This year we hosted Thanksgiving for my immediate family. My mom and dad came out from Colorado, and my brother ventured up from Atlanta. This was my third time taking charge of planning and preparing the meal and it went well. I had lots of help with all of the cooking which was great. Mom and I cooked all day on Wednesday. A marathon 9 hours in the kitchen. Whew!
I find that the trickiest thing about getting a meal like this out on the table is the timing. I read in a Barefoot Contessa (love her) cookbook that whenever she hosts a large gathering she plans out a schedule for the day of, and even the days leading up to the event. This is my preferred method of staying organized and it definitely helps keep me on track. I have found that I am not very good at carrying on a conversation and/or interacting with others while trying to cook, so the schedule helps me remember what exactly I'm doing in the midst of all the hustle and bustle. I imagine that years from now when I am seasoned at this sort of thing I won't have to rely on the schedule, but for now it's what makes the difference between chaos and relative calm. And I prefer the relative calm. Shocker, I know.
I just started to write a lengthy summary of our Thanksgiving fare, and then realized that nobody probably cares. So I will spare you the details. But I will say that the 2 highlights for me were the fool-proof honey yeast dinner rolls (recipe from Annie's Eats), as well as the homemade caramel sauce that we drizzled over our apple crumb and pumpkin pies. Not only did our pie slices receive a warm drizzle of caramel, but also a topping of fresh whipped cream (no ReddiWhip here) and grated cinnamon. Heaven in my mouth. Pie done right if you ask me. Now on to pictures. The best way to sum it all up.
We didn't get any group shots on Turkey Day, but took this one later to send to my sis for her 25th birthday on the 27th. Happy birthday, Janessa! After we filled our tummies we all took naps and then played Dutch Blitz, a favorite game of ours these days. All in all a pretty relaxing day! Hope everyone had a terrific Thanksgiving!
3 comments:
if you could have seen me reading this post, you would have witnessed my head nodding continually! agree about the yukon gold (although russet were on sale this year, so i got those and boy did i hear it from taylor...oops...but seriously it was 1.99/lb vs 3.99/lb...the frugal in me trumped the cook) :-)
drizzling, cinnamon sprinkles, home made whipped topping...we are so connected for life. forget about vacationing together...we need to THANKSGIVING together. seriously, our families do NOT appreciate all the homemade goodness coming from my kitchen, we should share it with someone who does! :-) ps. i need to give you my recipe for the pumpkin cheesecake we made this year!! you and trav should do that for sure! you can make it ahead of time and freeze it!! :-)
Yea! I love to read the blogs of people I actually KNOW. Dinner looked fantastic! I would expect nothing less from the kitchen of a Deanne prodigy.
Dacia, I think that Travis and I could most definitely be on board for a Droke/Black (Dare I say..."Bloke"?) Thanksgiving. That would be too delicious. And way too fun!
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