Last year, we had a really nice Thanksgiving with two events. First was the Thanksgiving dinner at Bondsteel, the KFOR (Kosovo Force) army base, led by the U.S. and supported by NATO countries. It felt like a real Thanksgiving, complete with Thanksgiving decorations and food (even if it was a bit cafeteria-style). After lunch, we enjoyed a tour of the base on a nice November day. On Saturday, we headed to Prishtina for a special Thanksgiving dinner hosted by our Peace Corps Country Director, Dr. Caroline.
I had the day off from school, because last year Thanksgiving was on Albanian Independence Day (also known as Flag Day), which falls on November 28th. This year, Albanian Independence Day was on the day after Thanksgiving, so I thought I would be going to school in the afternoon for classes. However, there is a new museum in our town, and early classes were shortened, and ours were canceled so that students could go on a tour of the museum. The morning classes were at 11:30 am, and so I decided to join them at the museum. After that, I had the rest of the day off. It was a damp, rainy day, so I was glad to go home and spend the day cooking. At 6 pm, there was a school staff dinner at Guri i Zi, and that went for three hours.
But the highlight of the Thanksgiving weekend was on Saturday. Several weeks ago, the Prizren group started sending out messages about having a Thanksgiving event in Prizren. But it can be challenging to get to Prizren. The buses don't run on holidays, and Friday was a holiday. Danny and I started talking about hosting a Thanksgiving meal in Kaçanik. With two events, our group would be split, and we would be able to manage the group in the apartment. KOS 8, which is the group that arrived right before are group, is also starting to leave.
Last weekend, on our road trip, Danny and out a basic menu. We put out the invite and hoped for about 15 to 16 volunteers to respond. We ended up with twenty (including Danny, Thom, and me). One did cancel out in the end, so we hosted 19 people in are little apartment. But as Peace Corps volunteers, we are used to squishing into tight spots. We figured we had comfortable seating for 17 and a couple of floor spots.
Danny and I started cooking early in the week. I roasted squash (pumpkins), made homemade sweet potato crackers, pickled carrots, and miso-marinated squash. I found small turkeys that come to Kosovo from France at our local stores. I made many shopping runs throughout the week. I decided it would be a good idea to have a couple of substantial salads in the event the power went out. I made a fall pasta salad with roasted squash, spinach, dried cranberries, and spiced walnuts. I also made a Russian potato salad, which is popular throughout Europe. It is a potato salad that includes peas, carrots, and sometimes ham or tuna. Mine, however, was meatless. The salads could be prepared the day before, which freed up the stove and the oven for turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and two kinds of gravy (mushroom and turkey).
Danny and I were both off on Friday, so he came over, and we spent the day shopping and cooking. Thom was our errand boy. If needed, he would run to a store and get. Danny is an amazing chef, and working together in the kitchen was great. I love cooking for the holiday, and he does as well. We both kept saying that it felt like a normal Thanksgiving, except we were hosting a group of Americans in Kosovo.
Dinner was planned for 3 pm, as most volunteers would have to catch buses back home, and some would need to leave as early as 5 pm. We invited them to come as early as they wanted, knowing that with bus schedules, no one would arrive before 11 am.
Danny arrived early Saturday so that we could get everything prepped before the first guest arrived. We decided to set a substantial appetizer table for anyone arriving early. Mostly, we all just enjoy hanging out with food. Many of our volunteers are finding that the quantity and quality of food is lacking with host families. Our guests started arriving around noon. Thom took groups on tours of Kaçanik, and others were happy to snack and chat.
Danny made some amazing mulled wine, as we are seeing our lowest temperatures of the season so far, it was perfect for the day. The appetizers included baba ganosh (the eggplants are amazing here), hummus, pickled carrots, Turkish and Greek olives, marinated cheese, Bosnian veal sausage, spicy cheese, mandarin oranges, pomegranates, candied walnuts, carrot and celery sticks, and miso-glazed squash.
For the main meal, we had two small turkeys, and they finished cooking earlier than planned. Danny brined the turkeys on Friday and made a rosemary butter for baking. We had rustic mashed potatoes, amazing stuffing with fresh parsley, rosemary, and sage. Danny made turkey gravy, while I made a mushroom gravy. We had an arugula / lettuce salad with mandarins, pomegranates, and candied walnuts along with the pasta salad and potato salad. All the food was a hit, and everyone enjoyed themselves.
Our desserts were traditional flavors with a Kosovo presentation, as Danny made apple pie burek and I made a pumpkin burek. Burek is thin layers of flour pastry similar to filo dough. You created rolls of pastry by brushing the layers with butter or oil and filling them with various fillings, and then rolling them up. The rolls are often spiraled into a round pan before they are baked. We left ours straight, as they are easier to cut into smaller pieces. I also made pumpkin pie bars, as I don't have a pie pan, and the squares were easier to serve. Danny had leftover apple pie filling from his burek, and he had some ladies' fingers. He decided to make an Apple Pie Tiramisu. That's how amazing he is a chef. The desserts were top-notch.
Kalena and Jacob, who are serving in Peja, spent the night. Others spent the night with Noah in Ferizaj. Sunday was the first day with sun in way too many days. We enjoyed an early walk with Danny, Kalena, and Jacob before they took a taxi to Ferizaj to catch a bus home. After they left, we cleaned up the apartment and took a second walk. It was a nice, relaxing afternoon and an enjoyable kick-off to the holiday season with a fantastic group of people
This week's photos
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