A lot of food

So Thanksgiving ended up great. Thursday we worked all day unfortunately and then went to the Kerns house for a wonderful, traditional feast. There were about a dozen kids running around and wonderful fellowship. We got home around midnight so it was quite a long day.

Friday we had the day off of work! We got up fairly early to begin cooking. Dacey and I had to make one more quick run to the store and then we cooked for about 8 hours! A Thanksgiving meal can take a long time when you are preparing the whole thing. So here is what we had: I made the ham, a honey/ brown sugar glaze for the ham, mashed potatoes, broccli/ rice casserol, and death by chocolate. Dacey made the turkey, green bean casserole, cranberry relish, cornbread salad, and yeast rolls. Kathryn made pumpkin pie, fruit salad, and cookies. Jamie made banana bread, apple pie, and a veggie tray. So we had more than enough food. It was all a hit. They especialy loved the death by chocolate. I now have to make a small recipe booklet to give to all the teachers because they want to learn how to make these dishes themselves. So it was wonderful!

It was quite and experience though. Making death by chocolate was fun to do in Russia. Thankfully we had some chocolate pudding mix at the apartment already. But it was the cook and serve kind. I made 4 boxes worth. I stirred a huge pot of pudding for nearly an hour until it boiled and was finished! I had never gone through so much trouble for pudding in all my life. Then we had a box of whipped topping mix. the directions said to use the beater for 2-3 minutes or until it peaks. Well, it took 35 minutes of beating until it turned into whipped cream! They definatley do not have Heath bars here. But I found this crunchy chocolate cluster with carmel in the middle. I cut it up into chuncks and it worked. Unfortunately there was no chocolate syrup to be found in all of Moscow. I did find a box of Betty Crocker chocolate cake mix at Stockmanns and I only paid about $6.50 for it. Oh fun times of cooking in Moscow. You should have seen our kitchen. There was food piled everywhere. As soon as I find a computer to let me upload pictures I will put some up of the festivities!