happy belated thanksgiving

Before any more rural/exotic British adventures are posted, a quick, late, look back at our old country thanksgiving.

A couple weeks ago, on the Sunday following actual US thanksgiving, to be precise, we had our own thanksgiving here. As thanksgivings go, it was warm and fuzzy and buttery. Really - thanksgiving, as it turns out, is a very buttery holiday. Which is probably why it tastes so good. I know this because we cooked all day for it, and it took a lot of butter. But getting to eat leftovers for the week following is definitely worth the effort, and you only do it once a year... Which makes it okay, right? Anyway, it was only our second complete thanksgiving cooking session ever, but I think we did a good job, all by ourselves, except for the salad. First, the menu. We had:

Russell's Avant-Garde Beetroot & Pomegranate Salad

Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Mushroom & Onion Gratin

Green Beans with Caramelized Shallots

Stuffing

Cornbread

Gravy

and of course, Turkey

For dessert: homemade apple pie, with vanilla ice cream

Yes, we ate dessert. Somehow.

Second, the cast. We were 9 for dinner: ourselves and our 4 housemates, one housemate-significant-other, Stephen, one Greek/Swede ex-model, Alex, and my friend Caroline Mair. Third, the process and the pictures. There was a lot of strange new world cooking in our English kitchen, let me tell you. Joey started it off the day before, when he made cranberry sauce from scratch. He also peeled and cored bushels of apples for the pie. (Joey loves him some thanksgiving dinner, and he's evidently not afraid to work for it.) On the morning in question, we rolled out of bed and directly into the kitchen, where birds were dressed, seasoned and basted, vegetables were sliced, diced, marinated, sauteed, roasted and otherwise adulterated, root provisions were attacked, cheeses grated, breads crumbed, and so on. This went on all day. But let's start at the beginning looking at pictures, shall we?

These are the beetroots that were picked fresh from the garden that morning



This is Russell, the beetroot grower, proudly displaying his babies, right before putting them to boil so he could put them in the salad and we could eat them.


Here is Joey, creating stuffing


The work in progress


Darkness fell, and still the faithful laboured on...


No detail was spared


And finally, (almost) everybody assembled, prepared to eat.
In this picture, clockwise from Joey: Russell, Stephen, Andrew, myself, Caroline, Graham, Alex.


The table, at the beginning of the meal


The triumphant entrance of the bird


Followed by its immediate decline


The delicious vegetables


And the hungry chefs. We're only smiling here because we're polite.


And finally, the very photogenic pie, which we were all excited to eat.


(Case in point)


There was after-dinner entertainment in the form of books


And of course photography



Orlando the cat, who we had very rudely failed to invite to the feast, saw an opening and went for it immediately.


It was a good evening. See the looks of contentment?


And then the next day, we got to do it again. :) The end.