Meals of comfort foods

We just got back from Thanksgiving round two.

So far, Ada's favorite Thanksgiving food is stuffing.

Yesterday we had an intimate dinner with a few friends. J&J hosted at their very cool apartment (Ada about flipped when she saw some stairs to crawl up. And crawl up. And crawl up. And crawl up—bored yet? We were too). Getting a whole bird here is an ordeal (that probably entails more Italian than any of us know and special ordering it far in advance) so the JJ's had turkey with an Italian twist (a little red sauce, cheese etc. It was delicious). But the staples: green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy . . . made me so happy. The food here is great, but there is something so great about having a meal of comfort foods.

Today we had a meal with some ward members (The YSA's, Elders and the Italian-Americans in the ward) with a real, whole turkey! It was fun to sit on a big long table with the Italians and show them what Thanksgiving tastes like. (On a side note, the Chinese girls in my Italian class asked a boy from the Netherlands if he was celebrating Thanksgiving this weekend. When he said no, they asked why and he said, "Well, because I'm not an American. Thanksgiving is an American holiday." and the girls let out a big "AAAAHHHHH!" And the light bulb turned on). A man pointed to the stuffing I made and said to his wife, "Buonissimo." It felt pretty good coming from an Italian.

Tomorrow we have one more meal with the SAISers. If Ada is anything like she has been at the last two feasts, it's going to be a lot of taking turns while we eat and doing all we can to try and make the meal a pleasant one for the people around us.

Wish us luck.

And Happy Thanksgiving.