Giving of the Thanks

Listen to this while reading: Cranberry Sauce a-la-Bart

So yesterday was Thanksgiving here in this fine mountain town, and indeed all across these 50 states.  And if I’m to be honest, my Thanksgiving knowledge extends about as far as the yearly F.R.I.E.N.D.S episode featuring the holiday tradition, and that Simpson’s episode “Cranberry sauce, a-la-Bart”.

So when I woke up yesterday morning and my flat mates were all jumping around eagerly shouting “Happy Thanksgiving!,” I was in a mixed state of confusion and joy.  One girl, Lexie, insisted we make a delicious Thanksgiving must-have of green bean casserole.  Turns out this is actually just throwing together a couple of tins of chopped green beans with a tin of mushroom soup, and these extraordinary morsels called french fried onion pieces.  Basically they are like potato chips, but made with onion – so they make your breath smell horrendous, but taste like deep fried heaven.

Speaking of food, it seems this day is all about just that, and we were inundated with dinner requests, reservations and turkey-dinner recommendations at the hotel.  I’m starting to learn a lot more about Mammoth in detail, so was able to point people in the right direction of where they could find a delicious Thanksgiving feast.

Just after the rush of check-ins and dinner guests at the hotel, we were surprised with a lovely meal ourselves from the good folk at Smokeyard Restaurant at The Village.

The plates had on them freshly cooked turkey, stuffing, smashed potatoes with gravy and either yam or sweet potato (no one could give me a definitive answer on which one the orange one was, but I’ve had candied yams at Paula Dean’s restaurant in Savannah, and this mash was 100% tastier than those, so who knows).  We were also given homemade pumpkin pies by the ladies in the housekeeping! Spoiled much!

I do realise that, of course, Thanksgiving (by its namesake) is not really about the food that you eat, but really with whom you share it and making it known what you are thankful for.  So, after sharing the amazing meal with my workmates Brian, Travis, Rossen and Lexie, I must also let it be known that, for my first authentic Thanksgiving, I am also thankful for; obviously, my family (not at least purely for encouraging my love and pursuit of travel), my friends back home (who continue to make me jealous of the amazing things they are doing back home without me!), my new friends in Mammoth (who made a plate of turkey dinner for me just in case as they knew I had to work!), music, snowfall, books, formula one, sunshine, open-mindedness, the US visa system that lets me stay here for 13 months, and last but not least, a new addition, fried onion pieces.