Genova strikes again!

Kim and I have been so excited to have our friends come to visit this weekend. We bought all the food to prepare a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for them, including a disgusting-looking half-turkey, deviled eggs, mashed potatoes, green bean bundles (Kim's fantastic tradition to be explained below), apple pie, cheesecake, stuffing, etc.

Simona and Francesca were to arrive on the last train into Assisi on Friday night. It was raining here, but just a little drizzle. In Genova, of course, it's still storming like part of the plagues or something. Get this: the storms were so bad that not all of the trains were running. Seriously. So they had to cancel their trip! Boooooo!

The result? Thanksgiving dinner for two. It was still pretty good, but without guests we sort of grazed all day instead of sitting down for a formal dinner. There was wine, song, and good food, so still a good day.

Let's talk about these green bean bundles, a new tradition for me:

First you take three or four green beans and wrap a piece of bacon around them - sealed with a toothpick. (We improvised with prosciutto.) You lay all of your bundles in a pan, and add a few tablespoons of butter in the bottom. Then you sprinkle brown sugar over the tops of them and bake them for about 45 minutes. DeLICious.

The deviled eggs were gone by evening (no surprise), and the stuffing and potatoes turned out pretty well. The turkey, on the other hand, was a little intimidating. It still had quills and even hair sticking out in various places. We tried to get them out, but they wouldn't budge. The insides were gross too, but that's usually the case. So we buttered, seasoned, stuffed, and baked our half-bird. When she was all finished, she smelled great. Her hairy look prevailed, though, so she wasn't exactly the most popular dish at the table. Ew.

Ultimately a good day, though we missed our friends and family. The rest of my handful of pictures are HERE. Today is pretty stormy, so I guess Kim and I will have to start doing jumping jacks to work off that apple pie. No pictures to follow. : )