How an expat attempts to celebrate holidays

Published July 13, 2011

by Rease Kirchner

Living in South America means totally effed up seasons and holiday traditions. Back in November, I decided to try to re-create some holiday cheer by having a Thanksgiving get-together and even attempting to make one of my favorite traditional desserts, pumpkin pie.

When I attempted to celebrate Thanksgiving in Argentina, it was 85+ degrees every day, so we skipped the turkey and opted for a potluck that in no way involved any traditional food other than the apple pie. There were only 2 US citizens present, so no one seemed to mind.

However, I couldn’t give up on Thanksgiving completely, so I took on the daunting task of making a pumpkin pie from scratch. Argentina lacks canned pumpkin puree, pre-made pie crusts, and spices like nutmeg and ginger are not as easy to find as in the States. The pumpkins here are also not the familiar orange ones from home. This baking adventure was so time consuming I worked on this pie on 3 separate days. I photographed most of the process so I can walk you through it.

This is the pumpkin I had to deal with. No jack-o-lantern making possibilities here, just lots of jokes related to the incredibly phallic appearance.

I don’t have a proper knife so I cut through the pumpkin with a steak knife (not easy or safe) and boiled the chunks.

Once the cubes were boiled I had to cut off the skin and squeeze the water out by hand and then leave in a colander to drain before I could mash it up to make the puree.

This is where I should have a photo of me rolling out the dough and baking the crust but I actually made the dough at someone else’s house. My lovely boss Janet let me use her kitchen and supplies for that part.

I then mixed the pumpkin puree with eggs and sugar and poured it into my partially baked crust.

After making the pie filling, I made a streusel topping with flour, brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. Nutmeg in Spanish is “nuez moscada” in case you ever need to know, as I did not.

45 minutes of baking and this was the end result. I was nervous to try it, but it was delicious. Success!

My attempt at Christmas

It was hot and not at all Christmasy, but I really amped up the Christmas music listening and I bought a tiny little tree for 18 pesos and flashing lights for 10. I was too broke to spring for decorations, but I later made some that are not shown in this photograph.

For Christmas, I received 2 long-awaited packages from my mother. She bought me lots of summer clothes because so many of mine were lost in the move, and also sent the few pieces that survived it. The two boxes also had Reeses, 2 jars of peanut butter, drawings and a card from my 7 year old cousin, Jodi, and a ridiculously long letter from my Mama. I won’t lie to you, I cried at the sight of my mother’s handwriting. We both were devastated that for the first time in my 23 years of life I could not be home for All Day Cookie Weekend. I love my mommy and I miss her dearly. The letter was the best part of the package.

I went to Jorge’s fancy office end of the year party. A bus took us about an hour outside the city to a club. We arrived and there was a man in a suit playing the violin. Jorge and I almost collasped in giggles when the man raised his bow and began to play “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”. Absolutely ridiculous. After some classical music with the violin they switched to random 90s dance music including “What is Love?” and other favourites. After that a Merengue band from the Dominican Republic performed. So strange but I had a good time.

And as an early Christmas present to ourselves, Jenny, Jorge and I went to Parque de la Costa, a theme park about an hour train ride away from Buenos Aires. The weather was great and the lines weren’t too long so we had a great time, as you can see in this ridiculous photo. (Jenny and I are on the far left)

Also, because I’m obsessed with Christmas and especially my Cookie Day tradition with my mom, I’m curious– what Christmas or other holiday traditions do you have that you would be sad to live without? How do you keep the holiday spirit alive while traveling?

Rease is a US citizen who fled the Midwest in favor of ex-pat life in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is bilingual and is very capable of cussing you out in Spanish. She loves gaining and sharing knowledge of local cultures, customs and adventure, and she especially loves getting sassy with anyone who gets in her way. Her favorite place in the world is any artisan ice cream shop in Argentina.

Featured image by Christian Soulliere

How an expat attempts to celebrate holidays

My attempt at Christmas

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