Thanksgiving in Germany

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day. I had ribs and fries at a local Irish type pub, and they were showing NFL football, so I did have a small taste of home on Thursday evening.

We had our Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday. We had four of Gisi's friends (Angela, Christian, Klaus and Martin) over for a traditional Turkey dinner, which none of them ever had. The menu was Roast Turkey Breast, Mashed potato, Curried sweet potato, Green Beans in Olive oil and Garlic, Mixed Mushrooms with Shallots in Butter and Wine. And I made a Pumpkin Pie, of course.
After searching all the butchers in town and market, we could find no turkey. We finally located a Turkey farm (Truthahnhof) in Ihringen. Having placed our order on Wednesday, we drove out to pick up the breast on Friday evening. The farm, Martinshof, was located at the edge of town and we got to see all the large white domestic turkeys as they were put back into the turkey house for the evening feeding. They run around freely in fields on the property, and they were quite large. We went in with the owner to get the breast, which weighed 3 kilos, about 7 pounds. I was excited.
As you can see, the kitchen is tiny. So I really planned out the sequence of prep and cooking carefully and I prepped a few dishes the day before. It actually went very well. I started Saturday cooking about 3pm and by 8 we were sitting down to eat.
The Turkey looked fantastic as I removed it from the small oven, at just about 158 degrees. I let it rest while I finished the beans, mushrooms and sweet potatoes.
The result was great. Everyone loved all the dishes. The Turkey was super moist with crispy skin, this is the way to go for ease and tenderness. The curried sweet potato was a big hit, savory and not too sweet. Klaus said my mashed potatos were as good as his mothers, so I took that as a huge compliment. Everyone had at least 2 helpings, so in the end there was only about a pound of turkey left, we'll finish that with a salad tonight. We finished with espresso and pumpkin pie, which was delicious. You can see the photos here.
We sat around talking, and in some instances me listening to German conversation, for several hours. By midnite, everyone left. It was a great experiance, and I was happy to cook for Gisi's freinds and share our Thanksgiving tradition. Sunday will be a day of rest. Now, onto Christmas!!!!!