For the record...

... here was the menu...

Beaujolais nouveau
River Ridge Farm turkey
Oyster stuffing
Gravy
Cranberry sauce
Camembert mashed potatoes
Roasted red onions with pomegranate, orange, and parsley gremolata
Green beans with toasted walnuts and dried-cherry vinaigrette

Roasted brussels sprouts with sherry-mustard vinaigrette
Gratin of cauliflower with gruyere
Roasted curried cauliflower with pomegranate (and yogurt garnish)
Kale salad
Banana/pear nut bread

{{{rest}}}

Apple pie with ice cream and pumpkin liqueur on the side

Thanksgiving Porn

A few leftover Thanksgiving links...

Stuff I never got to before the holiday, but to stick a pin in for next year (and I'm an omnivore!)...

Vegetarian Thanksgiving recipes

12 Vegetarian Thanksgiving Dishes to Make Omnivores Jealous

The Perfect (Vegetarian!) Thanksgiving Side

10 Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey Panini

... and finally, Helen weighs in (ahem) on Thanksgiving.  ;-)

Friday Food Photo

For the record, here was our menu. We actually pulled it off! 

river ridge farms turkey
autumn vegetable patties
farro, caramelized onion, and wild mushroom stuffing
gravy
homemade cranberry sauce
sweet potato fries
camembert mashed potatoes
roasted red onions with pomegranate, orange, and parsley gremolata
green beans with toasted walnuts and dried-cherry vinaigrette
roasted brussels sprouts with sherry-mustard vinaigrette
gratin of cauliflower with gruyere
pumpkin bread
apple pie
beaujolais nouveau

Yeah, it's a little over the top (ok, so, a LOT over the top!), but it's my favorite holiday, so I like to dial it up to eleven!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

It's been a busy day (actually, two days) of cooking, eating and enjoying the family, but over the course of the day, I've collected a few links for Thanksgiving reading.

Thanksgiving Thrift: The Holiday as a Model for Sustainable Cooking

The Roots of the Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving

Enduring Thanksgiving

I hope you've had a great day -- either enjoying the holiday or, if you're not in the States, having a lovely Thursday!

UPDATE: A Thanksgiving parade from 1939, recently discovered in a box from a junk shop:

Yay and Yippee!!

Sarah Vowell is now an official correspondent on the Daily Show! The more Sarah in my life, the better, so this is very good news (even if she did use her bully pulpit to bash the happiest day of the year)!!

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Happy Evacuation Day
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

Wordy Wednesday

I don't have a photo ready and the day is almost over, so here's a bit of babble... It's been a busy week so far, and this evening I was occupied with making soup and then roasting the chestnuts I picked up at today's farmers market (thanks to UTC's biology department). Yum!

So, instead of a picture, I'm going to remind you of what an awesome month this is. November, 2011...

Yesterday, it was (twice!) 11:11 on 11/1/11. And next Friday (Veterans Day), we'll get (twice!) 11:11 on 11/11/11! And as an extra bonus, it will be Nigel Tufnel Day! (I think there may also be something about the end of the world in there, too, not to mention a rush on weddings.)  ;-)

And then today was also the second day of the Días de los Muertos. And a rare, eight-digit palindrome day.

But most importantly, November (No-shave November for some amongst us) is the month of my favorite holiday of the year, and I really should be doing some planning for that epic meal...   oh, it's going to be awesome...   :)

Happy Hump Day, everyone!!

Friday Creature

Happy Black Friday/Buy Nothing Day! We spent half the day cooking yesterday, and then the rest of the day recovering from our meal (for the record... turkey breast, oyster stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, green beans, broccoli corn bake, cheddar bay biscuits, mandarin oranges, pumpkin bread, and a peppy beaujolais nouveau). After the requisite perambulations and siestas, we settled into some game-playing, and look at who landed on our scrabble board! Other post-harvest fest creatures can be found on today's (likely overfed) Friday Ark! Have a great weekend, everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving!

(Or Happy Thursday, if you don't happen to be in the United States.)

I don't have a huge link list this year, but here's the important thing:

Friday-ish vibes!

It's only Tuesday, but it's feeling like the weekend here at Chez 10K. G-Dog and Emmie just finished up for the week at school, so we're officially on Thanksgiving break. I've already gotten a turkey for Thursday, but have to do the rest of the grocery shopping tomorrow, and then I'll be in for the holiday.

