Thanksgiving memories

It's quiet. I have no cooking schedule to adhere to. In other words, I'm winding down after a quite busy week. I had lots of cooking to do so made an amazing schedule of what to do each day. I must say, it worked miracles at eliminating stress entirely. I absolutely had no stress over cooking at all. It all went at a nice pace with lots of time for Sudoku breaks, et al.

Thursday at Christy's we were 8 people: Christy and Ron, Ted and Vicky, Lara and Per-Olav, and Dan and me. We had a not elaborate meal that was delicious. A tasty moist turkey, fruit salad, artichoke stuffing, Seabreeze drinks, beer, mashed potatoes, gravy, and more. Every single thing was a taste delight. Oh, and my dessert offering was the Fish Market Apple Pie (a short buttery crisped-to-perfection crust, apples mixed with a sour cream sauce and a great crumb topping). I like that it was a small group so that we could have fun conversations. The 4 girls were at a table in one room and the boys in another room. We ended up sharing memories about family members who have gone on & it wasn't morbid at all. It was interesting, funny and bonding. (All the above pictures are from Christy's Thanksgiving...you can see that her new house is right on the water, Budd Inlet, and it's absolutely beautiful.)

Later on the same day we went to John and Jill's. Wow...lots of people, lots of food. I'm not sure I'll remember it all but here goes: turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, sunchoke dip, salad with mint and oranges, stuffing, Jill's special cranberry sauce, pasta salad, pecan pie, raspberry pie and pumpkin bread pudding with caramel sauce. Lisa and Bob were there, Anne and Michael, Winn, Lara and Per-Olav, Sally and Tom. John and Jill of course, and Dan and me. Seems like there were more, but that's all I can remember right now.

My own mini-Thanksgiving was Friday for just Lara, Per, Dan and me. Roast chicken, stuffing with homemade thyme and olive oil croutons and cornbread, prunes, and cranberries, drippings of the chicken with its delicious mirepoix, Mark's maple roasted Brussels sprouts, cranberry pear relish, homemade horseradish, sweet potatoes mashed with ginger, coconut milk, flaked coconut and topped with fresh roasted macadamia nuts.

I always long for a Thanksgiving like the one in Yemen when we invited all the "strays," people who had no family there. It was such a pleasure to cook a big meal for lots of people I care about, and it wasn't a big deal that took a lot of energy. Those were the days. Childhood Thanksgivings remain a warm and pleasant memory as well, making this my favorite holiday of the year.

Now, what will I cook next year?