MoldovAnn

As you may have guessed, Thanksgiving is not a holiday here in Ukraine. I worked all day Thursday, and then met up with two Americans for dinner that evening, Blane and Tom. We went to TGI Friday’s, where we proceeded to indulge ourselves to extreme excess, all the while reassuring each other that was “OK to gorge” because, after all, it was Thanksgiving. I almost needed help carrying my distended stomach home.

Saturday, Igor and I hosted a home-cooked Thanksgiving dinner for 10 at my apartment – 3 Americans (Blane, Tom and me again) and 7 Ukrainians (Igor; Igor, Olga, Mary and Peter Afanasiev; Lena; and Sasha). We made WAY too much food but we all did our best to put away as much of it as possible. My vegetarian stuffing passed muster with the Americans, and the Ukrainians liked it too (they’d never had anything like it before). The Afanasievs remembered my corn bread from last year’s Thanksgiving dinner, and were happy to eat it all up again this year. Igor baked some salmon steaks to appease the carnivores, and along with the numerous salads and side dishes, I think we all had more than our fill – in true Thanksgiving style!