The Last Thursday of November

We specifically designed our kitchen with two ovens. The over-sized (by Italian standards) oven was a non-negotiable must because we had the Thanksgiving turkey in mind. The celebration of American Thanksgiving has become a tradition in Casa Chilenne since we opened in 2008 and as each year has passed our turkey seems to have grown with along with the many blessings which have been showered upon us. 2008 brought the first turkey we ordered which was over 12 kilos, 2009 it was 13+ kilos, 2010 despite our begging the butcher to find a smaller one brought a turkey of 14 kilos. This year 2011 we found ourselves again pondering the oven with our trusty tape measure before returning to the butcher's-at the time the smallest turkey available was 14,8 kilos! The turkey could not be any taller than 32 cm at it's highest point, lest it come in contact with the upper heating coil and burn the skin. On the morning of Thanksgiving Francesco Cipollini arrived, lugging a white paper wrapped bird the size of a kindergartner. He happily reported that the turkey was 24 cm at its highest point and weighed 14,4 kilos-SOLD!

Ademaro Rossi and I getting ready to serve 14 seated guests It is most important to emphasize that this turkey has come to symbolize a time for us to take stock and really remember how blessed we are. This gathering meant to inspire conscious sense of gratitude for the support of friends, neighbors and family-we could not have accomplished what we did without their support. This year we were a sanctuary for cousins studying abroad and their schoolmates as we celebrated with Cortona friends. With the help of cousins Natalie, Jamie and Nat's friend Lauren we were able to recreate a classic Turkey dinner with fixings, fresh cranberry-orange relish, bread stuffing, chinese style rice dressing, corn bread, green bean salad, maple and clementine glazed sweet potatoes and yams, pumpkin pie, apple pie and a chocolate buche de noel-I know a bit early, but it was tasty all the same. It's never too early or too late to celebrate Thanksgiving the last Thursday of November just serves as a reminder. Thanks to all of you who believe in us-thank you for your friendship and support.