Still. Stuffed.

Oh, for Pete's sake! Why didn't anyone warn the crazy pregnant one about the dangers of Thanksgiving? I usually space out my feedings and eat small meals every few hours on a normal day. So why I thought it would be a good idea to eat very light all day yesterday so I would have room for the Thanksgiving feast I would go on to later stuff myself with is beyond me!

I discovered my stomach doesn't quite have the same expansion space it once had - and I'm pretty certain that last bite of whipped cream covered pumpkin pie stopped it's downward travel at the bottom of my neck (where I'm pretty sure my stomach had crept up to in it's quest to expand.) I'm not sure I've ever been quite so miserable from eating too much! But oh, it was good. It was really, really good.

And as concerned as I was about how our Brasilian friends would take to the very American meal I was offering, I would dare say that by the looks of their plates everyone enjoyed the meal. I think all but two people had a healthy plate-full of seconds and there were only small bits of crust left behind on the dessert plates from the pumpkin pie I served everyone.

So, for the menu (and the sad Portuguese translations/descriptions I gave them):

Turkey/Peru A 9 pound whole bird, skinned, and cooked in my largest crock pot stuffed with onions and cooked in white wine - it was really, really flavorful, tender, and moist!

Cornbread Dressing/Acompanhamento (feito com pão de milho, ovos, cebola, aipo, etc.) This one was the hardest to translate, so I ended up just giving it a general name and an ingredient summary. I was surprise that this turned out to be one of the most-loved dishes of the evening.

Turkey Gravy/Molho de Peru I made this with drippings from the turkey which also had plenty of white wine in it. It made for a yummy gravy. (And no, I didn't use gizzards or anything else from inside the cavity of the bird - that stuff goes straight into the trash quickly before it has time to scare me.)

Mashed Potatoes/Purê de Batatas

Homemade Egg Noodles/Massa Caseira com Ovos (o melhor acima da purê de batatas) Noodles are really a midwestern thing, so naturally Eric grew up with them. But given that my Grandma is from Indiana originally (her family moved to Georgia when she was 16), the tradition was also brought south and is a must-have for holidays with my family too. Besides my Hubby, this is one of the yummiest things to ever come from Yankee territory! ;)

Sweet Potato Soufflé/Caçarola de Batata Doce Don't let the name fool you, it's not actually a soufflé. What it is though is a yummy, southern side dish that's sweet enough to be dessert! Mashed sweet potatoes are mixed with eggs, sugar, cinnamon, milk, etc. and topped with brown sugar, crushed pecans, flour, and butter and baked. Given that the sweet potatoes here aren't quite as sweet as the ones back home and they are white on the inside, not a deep orange, I mixed in just a bit of my pumpkin pureé to make it the right color. And yes, I actually did end up finding pecans at Mercado Central! It exceeded my expectations and tasted dead-on like what I've always made back home!

Green Bean Casserole/Caçarola de Vagens Turned out as good as ever despite using fresh green beans (those are hard to come by in November in the US!) and homemade cream of mushroom soup. Luckily a friend recently returned from the US and was kind enough to bring me a can of french fried onions, so at least I didn't have to fry those up on my own!

Cranberry Sauce/Molho de Oxicoco (um tipo de fruta ácida) My same friend shared a can of whole berry cranberry sauce with me for last night too. Which is fabulous since, as far as I can tell, cranberries do not exist here in any form. (Which is why I described the fruit in my translation - no one had any idea what an oxicoco was. I totally depended on the dictionary to get that one right.)

Sweet Tea/Chá - Doce e Frio I'm from Georgia. This is completely necessary with a meal like this. (Did you know that in at least one municipality in Georgia it is illegal for a restaurant not to offer sweet tea? Yes sir, we're just that serious about it.)

Lemonade/Limonada Americana Limonada is popular here. But it's made with limes. I happened upon some actual lemons, so I bought a half dozen and made the real stuff. One of our friends was saying how great it was and asked what my secret was. I answered him in English, "Lemons, not limes."

Pumpkin Pie with Whipped Cream/Torta de Abóbora com Chantilly Brasilians here eat a lot of pumpkin. But normally it is prepared as a salty dish. I wasn't sure how they'd take to sweet pumpkin. But between the response we received from pumpkin bars I sent to the office yesterday with Eric in honor of Thanksgiving and the pumpkin pie last night, I'd have to say they like the American take on abóbora! I am supposed to translate my recipe for pumpkin bars and send it in to the office for some of the ladies there now.

Being that I am abstaining from most things fermented these days, I left Eric in charge of the wine. He picked up some Chilean Carmenère that several of our guests thoroughly enjoyed with their meal. (It was actually from the vineyard/winery that we toured while on vacation in Chile - Santa Carolina. As I recall, it is really excellent stuff! So good, in fact, that we have a bottle of their special reserve that we brought back with us that Eric is forbid from uncorking until after April!)

And since we're in Brasil, we had beer on hand as well. And that was the beverage of choice for several friends with their meal - very, very Brasilian (Mineiro?)! We at least did have the more flavorful, gourmet of Brasilian beers though, Bohemia. :)


It was a fabulous evening of food and fellowship with some wonderful people. As we laid in bed last night with our bellies stuffed, we talked about how blessed we are and how, despite there being no football, no parades, no day off work, and no family around (and being short one place setting/chair for our party of nine and speaking only Portuguese), it wasn't too shabby of a Thanksgiving Day!

Now, if only I can remember (or rather, have the self-control) to not eat so much on Sunday when we do it all over again at my friend's house - in English!