I found a whole turkey! Thanksgiving in SA

Thanksgiving in SA in not a new concept, while it is not a national holiday, people do have “thanksgivings”. A thanksgiving party is a party to celebrate someone overcoming great tribulations in their life. People bring gifts, and there is lots of food and music, of course. Since this past week was American thanksgiving time, I decided to share my version of Thanksgiving. At work, I let everyone know that Thanksgiving is a time Americans set aside to spend with family and friends to give thanks and count their blessings (ok, I kind of skipped the whole Pilgrim part). Also, I brought in pumpkin and apple pies to share with everyone. The pies were a hit. Everyone wanted the recipes, especially the pumpkin pie recipe which no one had ever had before. (Pumpkin is very common here, but not in pie form.)
In addition, I had a couple of my close friends from work over for Thanksgiving dinner. Poughie (my housemate), her sister Choco, Sma (best friend from work), Lally (also best friend from work) and Lally’s children KB(5 yrs) and Kat (17 yrs) all came to the feast. We had traditional turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce (a very bad version I tried to make from dried cranberries), corn on the cob, morogo (see Sma’s recipe below!), and fresh veggies and dip. With some sparkling apple juice and pumpkin pie and ice cream for dessert, we were set. Poughie said grace, and we all went around the table sharing what we were thankful for (many thanks to God, and for each other, and an amazing year with the USA/SA exchange!). Near the end of dinner, I called my Mom and sister, Beth, in the USA and had a nice chat; I also passed the phone around so everyone could talk to my mom and share Thanksgiving wishes. It was really fun; now,they will each have a voice to go with the face for all the stories I have shared.
Now, THANK YOU to everyone at home for writing emails and sharing news all year – it was great being here, but made so much easier by still feeling so connected to my American home as well. So, thanks so much!
Sma’s Morogo recipe
(You have to try this, it was my favorite dish. Seriously yummy!)
2 bunches of spinach, cleaned well, and chopped
2 small potatoes (or 1 large of course)
1 onion
1 yellow and 1 red pepper
¼ to ½ cup peanut butter (I prefer no sugar added, all natural kind, but you choose)
salt and pepper
Peel and chop potatoes and onion. Boil and mash (do not add milk or water)
Cook spinach and chopped red and yellow pepper.
Add peanut butter, amount is up to your taste buds. Stir in onion/potato mash mixture. Season with salt and pepper to taste. (Hint: go easy on salt)
Enjoy!