Bob, the slaughtered turkey (or half of him, anyhow)

Just thought I’d share a picture of our slaughtered turkey (bibi dbHna).  It was “bring your own dish” at “shuksgiving,” shuks being short for “shukran” or “thanks.”  This guy above weighed in at 40 lbs or so and fed almost twenty people for two days.   He was, of course, lovingly named Bob (giving him agency made us feel better about eating him), and because he could not fit into one oven, he was split in two.  Other shuksgiving dishes included cranberry and pomegranate sauce, pumpkin soup, cornbread, rosemary bread, challah bread, two types of dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, meat balls, apples, clementines, bananas, green bean casserole (courtesy of Caity Connolly), and of course, macaroni-and-cheese (also courtesy of Caity, thanks to her mother’s velveta cheese – and I helped)!  Desserts included pumpkin and apple pies (Caity and I co-cooked the apple pie), and multiple assortments of cookies.  All foods were cooked from scratch (including the pie crust and even the breads).  Let’s just say, Peace Corps Volunteers know how to cook a mean Thanksgiving meal.

The days until I return to America for holiday are counting down quickly.