Thanksgiving in September

Saturday I had friends over and we cooked a quick version of Thanksgiving foods. I made apple pie, mashed potatoes, savory (Beaner's) beans, stuffing, and gravy. Instead of spending five hours cooking a turkey, we opted for the quick and convenient choice of buying roasted chicken from the grocery store. I was surprised to discover that New Zealand lacks canned pumpkin, so there was no pumpkin pie. I found this so strange because kiwis use pumpkin in several typical recipes, which include pumpkin soup.
Also on the menu was corn pudding; however, monterey jack cheese was no where to be found. There were eleven of us in total and the meal was a total success! We are planning the next meal to be on or around November 2, for Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).

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