Balinese thanksgiving

It all started at Napi Orti.  Sarah and I had decided a bit ago that we wanted to cook an American thanksgiving dinner (as best we could with Balinese ingredients), and then one night at Napi Orti pretty much everyone ended up getting invited.  Our dear friend gusti had insisted on being in charge of the chickens (no turkeys in Bali) and then he also decided to invite every one he knew to our thanksgiving dinner haha. The more the merrier, but as it was a late night bar scene thing, figures that I think only one person who was invited from that night showed.  All in all we had about 12 people!  Sarah and I spent the whole day in our miniature kitchen trying to sort things out, and cook everything to perfection on our two burners. We made a carrot and green bean casserole type thing in the wok, made with lots of garlic and coconut milk. So delicious. Also, a rudimentary stuffing made with delicious country bread from bali Buddha as well as apples and garlic and a sauce we sort of made from these packets of Balinese seasoning. It actually ended up being awesome. We bought a mango chutney at kue and that with the stuffing was incredible.  We also made delicious tempeh with coconut milk, and the most giant vat of mashed potatoes. In a wok. Try it. So we also only had four plates....so we had to get creative with where we put the already cooked stuff cause we were cooking for 12 so it wasn't like each dish could just fit on a normal plate.....  For dessert we had bought a pumpkin pie from kue which we had to precariously get home on the motorbike...ohhh my god I did not realize how much I just love pumkpin pie hhaha.

So around seven our guests started to arrive. Manja and Gil and Steph brought a watermelon and some vodka, so I chopped it up in the garden and then we made delicious watermelon drinks. Gusti showed up around eight with the chickens and a friend, astrid. The chickens were ridiculous....still on skewers from being cooked at the market and with their heads still attached and their feet in the bag. Apparently they were the texture of leather...  Since we had no plates we used banana leaves and our fingers, in true Balinese fusion style.  Aboe and keduk showed up eventually, with lots of arak, and Florie and Made came too.  It was an awesome thanksgiving. we had everyone go around and say what they were thankful for and it was adorable. There was a show at CP that night, so we all eventually trucked down there and had a serious time dancing and drinking more arak and it was a blast.

All in all, I think our thanksgiving was a hit, and everyone loved it.  This was the first thanksgiving everyone had had, except Steph cause she's Canadian, but good food and drink and people...how can you go wrong?