Last week, I celebrated my very first Thanksgiving! It was a week early though, as over in the USA it's celebrated on the 23rd of November this year. But it didn't really make a difference to us, I was intrigued either way! I had no idea what to expect from the dinner as when I think of a celebratory dinner, its often along the lines of a Christmas/ Sunday dinner kind of meal.
How did this come about exactly? Well It was all thanks to Tara, the administrator at my place of work. She is originally from Indiana in the US, and is now living with her husband Jason (Who is also the head chef in the chateau) here on Anglesey. Since she started working with us, she has brought some creativity and an element of fun in to the work place and gets everyone involved in workplace competitions. Anything from quizzes at the back of the monthly work news letters to taking part in Christmas Jumper day. We even had a pumpkin carving competition at Halloween where each departments was given a pumpkin to carve, all for the grand prize of a bottle of Prosecco!
I had to say, the spread the chefs had put on was pretty impressive, as was the set up. We dined in what's known as the Banqueting Hall, a long table was made up with the food all in serving dishes in a buffet style all down the table. Everyone was also given a glass of Prosecco to toast Thanks with.
There were a few similarities between the Christmas dinner I was semi-expecting vs Thanksgiving dinner that we were bestowed with. The turkey, ham, gravy, cranberry sauce and Mash (if you have mash with your Christmas dinner that is). But the differences were the classic green bean casserole, Bread rolls, Mac and Cheese, and of course, Yams!
This was the dish that stood out to me out of everything, because through all my years of watching Friends and my TV shows of choice being American based, I'd heard about yams a lot, but never quite knew what they were. The yams we were served however, were not basic yams, but toasted marshmallow topped yams.... like what?! Marshmallow on top of sweet potato?! I was so sceptical about them, I couldn't get my head around the combination! Being a fussy eater and as sceptical as I was, I can now hold my hands up and say that it works... it actually works and tastes good! I was actually eating this with cranberry sauce and gravy too... the combinations are just crazy!
I had a little bit of everything on my plate from this dinner so everything eventually got mingled, even the mac and cheese and gravy... still worked. I don't know how or why, but they did. Everyone at the dinner enjoyed themselves and were surprised themselves at how much they enjoyed the different elements of the meal. of course there were a few hits and misses but I'd say the overall meal was a success!
But it didn't stop there. What's a thanksgiving meal without a pumpkin pie for dessert?! This was another food item on the table I was sceptical about. I'd never even tried pumpkin before in any form, but there's always a first time. I had a small slither of the pie on my plate, and I can tell you now, I get it. I understand the hype of the pumpkin pie! I was surprised that I even liked it at all. The burnt orange colour of the flesh of the pumpkin, spiced with cinnamon was so soft and sweet it was almost melting leaving the crunchy pastry behind. I ended up taking a whole pie home with me eating it over the next few days and even got my dad on the pumpkin pie band wagon!
Reality soon set in though and once the dinner was over, it was back to work. I was so full though, I struggled to fight the urge to sleep after. I was just glad I didn't have much more to do by the time it was over. The meal had kept me full for the rest of the day, to the point that I didn't have anything to eat thereafter until about 11pm that night, and even then it was only a couple of slices of toast.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the meal and I'm thankful for Tara and Jason for pulling off such an amazing meal for the staff at the Chateau and for giving me, and many others our first Thanksgiving dinner experience.
