Tanzgiving

May we begin by wishing all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving! So very much to be thankful for this year in our lives. We hope everyone's turkey day was filled with family, friends, fun and food comas! Ours certainly was, geographical coordinates notwithstanding. At It's Kili Time HQ, we hosted a nearly authentic Thanksgiving feast with friends from near and far. On the menu were potatoes, stuffing, green beans, swiss chard, cranberry sauce, a bird from the poultry category and even pumpkin pie! Plenty of food, wine and merriment were had by all.

Yes, that's right friends, it wasn't turkey, it was chicken so please don't revoke my American passport. Although available, a turkey wouldn't exactly fit in our oven at home. Contrary to your preconceived notions (probably due to the fact that we have granite countertops. in our house. in Africa), we don't actually have a Viking Range in our house, so cooking that bird in these parts just wouldn't fly (ha!). Moreover, call it my cunning intuition, but I just somehow KNEW that in the midst of cooking the bird is when the Tanzanian Energy Company would choose to enforce the power cut schedule they haven't been sticking to lately. And was I ever right! But we soldiered on with rustic implements such as kerosene lanterns, flashlights and a generator and Tanzgiving (gotta copyright that one!) was saved.

However, for you purists who aren't buying the-oven-is-too-small line of reasoning, may I further the line of defense of my American heritage by noting that the cranberry sauce was from A CAN! Although I may have previously extolled the virtues of fresh, locally available produce here, never would I have thought to stray from such a deep cultural tradition as the canned cranberry sauce. Perish the thought! But actually, the person who deserves the credit for this massive feat of cultural preservation is our very dear UK friend Katie who found it when I could not (get this girl a green card, would ya!). And speaking of Katie, not only did she save Tanzgiving, she also made a pumpkin pie - from scratch, people! Scratch, as in, no can opener required. And it was delicious to the last crumb (which was eaten about 10 min after the first slice was cut!).

Now I sit in a comfy chair, with a glass of wine, freshly popped popcorn and a very full bottle of Amarula beckoning me from the fridge (along with a workout DVD on pause on the computer) while Roger sits in a tent on the rainy slopes of Mt. Meru with 4 other dudes. Although apart, we collectively send you our warmest and heartfelt wishes for a great holiday and our gratitude for having you in our lives!