Thanksgiving 2011, Diary of a Feast

It all began with my shopping trip on Monday. Well, actually, for those who know me well, making lists is not something I do too often. Monday however, I made an exception after poring over a couple of cookbooks and magazines. As well I made a list of the guests, giving me some sort of idea about just how much food I'd need. Only 12 this year. First stop Clemons for produce, followed by Publix for the turkey and dry goods.

One of the first things I made was the cranberry sauce. Although I don't eat much of it myself, I always like to have it on the table for those who do. Bon Appetit had a recipe with two types of Dijon mustard which seemed like a winner with both my sister Maureen and brother Pat very big mustard fans. Don't cranberries coated with sugar look lovely?

The recipe could not have been simpler--cranberries and sugar cooked until the berries popped, cool, followed by the addition of 4T of regular Dijon and 1T of whole grain Dijon. On Thursday afternoon I heard it was tasty. Another super simple recipe came next. Believe it or not, you mix a box of spice cake mix with a can of pumpkin, plop it in the muffin tins and bake. That's it folks. Two ingredients with bonus points for being vegan! Apologies for the sub par photograph. :-)

I mostly cleaned house on Tuesday morning, waiting, waiting for Matt's arrival at 5:00. Totally worth the wait. After dropping off his stuff we made our way to Ross, mostly to mosey and help him stay awake to get into EST. Shopping with Matthew is never dull and for some odd reason I always seem to find the best stuff when he's around including this trip. An awesome apple corer and some cool adjustable pie crust covers were two of our finds.

Wednesday morning, while Matthew enjoyed a bit of our warm Florida weather on the front porch

I began toasting the Israeli couscous for a taboulleh style salad. I oogled and awed over the cute little pearls of pasta:

I've included the recipe for those interested--I did as I was told. Pie crust followed with the pumpkin pie going in the oven next.

Meanwhile, the apple corer came out and worked beautifully! After rolling out the bottom crust Matt filled it with my pretty apple mixture,

Always up for a challenge, once I said I'd never done a lattice top before, Matt jumped all over the idea, taking it upon himself to fashion the first such crust in the Peck home. Miraculously he did just that.

Lattice top, sugar sprinkes, and new handy pie savers!

Once the pies were done, a trip was made by yours truly and her eldest son to buy an iPhone. I've finally caved. This is not something I would have tried to accomplish without one of the boys; the whole process befuddles me! More to come in another post regarding my entry into the world of smart phones!

Up early Thursday morning, more cooking ensued, followed by setting the tables. Our dear brother in law Danny sent flowers the night before to grace the table:

Because the pumpkin muffins were so tasty we decided to expand upon the idea after I found some mini loaf pans in the cupboard. Actually Matt made them with a few additions--banana and chopped pecans. Didn't they turn out cute?

They were delicious! I kicked my vegan son out of the kitchen for the turkey and dressing preparations. A fresh turkey was on the menu this year for the first time in my life. No wondering this year if the turkey had thawed! Basting, basting, and more basting gave the turkey this beautiful brown color:

After letting the turkey rest, he did all the carving. The counter was cleared of the remnants of carving with the feast taking it's place.  So here's what we had:

Roast Turkey

Sausage Dressing

Mashed Potatoes & Gravy

Sweet Potatoes (Matt mostly)

Grilled Asparagus

Green Beans with lemon zest

Sauteed corn with Peri-peri and lime zest

Green Salad

Couscous Salad

Pumpkin loaves with apple butter

Apple and Pumpkin Pie

And here's who joined us:

Maureen, Richard and Jennifer Condon.

Bruce, Matt and Danny.

The kitchen crew:

Bill, Dave, Burch (friend of the boys) and with her back to us, Michelle.

If you can believe it, David ate this entire plate full!!! Originally he said it would be no problem, however, after finishing it all, he admitted that about half way through, it became a source of pride. Silly, silly boy.

While Bruce was up to his elbows in soapy water, the rest of the gang lounged around admiring darling Spencer and watching football.

Lisa (on her knees) could not get enough of the darling boy! This picture makes me laugh a bit--the television is clearly not enough:

Michelle left early to spend a little time with her family but before she left I convinced her to pose with her brother in law:

So, pretty much aside from the food, Spencer stole the show--you would be hard pressed to find a more good-natured baby! Matt got a hold of him and seriously did not want to let him go:

Amazing how he and Matt seem to be concentrating on the same thing! We all went to bed still stuffed, but happy and thankful for a wonderful day. It didn't take me long to put all the clean dishes away, finish up the leftover ones, and have the kitchen pretty much back in order. Matt and Bruce finished off the apple pie this morning, turkey leftovers for lunch, and football for the afternoon. It's all good.

Until we meet again,
Gail

Up Close and Personal

I've seen him for myself now. Perfection is what baby Spencer is. I picked Maureen up in the late morning, parked on the street, and we made our way into the hospital/hotel. Seriously, the place is amazing. After getting our photo id we took the elevator up to the 7th floor, got the ok from the nurse's station, and went to the suite. Yes, you read that right, it's a suite, complete with a Murphy bed for papa and space for Spencer too. These days, the parents keep the baby in the room with them at all times, jumping into their parenting adventure right away. When we arrived, both Jenn and Rich were somewhat weary after spending a sleepless night with baby Spencer crying way more than they would have liked.

Jenn was in good spirits nonetheless with some pain, however, they are controlling that with medication. Between yawns, Rich showed us he's already an expert at wrapping Spencer, carrying him, and changing his darling little mittens designed to keep him from scratching his perfect, perfect skin.

Told you. Here's the happy family:

I love that expression on Rich's face. As well, how about the little rock star outfit on Spence? He's wearing the little hoodie because during the extended time before his actual arrival, the doctor gave him a little boo boo on his head trying to coax him out. He's a big boy already--8.6 pounds. They will be heading home today with Jenn's mom here for the next week to help out. Never again will their life be the same after bringing a new life into this world. Although my sons are grown, there isn't a day that goes by that I'm not at the ready to either console or uplift them. Yeah for parenthood!

While eating lunch after our hospital visit I read in the paper that the much anticipated Lady Gaga concert was last night. Furthermore, I read that there was to be a Lady Gaga look alike contest at a downtown bar on Church Street. What do you say Bruce? Want to go check out the "Little Monsters?"
Of course he did! I took my camera, only getting one decent shot because once we got closer we ran into Dana and took a streetside seat at her table. When these LMs went by, I jumped up and ran around the barrier to get this:

There were plenty more devotees who spent enormous energy putting their costumes together. I didn't see them in person, but today's paper shows a sister and brother in costumes she made. Hers was covered with tiny mirrors, which according to the story took her several months to sew on. My, oh my!

I told Dana we couldn't be spending Friday and Saturday nights any differently. Tonight Bruce will be donning a tuxedo which I will be sure to document! We're going to this. Debbie Komanski, the director of the Polasek, called last week, apologizing that the invitation she meant to sent earlier never left her inbox. The article I posted is an old one, but apparently the same sort of thing will be happening later today. Fortunately, the theme of their table is elegance, thus the tuxedo. I'll be pulling out of the back of the closet a long black sheath Bruce bought for me years ago while he was doing a job in California. After seeing it on a mannequin he asked the clerk for a measuring tape because he thought it looked like my size. Fortunately, it still is.

How about if I leave you with this:

Up close and personal indeed.