Thanksgiving in Italy does not exist. No pilgrims here. Not one. Well, people go on religious pilgrimages. Our resident Nonna went on a pilgrimage to Padre Pio’s church a few weeks ago. I tried to explain the idea of thanksgiving to our chef and she thought it was a festa bella. Regardless, I worked this weekend but have Thanksgiving Monday off, as I have every Monday off. I had a lovely day of returning to my Italian school, ALMA, with my ex-roomate Sara, uploading photos and then having a mozzarella and prosciuitto cotta piadina in Parma. On the way back to Bilegno, we stopped in an amazing medieval village, Castell’ Arquato and after trekking up the medieval stairs to the castle and down through the village we stopped for tea and dolce at Le Casa del Pane, a lovely little pastry shop where we ate scrumptious baci di dama, not so good chocolate-chip cookies, a very gross castagnaccio tart, lingue di gatto, and maccaron glaces. I felt like we had high-tea in a medieval village. The highlight of the day for sure.

I had the idea of making something that isn’t Italian for dinner, I thought maybe fajitas. I would be able to find cumin at the grocery store, right? And avocados, they grow them in the South. Nope. So, in honour of my friends and family, I am making turkey tacchino wraps, with coriander and hot paprika, instead of cumin and cilantro, asiago instead of cheddar, and plain yogurt instead of sour cream, which does not exist here, sadly.

I wish you all the happiest of thanksgivings and hope you think of me while you stuff yourselves silly with pumpkin pie, turkey, gravy, stuffing and mashed potatoes.