I first arrived in Tunisia last November. Coming from Uganda, and assuming Africa is Africa, I had no coat, gloves, scarf or clue. I soon realised that weather in North Africa is not far off that of Europe and the Christmas song that declares "...there won't be snow in Africa this Christmastime..." really didn't have its facts straight.
All of this considered, October has been a fantastic month in terms of temperature. Everyday in the early 20s, it's been like a typical British Summer, and the rains are just starting now, providing a welcome relief.
A couple of weeks ago a colleague and close friend of mine, Laura, who is a Canadian Vegetarian hosed us all for a Mediterranean-style Canadian Thanksgiving, with a real turkey and stuffing, Mediterranean vegetables, stuffing and olives and hummus.
Even though she hasn't eaten meat for about 15 years and neither does her husband, Laura gallantly preped, basted and roasted a whole turkey, for us, and accidently ended up cooking it upside-down because she "didn't know which way up it was supposed to go." It turned out really fantastic though as all the juices from the fattier parts like the thighs and legs ran through the typically drier breast meat - making it particularly succulent, I will definitely be doing this with chickens in the future. Yumba-Rumba! Laura was much more comfortable with the Pumpkin Pie, which she made three of, even though she lamented that you "can't get canned pumpkin in Tunisia"... whatever that means...
When it came to carving the turkey, we couldn't find a single volunteer - so I happily stepped up to the plate. We didn't have an electric carving knife, but I think I did a pretty good job, and everyone was thankful... which was the whole purpose really.
