Friday, November 27, 2009

And We Gave Thanks....


And so it came to pass that Mom madeth the turkey and it was good. Oh hell, it was VERY good.

It came from the oven with a crisp, mahogany skin and was the stuff of a Gourmet magazine cover. And the sausage stuffing was good too, as was the gravy and mashed potatoes. We brought a huge bag of fresh-picked broccoli from the Honey Brook Organic Farm Pig-Out, and it was devoured so quickly we didn't even get a taste.


There was a kids' table, and the twins and my brother's three daughters all ate well, and were amazingly well-behaved, thanks in no small part to sister-in-law Claire's cool calm management style. She is amazing. There was some quiet discord: neice Laura definitely felt she had earned a graduation to the adult table, and ate in silence. In all there were 15 of us , with my godmother, Aunt Mary joining us for the first time. It was a bit cramped, but it was fun.


This year's Beaujolias Nouveau went really well with the feast, this year's dry finish to the wine brightened all the meal components; brother Bob poured a Hartwell Cab (from a decanter!) for himself, Claire and my sis Renee and brother-in-law John. It overpowered the meal to my taste, but they all seemed to enjoy it. Mom and Aunt Mary stuck with their white zin standby.


I brought up two sweet potato pies, my first-ever attempt at pie baking, and they went over ok, but everyone clammored to devour my mom's Chocolate Lush, a chilled graham cracker/custard concoction, pure Turkey Day crack.


The clean-up was daunting, but we got through it (mom is just a cleaning machine), and collapsed around the house before heading to cousin Sean's house for some family hanging and laughter. It was a perfect Thanksgiving.

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