My First Thanksgiving & Cooking Challenge

When my first Thanksgiving came, I had been in the States for about four months. Holidays in Poland means a lot of cooking and baking at home, so I was willing to make our Thanksgiving feast too. The only problem was, I had no idea what should be on the menu (well, besides turkey). I had never experienced (made /eaten) any Thanksgiving meal - the holiday is not celebrated in Poland.
Luckily, there was the Internet. Two weeks before the big day I started searching the net to find out

• what a traditional Thanksgiving meal consists of,

and most importantly,

• what a traditional Southern Thanksgiving meal consists of.

I read quite a lot of recipes. Finally, I decided to choose a few, made a shopping list and started getting myself ready both physically and mentally also. I practiced in my mind all the cooking and  thought through my holiday kitchen work. Since I did not have the faintest idea how most of those dishes should taste, I decided to follow the recipes which I had chosen and was hoping for the best.

A day before Thanksgiving I made a pecan pie (first time in my life too) and baked cornbread for the dressing.

Next day I cooked. I seasoned the turkey and put it into the oven. I found the breast size (as big as a baseball) a bit intimidating, so my husband helped me with checking on it during the baking time. I worked for a few hours not being sure what the result of my challenge would be.

To my surprise, and a great relief, it all worked out so well! The turkey was juicy and tender, and everything tasted really good. My husband was happy and I was happy. If the food had not been tasty, our first Thanksgiving would have been a disaster, considering also all the load which would have been wasted. But it was not - everything was eaten and disappeared from the plates and pots quite quickly!

I have kept all those recipes and have been using them since them. 

God bless all the guys who have shared their wonderful (Southern) recipes on their websites! They saved our first Thanksgiving. :)