The unofficial official date of Thanksgiving in Togo is the first Saturday after the 25th of November. As I said, Colin and I moved our celebration back a few days due to among other things being under the weather and poor planning. But we had it today and it was great!
We told Johanas (the monk who was helping us get the supplies) that we wanted to do most of the work since it was our holiday, he happily obliged. Step one, aside from paying roughly $16 for three chickens and $6 for a bucket of Tchuc, was to kill the chickens. It was kind of amusing at first watching a 6’5” built (this guy could be a linebacker) monk round up the squawking chickens, but then he finally did and we had to get down to business. He didn’t let us do the execution this time, but I was fine watching this one. I am not exactly use to watching the turkey get slaughtered, just the golden brown body coming out of the oven when its eating time. So yeah, rusty knife sharpened on a concrete slab, one little cut across the throat, grab the head and pull it back a little to open the mortal wound, toss it in the air and watch the show! These things just kinda bounced around like popcorn, flapping their wings and squawking occasionally. I get the saying now.
After the show was over, we plucked ‘em clean, dissected them with a machete washed the pieces in water and threw them into a pot. We added a few spices and random other things, I am keeping the recipe a secret, and voila – delicious fufu sauce.
Before the meal, Johannas explained to everyone (sadly only 12 people as most of the monks were either in Kara or Lomé) why it was a special day for Colin and I. And then the feast started. In honor of the one day where I eat more than I should, I ate more than I should have. I hobbled my way back to room and laid down for a nice little snooze. It hurt to move and even breath I was so full. After the most painful rest of my life, I got up and went for a little stroll in the evening sun and returned just in time for dinner. Thankfully I didn’t feel the need to eat quite as much as I did earlier, but in honor of eating Turkey Day leftovers (we made so much food that there was enough to feed everyone a second time) I still ate more than I should have. There was also enough Tchuc for 2nd and 3rd rounds. It was fun at the time relaxing and talking and drinking, but oh man did I pay for it on Sunday. Minus the huge mess and random sleepoverers that I generally woke up to, I felt like I was back in college - hangover and all.
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