Just three days after America gave thanks for a bountiful harvest season, I got together with a few ex-Pat friends for our own little Day of Giving Thanks. We couldn’t do it on Thursday since most of us have jobs and, since Spain isn’t particularly thankful for the Native American Indians helping the Pilgrims survive their first winter in the new world, nobody here got the day off.
Jonathan thought that if he was able to fit his two year old son Arlo into his oven, he would have no problem fitting a turkey in there. He was wrong. The bird was so big that Hawaiian Tony had to lug the beast uptown to his industrial oven. Tony explains that European turkeys cook in half the time as American turkeys because they have much less fat. He’s a gourmet. And what a feast we had! Pot luck Thanksgiving dinner had us stuffing our gobs with creamy mashed potatoes, the most sinfully delicious sweet potato crumble, a curry-and-prune-based stuffing, cranberry sauce with Cointreau, magnificent carrot cake (as usual), and a succulent Thanksgiving turkey that was logically larger than Arlo. Jan and I provided leeks and glazed carrots – not the all-stars of the meal, but a flavorful side dish staple, nonetheless.
The evening’s entertainment began with a drunken, half-naked fist fight down in the plaza (which we morbidly watched from the balcony while yelling “fight fight!”), serene James Taylor sing-alongs, tribal Paul Simon dance-alongs, and the ceremonial listening of Alice’s Restaurant (with four part harmony). Since no one was able to move after the meal, we all rolled into the den where we lounged around the computer and took turns suggesting YouTube clips to share, like an ancient story circle ritual. We must have filled over an hour with such gems as Who’s on First, Evolution of Dance, Kramer’s Racist Tirade, Chris Rock, Hellzapoppin, and the Muppets (Rita Moreno, Steve Martin, and Mahna Mahna). This year, like every year, I am thankful for the internets.
glad you had a good one 🙂
but, but, but what about pictures of Emily’s first Thanksgiving??????
not that i know the complete story… but you might be interested to know there is a strong connection between Mah Na Mah Na and Dave Pell.
@Mom – she slept through most of it. And we left the camera at home.
@Rebecca – I totally told people about Dave’s connection to Mahna Mahna and nobody believed me! Their puny earth-minds couldn’t handle the truth.
What’s the connection between Dave and Mna Mna?
…and we now have 3 different spellings for it 🙂
I’m glad you had a good thanksgiving. Also, Rita Moreno is one of the best Muppet shows ever, though George Burns and Christopher Reeve will ever be my personal favorites.
I just had my first ever Thanksgiving dinner. I have to say though it was a bit of a disaster. Not many ovens in Quito and the place who cooked it for us hadn’t de-frosted it!! mmm… so the main part of the meal was mashed potatos, gravy and cranberry sauce! all very good but the turkey arrived warm once we’d given up and started on pudding! Odd.
@Marli – Legend has it that Uncle Dave wrote Mahna Mahna. It was he and his band that were fooling around in the recording studio when they just came up with it – though you won’t find that info via any Google search.
@Sarah – Happy Thanksgiving 🙂
@ Josh @ Marli – My research shows it was written in 1968 by an Italian composer (Piero Umiliani) for a Sweedish porn film. Henson most likely heard it first on Dave Pell’s 1969 album, Mah Na Mah Na (correct spelling) which was a bunch of “sun-shine pop” covers and included a cover of the title track.
@Rebecca (why the @? I am a follower): Seriously, we KNOW the Dave Pell story already! Sheesh! 🙂
@Mom/Nana… was Emily there????
@Josh: Thanks for the “as usual”. Phew. Always trying to please you (and Derek).
@YouTubers, you definitely don’t want to miss Chris Bliss juggling to the Beatles. Mesmerizing.
You forgot to mention getting your ass kicked in cricket.