be grateful

My Perfect Thanksgiving Dinner …Served In Spain

Kathy Living in Spain, NEXT CHAPTERS be grateful, being grateful, experiences, living in Spain, Madrid, tips and advice, Traveling

(image; Unsplashed)

Ah, the mystery of the Thanksgiving Dinner to a Spaniard…

Once a Spanish friend asked, “Is Thanksgiving as important as Christmas in the US? I see it in a lot of movies.” she said.

“Not really,” I answered…

I began to think I needed to introduce my Spanish friends to this truly American experience. Cooking for people who have never had Thanksgiving dinner seemed like an easy chore; how could I go wrong, and I liked the odds of meeting their expectations.

Thanksgiving, the “traditional foods” can be challenging to find in Spain if you don’t live in a more prominent city. I started searching a month earlier, first with the turkey. Spain is not a big turkey eating culture. They think the meat is dry– and I could agree. To ensure a moist turkey, I had my friend in North Carolina send me some oven-bags.

When I told my Spanish friends, I would cook the turkey in a plastic bag, they could not imagine what I meant. One even suggested I save on the expense and shipping and use a plastic grocery bag from El Corte Ingles, a department store here.

“No, it’s not that kind of Bag,” I said.

My North Carolina friend Cristy was ready to help, “…and if you don’t mind, can you throw in some Cranberry Sauce?” Personally, I hate the stuff, but it is a holiday standard, and I thought they should have the whole Thanksgiving experience.

“Oh, and Cristy, make sure to include some cream of mushroom soup, please.” What is Thanksgiving without the green bean casserole?

The Turkey

On this item, all my organic friends would agree I had luck. One of the guests, Javier, had a connection for a fresh turkey… at a friend’s farm, I could buy. His friend insisted we select a female turkey because it’s better tasting than the male. So, of course, I bought one.

Excellent, it was going to be fresh and from a local friend’s farm!

Then I began to wonder how the turkey would be delivered. I told Javier that it needed to come completely featherless, feetless, and of course, headless. Done Javier said, & how primitive do you think we Spanish are?

Now for My Side Dish Menu:

I would need Sweet Potato Casserole, Stuffing with Sausage. My Mom’s Mash Potatoes. Garlic, Brussel Sprouts, Green Bean Casserole, sweeten Carrots and Gravy.

My Challenges !!

– All will have to be from scratch. They do not have any of the items pre-prepped “shortcuts” because they don’t eat them. For example, I will be cutting the white bread into cubes and letting it get stale a couple of days before I make the dressing for the stuffing.

– Next will be translating all the items, including the spices, into Spanish.

– Then it is the quantities conversions into Metric

– And finally, converting the cook times from Fahrenheit to Celsius.

I started the day before completing the casseroles and the stuffing.

(In Spanish Casserole=Carmela and the Stuffing=Relleno says Google Translate, but they don’t exactly stand for the same foods.)

It is the day of the Feast.

THANKSGIVING DAY is not a holiday here, so of course, the guests began to arrive, all six guests, at 8 pm.

Dinner was going to be served “Spanish Style” with wine/beer, nuts, and olives, in advance and lots of conversation. My boyfriend was in charge of this part of the dinner. Allowing me time to run around the kitchen and create that magical synergy where everything comes out hot and on time. (Right!)

First Tiny Problem, I hadn’t accounted for the tiny oven’s overload and its inability to cook the food evenly. So now dinner was going to be ready at 10 pm & only if I served the dishes as they were done.

I decided to take the Turkey to the table to be sliced, buying me more time in the kitchen.

The turkey was finished and beautiful. I set it on the table and knife in hand & asked who wanted to carve it? Second Problem.– No one knew how to cut the TURKEY. Blank stares as the knife was passed among them. I quickly stepped in, gave a demonstration, and assured everyone that the “sacredness of the holiday” did not lie in how the turkey was carved. It’s a Hollywood Movie Myth, I said.

I returned to the kitchen to bring the next fully cooked side dish to the table. With the second cooked sidedish now placed on the table, I told everyone to get started. Planning to be back in a few minutes with another dish.

I did this one-dish delivery two more times.

When I returned, hoping to see smiling faces and full plates, But what I saw plates were plates with only two slices of turkey on them. What was going on? This Feast was their FIRST THANKSGIVING DINNER!!! They did not know how to assemble the food on their plates.

The Spanish diet and typical serving is …one food type at a time. Combinations on one plate are not the standard.

I demonstrated how the plate should look and where the gravy should go. After tasting the strange salty/ sweet foods on their dishes, I got grins of complete satisfaction from everyone.

They loved it! What a relief I felt!!

Dinner lasted two more hours; after clearing the table, we added bottles for mixed drinks in the center. (I just love this Spanish Tradition of lingering around the table with an after-dinner drink.)

We said goodnight as I give some of the girls the recipes of the evening.

It was now about 1:30 or 2 am. As everyone was on their way home… the Cranberry Sauce STILL lay on the table, getting watery.

It seems they dislike cranberry sauce here as well!

What an incredible experience it is sharing my culture with another.

I felt so blessed and grateful for this opportunity. I plan on doing it again next year for my boyfriend’s family.

Where was your favorite Thanksgiving dinner served? Was there anyone at your table that was having their first treat to this classic meal?

Can you share with me your favorite food for Thanksgiving dinner?

Love to hear one of your adventures.

Kathy XX

Needing A Bit Of Self Improvement? Try Gratitude

Kathy Self Love be grateful, being grateful, change, experiences, Inspirational, living in Spain, tips & advice

Since my arrival almost five years ago, I have had a lot of time for reflection. As each day with its cultural, linguistic challenges and questions, of ‘Where do I Belong?’, I’m able to remain grounded and at peace in the practice of remembering Gratitude.

