We had a unique Thanksgiving celebration at the American Home on Saturday. We couldn't do any observation of the holiday last Thursday; it was a regular working day for us, and I made sure to jokingly remind my classes that I had never before worked on Thanksgiving. We celebrated instead on Saturday, and we did it big. We teachers made a Thanksgiving feast for 25, and it turned out amazing well, especially considering that none of us had ever cooked any Thanksgiving meal before. 

Some of the dishes were already prepared, and we had already done most of our shopping by the time Saturday rolled around. Speaking of shopping, we had to make some interesting improvisations because certain ingredients just don't exist here. It was impossible to find corn on the cob, and there is no such thing as cream of mushroom soup here in Russia. I looked long and hard for pimentos for my poor imitation of my mom's famous cream-cheese stuffed bread, and the closest thing I could find was a can of pretty hot pickled peppers. Also, boxed stuffing and canned pumpkin pie filling also don't exist here, so we had to make everything from scratch. 

Cooking began before 9:00am on Saturday, and we were working non-stop until the start of dinner at 4:30pm. It was worth it though; the meal was excellent. Our turkeys turned out perfectly--not tough and not undercooked. It must have been beginners' luck. Here are some pictures from our hectic day of cooking: