Thanksgiving Review....the sequel!

As I said in my last blog, Thanksgiving was the last blog I wrote a year ago and the reason I picked it up again.  So before the last leftover is either eaten or put in the garbage disposal, it's time to recap Thanksgiving Weekend 2009.

The weekend started on Wednesday when Alex and I went to our friends for dinner and wine (oh...for any of you readers who I haven't talked to since the last thanksgiving blog...Alex is my ridiculously wonderful boyfriend...he will be a main character in this blog...get to know him)  So Alex and I ate pizza with the Franks and may have had a bit more wine than we had planned.  Ok, I'm being kind.  Let's just say that Alex was very happy :-)

So after this nice kick-off to the weekend, I thought "I have a great idea!  How about I ask my drunk boyfriend to help me get ready for thanksgiving breakfast and roll the lox?"  Well, let's just say, considering we weren't at 100%, it turned out pretty darn good!  How 'bout these roses??

Well...a few short hours of sleep later and it was time for my favorite thanksgiving day tradition--the Turkey Day 5K.  This is the third year I've run this with my amazing friend, mentor and colleague, David (you should all also get to know him....a VERY important character).  Anyway, after three years, we thought it was time to up the ante and get HATS:

They were a huge hit.  People actually stopped us to take pictures.  We may not have been the fastest on the course but we were hands down the best looking.

Ok...onto the MAIN EVENT.  So my family has never been super into Thanksgiving.  It's just never been "our" holiday.  So I decided this year to start a new tradition and host Alex's family (aka: The Arbits) at my place and I gotta say, if this was year one, watch out.  It was DAMN good.

We did a "taste test" theme where we made two of almost everything and put them head to head:

• My mom's Wonder Bread stuffing v. Judy Arbit's Doctored Stovetop
• Classic sweet potatoes v. Red Curry Fiery sweet potatoes
• Grilled v. steamed asparagus
• Maple cranberry sauce v. Pinapple/Raisin Cranberry Sauce (aka: Dwight's Delight)
• Turkey v. Tofu (Alex's sister is a vegetarian)
• Pumpkin pie v. chocolate pie
  

Everyone had their favorites....no real disasters.  But I gotta say, every other thanksgiving, I eat turkey out of obligation.  It is only there so I can feel better about heaping 3 mountains of potatoes and gravy.  But not this year.  Nope.  This was the best dang turkey I've ever had.  Turns out, we found out the secret:  THE BUTTER JACKET.

We had named our turkey Tabatha.  And by the time we rubbed 1.5 sticks of butter underneath "Tabby's" skin, there was no way we could go wrong.  We put her in the oven, closed the door...and waited.

We raced against the clock and decided to be ambitious and see if we could complete a 500 piece puzzle while Tabitha was roasting.  We were so confident that we did the puzzle on the dining room table where we intended to eat.  Well....it was a close call and the food may have been a few step away from piping hot but...we finished it!  I don't have an actual picture of it but it followed the theme of the day...FOOD!

We cleared the table and Alex got a chance to carve his very first turkey.  And it was a good first effort!

It was like any good thanksgiving should be.  We ran.  We cooked.  We puzzled.  We stuffed our faces.  We regretted stuffing our faces.  And above all....I was thankful.  So very, very thankful. 

xoxo,
Debra

Next post....My 10-year high school reunion!