Alternative Thanksgiving Wrap Up

The guests arrived, the turkey was cooked, the roast was roasted and the pudding proofed! Everything went very well and all had a good time. Our bellies were full and our taste buds tantalized!

The menu ended up being:

Appetizers
- Cranberry Crush Cocktail
- Taramasalata Dip, Herbed Cheese Spread, Capanata on Crostini and Crackers.
- Selection of Cheese Slices
- Selection of Italian Olives (Some of my favorites are the black cured ones that look like shriveled up black balls - used to hate them as a child and my great grandma loved them. Now, they are among my favorites and every time I eat one, I think of my Bis Nonna Diseno)

Main Course
- Wine, Pinot Noir (one of my favorite reds)
- Roasted Citrus Turkey
- Rainbow Chard, Apple, Cranberry Stuffed Roast Pork Loin
- Chestnut Date Dressing
- Pumpkin Polpettone - this was really yummy and so easy!
- Cranberry Orange Spiced Relish
- Pan Gravy
- Fresh Baked Rolls with Honey Orange Butter

Desserts
Yes this is plural, meaning more than one...
- Pumpkin Coffee
- Caramel Pumpkin Pie tastes just like regular, so not worth the extra effort to make caramel...
- Indian Pudding with Nutmeg Cinnamon Ice Cream
- Roasted Chestnuts

All the recipes are new except the appetizers and rolls. The rolls were a recipe from my family, but this is the first time I made them. The appetizers were store bought. The rest of the menu was made by loving hands and warm hearts.

I am very thankful for a hubbie that enjoys food as much as I. Most people think being married to a chef is the best as I never have to cook and he is the only one in the family who knows how to cook. Reality is I hail from a long line of good cooks. I was raised with food as a source of inspiration, nourishment, family, togetherness and tradition. I have been cooking since a wee little one. The first time I cooked for my hubbie, then boyfriend was a risotto. He proceeded to look over my shoulder the entire time, until I turned with knife in hand and said "Do you want to cook, or will you trust I know what I am doing?"

The point being, I know how to cook many things and have no fear in the kitchen. Some of my favorite stores are William Sonoma, Sur La Table etc. I love grocery shopping and seeing all the fresh real foods at whole foods or other like minded grocers.

I am very thankful for hubbie that we found a common passion and have passed that onto our boys. They love to help out in the kitchen, plan the menu and stir the pot.
This is family togetherness that hopefully will prevail in our family for many generations to come.