I'm thankful for chicken...

our Thanksgiving feast...

I was very disappointed when I went grocery shopping for our Saturday Thanksgiving celebration to find that there were no turkeys.  My poultry selection consisted of chickens only (frangos).  So we bought a chicken, already marinated, the whole bird.  I then ended up finding a turkey at a different grocery store a few days later when I went with my roommate to find Halls (which they eat as candy here) and orange juice to nurse herself back from a sore throat.  I was so excited to have a turkey for our Thanksgiving, until...Saturday morning when we took it out of the package and my roommate Claryssa asked, "why did we buy two chickens?"  Ummm, what?  She pointed to the word "frango" written right there on the front of my turkey, indicating that my turkey was indeed a chicken.  I was very disappointed.  Before you feel sorry for me, I did have turkey on Thanksgiving Day at another gathering, but that was at someone else's house, where they got to keep all the leftovers.  I realllllly wanted another turkey at my gathering, where I got to keep the leftovers.  After a little (long) while and many comments lamenting my own neglect in reading the poultry's packaging carefully, I thought about getting over it.  We proceeded to open the other bird, which we already knew to be chicken, and my roommate started pulling out bags, one with the whole chicken, one with the heart and liver and gizzard and such, and one with the face and claws...yes, face and claws.  I screamed when I realized what it was, like an 8 year old girl.  I now believe I understand why some people don't like to eat things with a face.  I might have been scarred to the point of not partaking in the rest of the chicken carcass that went with that face and claws, but it was already dead and I wouldn't want it to have died in vain (plus, I was still moping about my turkey that changed into a chicken, and I WAS going to be eating some bird).

may he rest in peace

We also enjoyed pumpkin cheesecake at our Thanksgiving celebration.  It was supposed to be a simple 3 step process.  That is if you have ready-made pie crust and canned pumpkin, which I did not, nor could I find either at the grocery store.  So I bought vanilla wafer-like cookies and made my crust and bought a pumpkin and cut it and scraped it out and boiled it and scooped it out and puréed it and voilà, my three steps turned into thirty and my 10 minute prep time took 3 hours, but it tasted really good (and we have leftovers)!

My roommates also got two little Christmas trees with lights to decorate our house during this Thanksgiving weekend (judging from the box they came in, circa 1955).  They found these boxes of Christmas cheer downtown for a grand total of $5 for the trees and $0.80 for the lights.  The only downside is that the light bulbs are schizophrenic and half blink and half don't or half blink slowly and half blink at warp speed.  It isn't good to stare directly at them, but they are Christmas-y and they, along with my poinsettias on the mantel, make me one holly, jolly girl.

my cousin Alex and I

Today, I had the opportunity to take a trip to Embu, a little place outside of São Paulo where there are lots of cute little souvenir shops (or junk shops as I have also heard them referred to).  On the weekends they close some of the streets and have stands selling more local wares and lots of good food...like chocolate covered strawberries on a stick!   This place reminded me a lot of Yellow Springs, Ohio (near Cedarville), very artsy, people in the street playing instruments or singing, beads, hemp, pottery galore.  I found a few gifts for others and a few gifts for myself...Merry Christmas!  One of my gifts was a hammock, and I even discovered that we have hooks on the back of our house and our back wall for this very purpose.  I took a nap in my new hammock as soon as I got back from the market in Embu....love it, love it, love it!  Maybe I will sleep outside from now on.

my new favorite thing

Happy Thanksgiving

Psalm 100:4-5

Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name.  For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations.