Thanksgiving - it's a wrap!

oh wow. Thankgiving went amazing well.

We ended up with I think it was 18-21 ppl, depending on if you count total who came at some point, those who came late, max at one time, etc. I borrowed two tables, and had some great help in setting everything up. It turns out that there isn't really any way to get thanksgiving decorations here, but I used a silver tablecloth with a sorta leafy orange lace-like runner that matched the Solo plates.

Here's the menu:
Appetizers:
vegetable tray with dip by Mordecai
deviled eggs by Daniel
pumpkin bread by Mordecai
(with optional vanilla ginger cream cheese spread)

Main Course: Oven roasted Turkey
Sides:
bread with butter or margarine by Oleg
corn by Anna
cauliflower by Melanie
green bean casserole by Mordecai
sweet potato deliciousness by Emma
deluxe mashed potatoes by Anna Maria
Dairy-free mashed potatoes by Josh
gravy by Mordecai
stuffing by Dahvyd
cranberry jello by Mordecai

Desserts:
dairy-free apple pie
regular apple pie
2 pumpkin pies with whipped cream topping
crepes by Erdos brothers
Ice cream by Stefan


Drinks:
Spiced hot cider by Josh
Water by Artyom
beer by Christoph
Sprite and Diet Sprite by Ricardo
French Wine by Gael
Israeli Wine by Friend of Emma and Shachar whose name I forget

The pumpkin pies were mediocre, partly because I don't own a blender to puree the pumpkin properly and partly because the only pumpkin you can buy here is the big white kind already cut up, which don't make as good of a pie as the small sugar pumpkin ones.

Also, I forgot to put out the cranberry jello, and almost forgot to put out the green bean casserole.
The green bean casserole was a struggle, since you can't buy condensed cream of mushroom soup here, and you can't buy frenches fried onions, and I don't like frying onions because it's hot and boring and uses a lot of oil. But I managed to make my own cream of mushroom soup from scratch, and then used some yellow bread crumbs and a paprika blend and some unseasoned fried onions to put together a crumb topping that matched the tastes of frenchs surprisingly well.

We started off at the table with a sheet of paper instead of a plate. Then, because this was the first thanksgiving for many of the attendees (it was a mix of europeans, israelis and americans), I wanted them to have the full experience, so we began by drawing a hand-turkey, and then turned the paper over to play a sorta scategories-style thankfullness game, where everyone wrote down 3 things they were thankful for, and then we went around the table, reading them off and if more than one person had the same thing on the list, it didn't count. Obviously, with only 3 item list, like half the people won, but it wasn't really for the game anyway. (Plus I joked during the scoring that winning meant you got to clean up.... so lots of people winning was in my favor.)

I baked the pies and the turkey in this kinda stand-alone toaster oven/real oven hybrid that did surprisingly well. (Though it's pretty easy to shock the temperature, unfortunately, causing the cookies I tried to make a while ago to fail pretty miserably.)

The thanksgiving party was an incredible success, though. I did a few things right, kinda on accident. One was that I had the food not on the main tables, so there was room for people. The other was that because the attendee list started at 13 ppl, and grew, I had purchased an extra turkey breast and roasted that by itself in a second smaller toaster oven. it was really easy to carve, and so I had a nice platter of meat that was read to eat, and still had the whole bird that people could see and that I could carve table-side.

The party went from 7 pm to about 1:30. Then I called my parents back in the states, and found out that I had had a bigger thanksgiving here than they had there. Thanksgiving here would have been impossible without the great help of the people who came and pitched in with side dishes, especially since I only had 2 gas burners and one medium toaster/real oven and 1 tiny toaster oven to do my cooking.

My favorite quote from the night was when my housemate Oleg, who is a materials science guy, looked at my fancy shiny plastic fork that had broken and after a few moments said "Bad metallurgy."

demystifying science

Stay tuned after the following self-reflection for a thanksgiving story from Israel!

I used to think that the reason that people weren't as excited about some parts of science was merely because they had never had someone explain it to them. I used to think that the reason people didn't understand how things worked was because they hadn't found a good library yet. I used to think that other people would buy new things or pay to have them fixed because they didn't enjoy fixing them.

I have since learned that the majority of people in the world don't actually care how their possesions work. They throw them away or pay for them to be fixed simply because "it stopped working." They don't get rid of it because "oh, the surface mount component is fried on the main board, and it's cheaper to get a whole new [item] instead of a replacement main board."

Part of this realization came when someone asked why I knew how something worked. I replied that I liked to know as much about the things I use as possible.. it helps to form mental models and it is rewarding to understand the tools you use. They responded that surely it was a silly claim that I understood the things I use, for instance, my microwave. I answered by describing the electronics of the magnetron that is commonly used to produce microwave radiation for microwave ovens, and explain why it is that the screen is able to keep the microwaves in. The person reacted with a shocked expression of wonder.

People often ask why I know so much. It really comes down to a few things: an incurable curiosity, and an ability to learn on my own, and God has blessed me with a mind that can swallow concepts as easily as a snake swallows its prey (I think that means my mind's a little bit unhinged.... if you carry the analogy on...). These things are at the core of being an engineer, and it's why I love what I do.

THANKSGIVING IS TOMORROW....
and I will be spending the day in the kitchen, baking 2 pumpkin pies, 2 apple pies, and a turkey.

However, today I heard a story from one of my professors, who told me about his first thanksgiving in Israel. He and a few couples decided that they would do a thanksgiving party, and divided up all the dishes, and all gathered in a home. Just as they were getting ready to begin, they turned on the radio (I presume to find some music) and instead heard the news that JFK had been shot. The party spirit was killed, the meal cancelled, and he hasn't celebrated thanksgiving since.
I didn't say it was a happy story. But I've learned my lesson... only check the news after the party's over.

generic

While I was packing for Israel, I came across an old notebook from the seventh grade (so I was 13). It had a selection of those really lame writing assignments from a general prompt. I was feeling sorta nostalgic, so I decided to bring it along, in case I needed something to write about on my blog, I could always pull one out and post it.
I have decided to do just that. But first, a quick update. I went to a concert downtown on Monday night by the Jerusalem symphony orchestra w/ some other choral group, and it was pretty incredible. Hayden's symphony #24, and then 2 latin masses w/ the kyrie, gloria, credo, benedictus and angus dei. Since I got the ticket for about $5, I didn't feel so bad buying a piece of cheesecake for $2 at the little coffee bar outside the theatre where the concert was. It was rather unimpressive cheesecake.
Two nights later, I made some cheesecake which was ... well... perfect. astoundingly lovely and soooo deliciously smooth. Perfectly uniform and without visual flaw. There's some pictures on facebook.

In other food news, I'm planning a thanksgiving dinner here for some of the americans and some of the internationals who are interested. It's gonna be awesome. I have a turkey ordered, and did a warm-up chicken this last week. (which was perfect, because I made some chicken noodle soup then, and had it handy when a housemate got sick this weekend).

Back to the blast from the past, though...

"Me, in a nutshell"
"I am smart, annoying (sometimes) and a little overweight. I enjoy reading immensly anything I can learn from, I also enjoy chess and tennis. My church family and real family are important to me. Right now, I am involved in Bible quizzing."
--by Mordecai Veldt, age 13

Just for good measure, here's another choice selection:

"How do you think that you would respond in an emergency?"
"I'm not sure, but I think that I would do okay. I am usually either very logical or very... strange.
In an emergency, I believe that the logical midset would kick in, and that I would be able to handle the given situation"
--by Mordecai Veldt, age 13