We’ve been home for almost a week now and I’m beginning to doubt I’ll ever find the time to write up our fantabulous Thanksgiving feast in a way that will do it justice, so instead I’ll give you the short version. I suspect you’ll be grateful since we’re all so turkeyed out at this point, but if you want more detail check out our host Tim’s account of the festivities here.
When we arrived at Tim and Victor’s home outside Philly, this was our greeting:
Going in a circle from the lower right: vegetable antipasto, baked brie with cranberries and raspberries, chopped chicken liver with trimmings, quite a lavish cheese assortment, rice balls (which are a doctored version of Little Gram’s recipe), caponata (which actually is Little Gram’s recipe), crostini with eggplant puree or sweet kalamata spread, and fried ham-and-gorgonzola wontons.
The table was set with tons of cozy, kookie doodads, plus baskets of homemade pumpkin rolls with gorgeous cranberry butter:
In all the hubbub of seating 18 people, somehow I neglected to take a picture of the main meal. Let me tell you, it was pretty amazing. Platters of sliced turkey, two different kinds of stuffing, sweet potato casseroles with both marshmallows and brown sugar & pecans, three different homemade cranberry sauces, gallons of gravy, green beans in a vinegar glaze, tri-colored carrots with dill… It was a sight to behold. I’m still kicking myself for not recording it.
After an appropriate interlude (gotta make room for more food, after all), the desserts were presented:
From the lower right: apple pie, pecan pie, apricot-macadamia fruit cake, the best homemade chocolate chip cookies in the entire world, pumpkin pie in a gingersnap crust with pumpkin crème fraiche, pumpkin cheesecake, gingersnap bars, chocolate polenta cake with cran-raspberry coulis, traditional pumpkin pie, and, um, fruit salad.
We left there stuffed and happy and relaxed. There’s something to be said for going to Thanksgiving at the home of someone you’re not related to—no tension, no squabbling, no traditional family arguments (though they may well have happened, but since I’m not in this particular family I was blissfully oblivious). And a whole set of new recipes to try out!