut and pineapple ice cream ). We sat down at the table, each grabbed a spoon, and dug in! And let me tell you something, the Brazilians are serious about their ice cream and man is it good! We were then presented with a minor issue: the ice cream carton was too big to fit in the freezer of our mini fridge. I suggested that we would just have to finish it all off, you know, cause you hate to have it go to waste! ;) Eric wasn't up to the challenge though. So, I am sitting here now having some very, very soft ice cream out of our refrigerator. And yes, I realize that the time gets put at the bottom of my post and I am busted eating ice cream for breakfast, BUT it is fruit ice cream (which makes it healthy) and women need their calcium!!! :)

So, it was a fun Thanksgiving for us, even if it didn't quite feel like Thanksgiving Day! We had an awesome meal and a lot to be thankful for. I've already started thinking about next year though and since I will have a kitchen then, noodles, mashed potatoes and turkey are coming back on the menu for 2008! Maybe we will even invite some friends over and introduce the Brazilians to Thanksgiving Tyson/Zieser style!

Good luck on the After Thanksgiving sales today . . . we looked online at a bunch of the sales papers yesterday, and, I must admit, I am a wee bit jealous! I may have to go get a $4 pedicure or layout by the pool and enjoy the 80 degree weather today to remind myself that I don't have it so bad here. hehehe ;)