The day after Thanksgiving here- which was actually
Thanksgiving day in the U.S. (welcome to my life of adding/subtracting hours
and working out being a day ahead of everyone), was a little more exciting
since I got to video chat with lots of my friends and family during their
Thanksgiving festivities. I love run-on
sentences. And fragments. Lauren, can you correct that for me? Or maybe
you better not. My parents and brother
spent Thanksgiving outside of Philadelphia with some of my mom’s extended
family. It was so fun to talk to
everyone and see everyone thanks to FaceTime.
But I won’t deny that it made me pretty sad at the same time. On this day 14,000 miles seemed EXTRA far
away. I promptly called my sister in
Washington to commiserate that neither of us were there. I also got to talk to my grandma and my dad’s
extended family back in Phoenix. I love
you FaceTime and Google Video Chat!
To distract myself from being a little homesick, I got
started on my long list of items that needed preparation for the Friendsgiving
dinner David and I were hosting on Sunday.
This was my first time hosting Thanksgiving (or any type of gathering
with a meal really), and man it was seriously a lot of work! Add to that some difficulty in finding
typical Thanksgiving dish ingredients and the world’s smallest oven, and I was
definitely a little more than stressed about the whole thing. Here are some of the dishes I made in
progress:
I was most nervous about the turkey. It just seemed like such a daunting task. I regretted not helping or at least watching my mom prep the turkey all those years. I tend to get a bit squeamish with raw meat, so I always just avoided that part. Well anyway, with a little (ok a lot) of help from my mom, my sister, my friend Anne who is an amazing cook, YouTube, and a few other websites, I am happy to report that my turkey turned out great! I actually made two turkeys, since the largest turkey I could find was 10 pounds- and we were having 15 people over. I made one the night before and the other the day of. So glad I did it that way!
Being grossed out at the prospect of getting up close and personal with this raw turkey.
Our guests also brought either a favorite side dish
or dessert, so we had TONS of food!
Here’s a look at the spread:
Here are some of the recipes I used if anyone’s interested:
Pioneer Woman Dinner Rolls: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/11/pw_dinner_rolls_-_no_kneading_required/
Pioneer Woman Gravy:http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/10/turkey_gravy_baby/
Pioneer Woman Whiskey Glazed Carrots:http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/10/whiskey-glazed-carrots-major-league-yum/
Bon Appetite Herb Roasted Turkey:http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2012/11/herb-roasted-turkey
Martha Stewart Pie Crusts:
Martha Stewart Pumpkin Mousse Pie:http://www.marthastewart.com/864305/icebox-pumpkin-mousse-pie
And a few other recipes that I’m probably forgetting or that
don’t have a web link…