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We started with shrimp cocktail, guacamole, scallops wrapped in bacon, Brie en croute. You know just a couple of things to pick on!!
Dinner was turkey, beautifully roasted, mashed potatoes, acorn squash, traditional stuffing, oyster stuffing, broccoli casserole, cranberry sauce and cranberry relish. Fantastic gravy from the turkey drippings, delicious.
Desert was a Kaos Pie from Alden Merrill and a delicious apple kind of tart, made with a soft yeast risen crust, made by my niece's roommate from Germany! It was great!

OK, seriously, I must be delirious from eating so much, because my first paragraph above makes no sense! I meant to say that we're on our break between the meal and dessert, and why did I write "the" before "me"????

Hot Spiced Apple Cider
Deviled Eggs (provided by a guest)
Puff Pastry with Chanterelle Mushrooms and Gruyere Cheese ("winged" this one)
Cheese & Salumi with Crackers

Maple Brined Fresh Market Turkey
"Drippings" Gravy with Shallot & Giblets
Sweet Potato "Crisp"
Martin Potatobred & Chestnut Stuffing
Carrot Souffle
Biscuits (not the best but they were passable!)
Corn Pudding
Mashed Potatoes with Bacon (BF prepared these)
Green Beans with Mushrooms (threw this in last minute - we had nothing green!)

Dorie Greenspan's T-Giving Twofer Pie
Apple Crisp
Carrot Cake (purchased from Nature's Food Patch, a natural food market, provided by a guest)

We had Honey Brined Smoked Turkey (Alton Brown's recipe), Mashed Potatoes, Gravy with the drippings from the turkey (slightly smoky and delicious) Sweet Potato Casserole,Green Bean Casserole, Apple Sausage Stuffing. Then we had the piesapple, pecan, and pumpkin. Oh and Buttermilk biscuit, Scalloped Corn and Homemade noodles.

Oh, we drank apple cider (the kids) and mead (everyone else).

I am enjoying reading about all the foods everyone had....they all sound wonderful. I would have been a happy guest at all these feasts!

I did manage to have a bit of dessert last night. The bakery purchased tarts were very good and the apple cranberry crisp with polenta topping turned out quite well. This was from the December issue of Bon Appetit. I would make this again.

I didn't cook anything this year - recovering from surgery. However, I had two (count 'em!) Thanksgiving dinners yesterday, and the birds were cooked very differently - both tasted great. First was family and we had "our" traditional sides (It's not a holiday for us without mashed rutabagas .) Sis-in-law cooked the turkey in an appliance I think is called a roaster? Looks more like a huge pressure cooker. It basically steamed the meat and it was surprisingly delicious. No crispy skin, though. Second dinner was at my best friend's - she and her husband are gourmet cooks. Everything was fantastic and the turkey outstanding. She got the recipe from an Irish chef (I hear ya, I hear ya, but no sarcastic comments please - I happen to be Irish and am a pretty decent cook, my Irish mother, God Bless her Soul, was the best, most creative cook I've ever known.) Anyway, she wrapped the bird in butter soaked cheesecloth and filled it with lots of aromatics - citrus and herbs. 325 degrees whole time. Dressing on the side. Never had to baste. The white meat (my favorite part) was so tender, tasty and moist. I made the gravy and it didn't need a thing besides flour and water. (I did use a separator) I normally use at least some broth and seasonings. Everyone raved about how great it tasted - all the taste came directly from the bird. I cook breasts all year and I've tried dozens of methods, but I'm going to try wrapping a turkey breast and whole chickens. p.s. they sent me home with a care package, so I still get the best part - turkey sandwich the next day!

oh, and macaroni and cheese. Wow. We had a lot of food for just three people!

There were nine of us and you can read about the chaos here:

http://www.izzyeats.blogspot.com

Spiced Nuts
Brebis Blanche Cheese and Crackers
Olives
Fried Cece (Chickpeas)

Main and Sides

Buttermilk/Thyme Biscuits

Brine Roasted Turkey with Chestnut/Cornbread/Apple Stuffing
Wine and Giblet Gravy

Squash/White Bean/Kale Ragout

Sweet Potato Mash w/Vanilla and Orange Zest

Brussels Sprouts with Glazed Cipollini Onions

Cranberry-Port Mold

Dessert

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Tarte Tatin

My brother and I celebrate Thanksgiving separate from our family since we are both in the Pacific North West. We had a Mexican three day Thanksgiving. Which included- red chile rice, chile rellenos, roasted tomato poblano soup, masa rafts with queso and poblanos, mushroom tamales, chile citrus glazed sweet potatoes, lots of tortilla chips, ice cream and fresh ginger cake.

lola27: Different strokes for different folks, I guess, but......looks like your dogs and cats got the heaves, and the first dish looks like deceased frogs. Stomach was turning, so I couldn't read your blog, but I'm sure you enjoyed your meal and that's all that matters.

Turkey

lola27 - I've been puzzled for several days by the comment you received on your Thanksgiving dinner by PerkyMac. I must admit that I feel his comments were a bit rough, though perhaps meant humorously.

I looked back at the photos you took and find that I disagree with his critique of your dinner. I don't do a "traditional" T'gv dinner myself, though I used to, with all the trimmings.

As a matter of fact, I find that at this point my concept of what is "traditional" goes beyond what the magazines currently tell us is traditional, back to ideas of times before Godeys Ladies Magazine set up the idea in the public's mind that turkey and pumpkin pie were neccessary requisites for an All-American Thanksgiving. I don't however go out and kill a deer, some geese and ducks and bake a pumpkin with cream inside it and eat a variety of corn for dinner that today would be considered feed for animals. Instead, I create my own traditions of thanks through the food I choose to put on the table that day, just as you have.

Your meal looks lovely. If it matters, in terms of weight of opinion, I can tell you that as a chosen career before leaving it to be with my family I was a chef, an executive chef - in NYC - my job was to feed the very wealthy and powerful in a private corporation - the sorts of people who are accustomed to the best the world has to offer without worrying about cost or difficulty.

I enjoyed seeing your food blogged. Happy Thanksgiving. I raise a glass to you with your delightful and joyous Mexican New-World feast.

Karen

Savory Dishes:
- Deep-Fried Turkey
- Cranberry and Orange Relish
- Spicy Artichoke Dip
- Mashed Potatoes and Parsnips
- Cornbread Stuffing with Sausage
- Brussels Sprouts Lardons
- Chinese Sticky Rice
- Spanish Seafood Salad
- Three-Seed Dinner Rolls

Dessert:
- Fruit Salad
- Homemade Yogurt
- Apple Pie
- Pecan Pie
- Pumpkin Pie
- Chocolate Bouchons (brownies)

There were 14 of us this year at our annual Turkey Day celebration in San Francisco. It was pretty traditional, except for the sticky rice and seafood salad.

Possibly the saltiest Thanksgiving... we went to Mimi's Cafe and got a plate of turkey, mush that was supposed to be dressing, I suppose, day old mashed potatoes (they tasted so old and were still a little cold!), mashed sweet potatoes, and hunks of steamed, bland broccoli and carrots... oh and cranberry compote that came only when we asked for it.
There's just no magic to Thanksgiving when you have to divide a check... next year...

PlasticSpoonTraveller.com