Thanksgiving Adventures

This year, Peter, Lady and I spent Thanksgiving in Chicago.  We really missed celebrating with family, but didn't miss the 8 total hours in the car (if we're lucky) to have a meal and turn around to come home.  I'm no stranger to hosting meals, but I've never done one that's as "high stakes" as Thanksgiving, plus I was in charge of the turkey.  Nope, never cooked a turkey before.  Here are some pictures of what we served, and the process therein:

Golden!!  

Beautiful (If I do say so myself :).  It's amazing the difference
adding a little greenery makes!

We had some close friends come for a pot luck of sorts:  I was in charge of the turkey, cranberry jello, and desserts.  Recipes to come!  We also had beautiful decorations courtesy of the "Mancl Family Wedding Decorations, Inc."  It wasn't the usual large family gathering, but it was a nice change to celebrate with friends.

The pilgrims and Native Americans showed up, courtesy
of my Gamma Bonnie :)

Some important lessons I've learned
-Put your turkey in a bag when it's thawing in the fridge.  Yep, totally had to clean the refrigerator; twice.
-The gibblet and gizzard were NOT in a bag in the turkey cavity.  I was assured they would be in an easy-to-find bag.  I wasn't familiar with turkey anatomy, but Peter and I eventually figured it out...with the help of an optometry penlight and some general poking around.  (How many "doctors" does it take...)
-So, apparently I only found the gizzard...I found the gibblet bag while carving the turkey.  Thankfully the bag didn't blow up, and the breast meat seemed ok (it was actually delicious).  There should be explicit instructions on where to find said anatomical rejects.

Laura's green bean casserole and Megan's cornbread stuffing

Megan's fall salad and Laura's mashed potatoes

My mother-in-law's cranberry applesauce jello

Streusel-topped pumpkin pudding pie

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, wherever you celebrated.  As I sit here in a "turkey coma", (I can explain that medically, and it's not tryptophan, but that's another story), I'm just so grateful for everything, especially my husband, my dog, pediatrics :) , my family, wonderful friends, and a successful first Thanksgiving adventure.


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