Dove il tacchino? (Where is the turkey?)

Todd and I were more or less thinking that we'd skip Thanksgiving. Clearly it is not an Italian holiday and we figured it would pass like any other day. But your queries about how we were going to spend Thanksgiving and if we might feel as though we were missing something put us in the mood to recognize the holiday. So we decided we might invite a couple of friends over for some chicken and potatoes, and maybe look around for the fixings to make stuffing. A turkey seemed out of the question...

But while we were out shopping for items that might approximate a Thanksgiving meal we came across an enterprising butcher who stocks a few tacchini because Americani like to eat them around this time of year. Bird in hand we moved on to other shops where we were able to find just about everything we needed for a full-fledged American-style Thanksgiving.

As I had class on T-day, Todd stayed home and did most of the cooking. Once we got excited about the idea of making a big meal we'd gone ahead and invited 5 others to join us and ended up with quite the international group!

Jen - our American buddy who along with her boyfriend (Santino, who couldn't make Thanksgiving as he had the Roman flu) have become good friends of ours and luckily live in the same neighborhood as we.
Myoko - from Japan is a friend from Italian class with whom I can really practice Italian as it is the only language we have in common.
Fillipo - an Italian, works at ItaliaIdea. Todd became friends with him when he began learning Italian years ago.
Martin - a friend of Diego's visiting from Guatamala and his Italian girlfriend (I can't remember her name!)
Diego - a Roman friend that Todd stayed with during one of his past visits to the city.
Because it is the only language we can all (to varying degrees) communicate in, we spoke in Italian the entire evening!

Todd did a wonderful job with the turkey, even more impressive as it was his first time attempting to use our small gas-fired oven. The menu included:
Turkey - about 11 lbs. and VERY delicious!
Stuffing - probably the best stuffing I've ever eaten, Todd really outdid himself!
Mashed Potatoes - actually I made these with lots of butter and cream, yum!
Gravy - made with pasta flour
Green Beans - sauteed with balsamic vinegar and prosciutto
Carots with toasted walnuts and orange/honey dressing (I made this)
Blueberry/Cranberry sauce from Myoko's host family whom have an American grandmother
Apple Pie - made by Jen, was totally delicious and served warm!