La Cena de Accion de Gracias

So, many of you know that Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. In fact, any holiday involving food is one of my favorites. So, the thought had crossed my mind that coming to Colombia for 3 months would mean no Thanksgiving this year...well, I was wrong! I was pleasantly surprised to find out Matt's family was going to host a Thanksgiving dinner for us and for Adriana and her husband as there would be 4 American visitors that day. YAY!!!

When they first told me about this, I agreed to make a pecan pie. Well, that was a flop. Not only could I not find all of the ingredients, pecans were $24 a pint! TWENTY FOUR DOLLARS!! WHAT?! I know they are imported, but that is craziness. So, I thought maybe I would make a cake (Keep in mind that I would need to borrow a kitchen and had very little time, so a cake from scratch was not possible). I finally found cake mix, but there was no icing anywhere...nada. Chocolate cake without icing? I'm going to say no.

My next thought was to head to the bakery section and buy something already made. I saw one pie. I had no idea what it was. I hadn't yet learned the translation of pie agraz. Whatever, it looked fruity on top...probably a safe bet. So, I bought it. It hadn't occurred to me that it might not taste very good until I brought it home to Matt and he asked me if I even knew what I had purchased. I laughed it off, but he was right. What if it was terrible? We looked up the translation for agraz, and it is the juice of unripe grapes. Hmmm....unripe grapes? We weren't so sure about this.

We finally made it to dinner, which was great! The turkey was perfect, the sides were delicious, and the company was so much fun. Most of Matt's family in Colombia were there. The house was full of laughter, singing, and dancing. Adriana explained to the family why Thanksgiving is celebrated in the US, and then we enjoyed our feast.

Then came the pie. For some reason, I was given the first piece. Matt looked at me with this "let's hope it's good" face as I took a bite. You can see my surprise when I discovered it wasn't bad at all...in fact, it was delicious! Whew...potential embarrassment averted.

So, what am I thankful for this year? A husband who makes me laugh everyday, all of the old and new members of my amazing family, the best friends a girl could ask for, the love of trying new things (like living in another country) that Matt and I share, AND that Pie Agraz is so tasty! THANK YOU!