But you can be sure that even knowing the practice of gratitude holds for me; I still have to be reminded.

Three Surprising Ways Having a Practice Of Gratitude Can Have An Effect On You.

1) Reduce Stress, particularly, self-imposed-stress:
Isn’t most stress self-perceived? Yes… It is. And in most cases, it is because you don’t feel you are enough or that you lack in some way. You are not smart enough, talented enough, lack the patience, in time. The list can go on. I can step out of thing those things when I go back to a mindful state or an Attitude For Gratitude. I find in that space I have time to think.

2) Stay In Real Time. Gratitude is a way for you to stay TRULY ENGAGED… IN THE MOMENT. It is hard to feel gratitude and judgment of yourself and others at the same time. As a result, you’re more relaxed and able to engage effectively in what you are doing.
3) It helps you to define what you care about. Why are you grateful? What makes you feel grateful? Have you thought about it lately? You can be general in your gratitude to help you develop the habit, but the genuine helpfulness of this practice and the real healing comes from (I believe) the deep knowing of why you are grateful. Knowing what you are thankful for helps you in defining your dreams and desires. Being specific helps you to be in touch with what makes you unique.

For Example:
Knowing the specific things you are grateful for, helps you to relate more deeply to them. Opening up pathways to let them in; so you can get acquainted with them.

Many years before I left for Spain I was in a terrible relationship. For three years I kept breaking it off and going back. My self-esteem was so low that I could only think of myself with this dark cloud attached. Almost one year later I started to rethink of this experience while only focusing on the ‘good.’ That I was grateful for was knowing I could falling deeply in love and that I was ready to finding love.

What I discovered and was grateful for might not have been what you found, but it was what I saw in me without the blame and disgust to cover it up. All I know is that what I found served me very well in moving me on, allowing me to forgive myself and later to find love.

Ok Now Let’s Get Practical. How to Start to Change Your Attitude for Gratitude.

Here are five tips I used to start my practice:

1- Spend a couple of minutes every morning writing down a few things you are thankful for that day. Do this before reading email, viewing the news or any other distracting habit you have in the morning.

2- If it is a weekend, maybe a Sunday. Try devoting a full morning or afternoon to composing a more detailed gratitude list. (Idea: think both about what you are grateful for and also how you can show that appreciation to add dimension and to spread the LOVE!)

3- Smile. Make it a habit to be more encouraging in every encounter ( using less negative sharing). In this way, you can start to practice the effects of living and spreading gratitude. The Kevin Costner’s, Field of Dreams Effect “Build it, and they will come.”

4- Try Focusing On An Area That Needs Attention In Your Life.
Example, Finances, get your finances in order and look at them as “Grateful For Being Enough.” Instead of seeing them through the lenses of less than what you need, see what happens when you look at them with a positive, open mind. Maybe you will see more easily how they can be aligned with your values. Be grateful for the money you have.

5-Do Something Fun. In the spirit and lightness that you feel while reveling in your gratitude, take a trip or do somewhere that you’ve done before. See how your experience changes with this open hearted, open mind, real presences of gratitude.

You might be asking, do I still doing this practice? Must gratefulness come easy living in a beautiful place like Spain or Europe? The place is different, but it is still a journey of discovery for me. It will never stop. The more I do and change the more I want to do and change. It makes me feel alive.

SO… How about you? Tell me how you stay grateful. What works for you and how has it affected your outlook on life?

Up At 5 Am And No Coffee? Are You F…king Crazy? Can The Effort Be Worth The Pain?

Kathy Lifestyle, Living in Spain, Self Improvement be grateful, Inspirational, slow down, worth the pain

How Can The Effort Be Worth The Pain? Up at 5 AM….cold, dark and there is no coffee. I am standing in mud and not sure what else. I was there to help enclose a family owned field outside a centuries-old village in Extremadura, Spain.

We were to put barbwire in the places where the fence was compromised. For centuries piled rocks served as the barrier. It was still standing but not well enough to contain or keep out livestock. I could barely understand all the new Spanish vocabulary needed to do this job. That seemed to be OK.

We ate breakfast around 9 am. Goat cheese, spiced sausage, and hard crusted bread made in the village. The towel wiped (no antiseptic wipes used here) working hand of a friend served us as we gathered around one of the fallen rock walls.

Tired like I have never been tired in my life!

Returning to the cottage in the village I could barely move. As I laid down, from exhaustion, I knew I would gladly rise the next day and do it all again!

So the question is “Is It Worth The Effort, The Pain?” Was getting up working my ass off worth the result of the effort? As Seth Godin states so well here,

The thing about effort is that effort is its own reward if you allow it to be.

This experience has actually taught me something. In the past… while I love the physical use of my body and being in nature it was not how I measured my life’s “REAL Achievement and Success.” Using my mind and exerting as little physical energy as possible was what I thought won the game. “Working Smart” is what it is called. I had lost touch with the complete experience of doing the “work.”

The simplicity of each task to completion has real value. It is the journey. The bank account is not always where the actual measure of value lies. It’s in the “work” and what I saw when I took the time to notice. The dew on the trees… the way the air warms when the sun rises. How the cows in the next field noticed us as the walked by, the way, they do every day.

I know this concept existed for my “everyday” life in the US. Why didn’t I think it had value? I know I bought into the concept of by doing more I can be more or at least I won’t fall behind. But that has all changed.

So would I do it again? YES, YES, YES!!!

In this picture, I think I was channeling Lucille Ball