Huge Portions and Friendly Atmospheres

You know you're far from the US when you forget it's Thanksgiving Day. This morning I found the table set with candles, an orchid, the treasure chest of tea, a red chocolate heart, a tray of cookies called 'baci di dama' (lady's kisses), a jar of peanut butter and a note with three words: Happy Thanks Giving! (an improvement on last year's Happy Tanks Giving!).

Without the note, I would have simply thought someone liked me. There were no signs of my favorites (mashed potatoes, gravy and green bean casserole), yet the table had an element of feast. I'd thought of the holiday last week when I saw the tablecloth I use on Turkey Day for my traditional meal of grilled cheese and tomato soup. But apparently that wasn't enough to remind me to buy the thirteen necessary ingredients for the soup. (If not on a Warhol print, Campbell's is hard to come by here.)
 
I suppose I should have remembered it was Thanksgiving Eve in last night's English Conversation class. It's structured (they'd laugh if they knew I defined this class as structured) to talk about life. As one practiced her speaking skills telling us that she doesn't go dancing on Wednesday because her daughter comes home from university, the others practiced their listening skills. Not surprisingly, they thought nothing of the fact that one usually doesn't dance OR return from univeristy on Wednesdays. That's when the teacher butt in to ask where one dances on mercoledi (Wednesday) and the woman realized she'd meant to say Friday.  Then came a helpful tip from a fellow classmate. "Dai (come on), it's easy to remember...we don't have Black Wednesday, it's Black Friday." A good teacher might have explained the origin of Black Friday and in turn remembered that the next day was an American holiday.

And so it goes, another entertaining English lesson and another Thanksgiving with no mashed potatoes and gravy. Fortunately, I'd already organized to have dinner with an old student tonight. After a vacation (more than a year ago) he said I was too skinny and he had just the right place to fatten me up again. Unfortunately, the skinny thing was shortlived, but I never forgot about the promised dinner. So, tonight I'm unexpectedly celebrating Thanksgiving at Galloway's, described in an AI overview as 'a chain of casual gastropubs in Italy that serve American-style food like burgers and fries....known for their large portions and friendly atmospheres.' 

Nothing says Thanksgiving better than that.  I just hope he's reserved a place at the kids' table.