Sunday, November 29, 2009

Thanksgiving 2009

I woke up at 7:30 a.m. yesterday to cook mashed potatoes. I had a busy day scheduled, and since I haven’t done dishes in a while, I had to get up pretty early to make sure I could get the potatoes finished and check off everything else on my list. I boiled the entire sack of potatoes, and I also chopped up 4 entire cloves of garlic and sautéed them in butter to give some flavor to the potatoes. Using the spatula handle as a masher (Supy helped using a regular table fork), I had the potatoes ready to go by 9:30. Without a bowl of appropriate size, I put the entire pot in the refrigerator to be reheated and served later yesterday afternoon.

There were errands to be run yesterday. Phil and I both needed to see the travel agent, plus I had business at the bank and I needed a bowl for my mashed potatoes. I got lucky with that last item because Chan Mow is having a big sale on plastic dishware. Awesome. I was able to get this all accomplished by noon, when the country shut down like it does every Saturday.

I transferred the potatoes from the pot to my brand new plastic “basin,” and then showered, shaved, and headed to church for a holiday party.

This is probably the firs time in my life I attended a Christmas party before I celebrated Thanksgiving, and I’m not sure how I feel about it. Since I helped out with White Sunday, I was invited to come to the kids’ end-of-the-year/Christmas party, which was conveniently scheduled to end a half-hour before the big Thanksgiving event up the hill at the Charges d’Affaires house was scheduled to begin. Good times all around.

Leaving the party before it was officially over, I received a text from Phil saying taxi arrangements were already underway, and I needed to get home as fast as I could. They could have picked me up on the side of the road, except I needed my mashed potatoes. I power-walked home, grabbed the saran-wrapped dish and got out to the road.

The event was a massive pot luck along with some catered dishes provided by the Embassy. Blakey received my potatoes and put them in the needs-to-be-mircowaved queue. All of my obligations finished, I headed out to socialize on the veranda.

An hour later, Spencer came around to let everyone know dinner was ready to be served. Cale and I got a good spot in line and just as we reached the turkey, I spotted my 4-clove mashed potatoes in their newly purchased plastic basin… sitting behind the counter still covered in saran wrap, cold and sad. Between the catered mashed potatoes and the ones Jim and Briony brought, my potatoes were benched.

I was disappointed. But as my grandmother’s Portuguese mantra goes, “Mais fica.” More for me.

I took them home. I’ll enjoy the garlic skin-on mashed potatoes all by myself. All four cloves.

I hope you’re well. Pictures below.


Musical chairs at the church party.


Chris and Blakey in the chairs, Supy in the foreground.


Cale.


A bunch of us were able to catch a ride with group 82's bus, which dropped us off on the way back to their training village. Proving his Samoa cred 4 weeks before he's due to go home, Max rode on Phil's lap.

4 comments:

Mom said...

I hate when my potluck food is not eaten but I wouldn't mind having a whole bowl of mashed potatoes to myself!

Jennifer said...

I like my mashed potatoes with the skins on.

Unknown said...

mash potatoes for a week! im jealous. that are made with real potatoes and garlic plus skin on! we had box mashed potatoes and it just wasn't the same.

Barb Carusillo said...

If Sara wasn't so busy getting ready to leave, I bet she would have snuck in the dead of night and stole your mashed potatoes...she loves those things, her very favorite food.