A Feth's Perspective on Life: Happy Thanksgiving Ghana

We had a belated Thanksgiving dinner full on with turkey, stuffing, potatoes and all the other American fixings on Thursday, the 3rd of December. We were a total of 11 people gathered at our temporary home of Volta Lodge.

The day prior to our feast, I picked up the turkey which was raised in the backyard of a gentleman living in Osu. Mr. Turkey a la Ghana weighed in at about 15 lbs (6.5 kilos) and had most likely been 'prepared' that same morning. Brian made the comment that this was probably the freshest turkey he's ever had. It was indeed fresh from the farm....

That evening after a tough day at work sampling Guinness in the Accra brewery, Brian put together a rub for the turkster to marinate in overnight. There was a bit of confusion at first about the composition of the turkey given it still maintained parts usually discarded before making it's way to the grocery aisle back in the US (such as the neck and the behind). Despite this, Brian was able to successfully and manly prepare the bird. *so proud and thankful he likes to do this!*

The next morning I began cooking way too much food around 9:30am. I made a mountain of potatoes, boiling and then mashing by hand 15 in total (this is the Irish coming out in me). Next I made a baked squash, green beans sauteed with garlic and butter, a tomato and cucumber salad, a veggie pasta bake, chocolate chip cookies, fudge brownies, (no pumpkin pie - quite sad I know), and Brian prepared some delicious stuffing!

A friend came by early to prepare a brussel sprout and shallot dish. Another friend brought over two local Ghanaian dishes and others brought ice cream and beverages. People started gathering around 6pm and by 7pm we were getting our feast on. Brian gave a brief rundown of what Thanksgiving is all about and why we celebrate it in the US. Someone commented afterwards, "and people say Americans have no culture - this is culture!" That was cool.

We sat around and enjoyed the wonderful bounty we were so blessed to share with one another. It wasn't long before we were going around the room each saying what it was we were thankful for.

A wonderful belated Thanksgiving evening was had, as we were able to share our American holiday of thanks with newfound friends in Ghana.

Gobble! Gobble!