Thanksgiving is like, tomorrow, ya'll

[Kendaljay]

We always have almost the exact same thing. And why is it so weird to eat "holiday" food at any other time of the year?

My mom's amaaaazing chicken and dressing (seriously, the only kind I like)
A spiral-sliced ham (not turkey, yuck)
Smashed Potatoes
Mac & Cheese
Broccoli & Cheese & Rice Casserole
Maybe Green Beans? (not if I can help it lol)
Cranberry stuff (for mom & sis)
Those little dinner rolls (excellent ham sandwiches next day!)

Cherry Pie (for mom & sis)
Cheesecake Squares (for me & them)
Brownies (for mom's bf)
_________________
ps- you're my favourite. We should be friends.--e

[milyssa]

Just kidding about doing our own first-time-married-Thanksgiving! Oh well, we did our we're-engaged Thanksgiving together ;) Our good friend Matt invited us to his family's Thanksgiving, so we're headed to that! I'm going to make a cranberry salsa and a bean dip (plus chips!) for football snacks (pre-dinner), along with my family's sweet rolls :)

Still excited!
_________________
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.

[gemma]

We did have plans, but the family we were hanging out with (not either of our families) got sick. So, we're eating here and taking in stragglers. I am making:


Tofurkey (with mushroom gravy)
Vegan mac and cheese, baked
Hasselbeck potatoes
Sweet potato fries
Pumpkin scones
Roasted Brussels sprouts
Ice cream (for the scones. buying that.)

[meexie]

S and I are staying home and I'm making fried chicken and cornbread. I just saw an article about a chef who brines chicken in sweet tea and then tosses it in buttermilk before breading it, and I'm going to try that with a few pieces, using thinned-down yogurt instead of buttermilk. I also have half a batch of vegan pumpkin-oatmeal-raisin cookie dough in the freezer.

We are much happier about doing T-day this way this year.
_________________
"I hate that they're giving tea a bad name. Tea is a peaceful, gentle drink." - Teahugger

[BlueJedi]

So it turns out that we're doing a family thanksgiving here, instead of just waiting for the "Holiday Dinner" on the 3rd.
Then I'm going over to the boys for second thanksgiving that night.
It was weird having to schedule them, usually I just go over to his place. My parents don't really care since we do our family one later on, but his parents were stressing out about the fact that they were "stealing me" away from my parents, so we just did it this way instead.

Tomorrow I'm cooking the turkey, then dressing, mashed potatoes with chives, cranberry sauce out of a can, and dinner rolls. The rolls are those bake n serve kind that are sooo cheap. We also made pies today.

It's good that we're doing one here though, because my Grandpa asked if he could come over here for it too. So I'm glad that he'll have somewhere to go. [He and my stepgrandma are living with her kids right now and it's crazy loud over there and he's the type of person who likes his own quiet space. Plus he wants to see me and my mom.]

[pinkie]

We're so ahead of schedule. All sides are made. Tomorrow we throw the turkey in, make the soup garnishes, and set up the tables. Last head count was 20.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, and this year Thanksgiving is what I'm most thankful for. I've been at my old roomie's place since Monday and it feels so good to spend a week back home. I moved in with my hubbers 3 year ago, but my room really hasn't changed. Being estranged from my Mom and the rest of my family, it feels so good to feel like I have a home to go home to that's mine. And the holiday forces RoomieK and I to spend a week working together, which seems to be the way we stay connected.

So here's the menu:

3pm: Cheese and Cocktails

Giant cheese plate, crackers, olives, prosciutto, salami, dates stuffed with pate, dates wrapped in bacon, this filo dough thing with booze soaked dried figs and cheese.

It is the year of the gimlet. We've been juicing limes for a long time.

5pm: Sit for dinner
Plated and served:
Trio of Fall soups:
Butternut squash with cider gastric
Beet with five spice
Wild mushroom with sherry
Salad: Proscuitto, persimmon, arugula, pistachios, and some sort of cheese but I can't remember because I'm super tired and I've got to say up for one more hour to turn the ice cream maker off for...)
Plate cleanser: trio (maybe, lets see how the night goes) of sorbets:
Pear and Cardamom
Pomegranate and black pepper
Red grape and something
Buffet:
Roast Turkey: brine for three days, stuff with citrus, herbs, onions, cover in bacon.
Sides on steam tables:
Truffles Marscapone Mashed Potatoes
Stuffing w/ dried apricots, pecans, sausage
Sweet potato, apple, onion gratin
Red chard with fired shallots and some sort of complicated sauce RoomieK made.
Gravy
Green beans with butter, lemon, pine nuts
turkey leg confit with sundried tomatoes
Corn and poblano pudding
super complicated brussels sprouts

We ask folks to bring dessert, we make coffee and shipped cream and people impress the heck out of us.
_________________
You may have to sacrifice a bit of modesty in the name of badassery! -Knittykat

[petunia_843]

Pinkie that sounds incredible! I am just exhausted from staying up late to make a cherry cobbler last night. On to my mom's house to help her with the rest of dinner!

[inky]

Holy crap, I'm going to pinkie's dinner and I got full (and somehow simultaneously very hungry) just reading that!

[madgeylou]

FUCKING HELL PINKIE
_________________
Specializing in dresses and sanity

[meexie]

[Chiquita]

[killr]

[milyssa]

Our friends we were going to Thanksgiving with had a horrible tragedy befall their family the night before, so while we were invited to still give Thanks with them that day, we opted to leave them to be with their family without extra people (us).

We had a Thanksgiving meal of homemade pizza and salad :) (Bean Dip and Cranberry Pear salsa that were meant for our friends' place were consumed all afternoon, and the sweet rolls were eaten in approximately 2 days' time by 2 of us...oops?).

Today we had a makeshift Thanksgiving dinner of rotisserie chicken, garlic mashed potatoes, egg noodles, green bean casserole, and brussels sprouts with pancetta.

Everyone's dinners sound FABULOUS (pinkie, drooling here!)
_________________
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.

[jessie1]

How did you celebrate Thanksgiving?
_________________
Leather sofas perth… I have this in my sala