I feel like I should be posting a creature, but it's not Friday, so that will have to wait. In the meantime, though, here are some other pretty pictures:

• On the Shoreline (one of these days, I sure would like to host a Thanksgiving gathering at my seaside home...)

• National Geographic's International Photography Contest (both batches of photos take my breath away!)

Weekend Links

Things that caught my eye recently...

• Oh, Sarah Palin, why do you make me think of you and your horrible inadequacy?!? I don't deserve that (more here!).
• The world in lego!
• Sesame Street made a joke, the wingnuts freaked out and Colbert had some fun. Honestly, I have no use for Sesame Street or the muppets since that horrible Elmo made his debut, but cut the shaggy rags a break -- it was a freakin' rhyme.
• These photographers color outside of the lines.
• Islands seen from space.
• Al Gore (the thinner version!) visited The Daily Show last week.
• Where are you getting your Thanksgiving turkey and how much will you pay for it? Years ago, when Emmie was a bleeding-heart teenager, she announced that she would not be eating any Thanksgiving turkey unless it had been a happy bird who had lived a good life. I said ok, I'll give it a whirl, and picked up a free-range, organic bird (and took some long, deep breaths to get me past the sticker shock). I cooked it up and was amazed at how much more moist and delicious the turkey was that year, and have paid the premium prices ever since. It really is better meat.
• The History of Birth Control.
• Leviticus also said...
• US Exclaves.
• This link is a bit older, but I loves me some Sarah Vowell!
• Letters of Note.
• Al Franken has gotten to work (he's not funny (much) -- he's just really good).
• Feed the World!
• In America, people of all faiths are welcome here to worship Jesus in their own way.
• What's happening to American conservatism?!?
• A difficult goodbye.

A few images from the holiday weekend...

Thanksgiving Stuff

It's my most favorite holiday of the year, kids! Simple, sincere, uncomplicated... the centerpiece of the day is a wonderful meal with loved ones (here's a tip regarding that from Mignon McLaughlin!) with cooking before -- and after, some napping, sports, games, strolling, and general fun. It doesn't get any better that that! So, here's your Thanksgiving post, largely assembled last night, after I finished up a bit of prep for today's cooking. But I'll add to it if I find any additional delights throughout the day, so if you have a chance, check back before you lapse into your l-tryptophan-enduced coma later this afternoon!

First off, here's the soundtrack to this post, because of course, it's Thanksgiving, so you have to listen to Alice's Restaurant Massacree (I certainly suffered enough as a child because of it, so you damn well better listen and enjoy!)  ;-D

[Note: if you want to buy this album, be careful to get the 30th Anniversary Edition (which is RIAA-free), and not the original album (which is not).]

And if anyone's curious, here's our menu for this year: turkey (we got a 15 lb. free-range, organic bird this year), oyster stuffing, G-Dog's mashed potatoes (which are becoming famouser by the year), gravy, cranberry sauce, broccoli-corn bake, whiskey glazed carrots, pumpkin bread, Emmie's fantastic cheddar bay biscuits, and apple pie. We'll be a fairly small group of just four or five people, so that ought to fill us up. (Sorry, no turbaconducken, and no turgooduccochiqua!)

But on with the turkey day links...

Have you turned on the TV yet? What are you waiting for? The holiday weekend marathons may have already started!

Get it right! Here are your Top 6 Thanksgiving Myths!

Sorry to be Captain Bringdown here, but all that food on the table... have you thought about who participated in getting it there?

A few great Thanksgiving special TV episodes!

10 ways to give back on Thanksgiving.

8 Thanksgiving specials no one is thankful for!

For the Nate Silver in each of us: Thanksgiving charts and stats!

Thanksgiving isn't original -- here are some other harvest festivals (and some crazy ones).

The worst things about Thanksgiving.

Top 5 Thanksgiving Movies -- wait, no -- or is it Top 10 Thanksgiving Movies?

Thanksgiving traditions.

Things to talk about on Thanksgiving.

Tips for getting along with difficult relatives today.

The science of feeling full.

Ten things you can only say on Thanksgiving!

Charles Phoenix's Tiki-Turkey Dinner.

17 reasons to give thanks.

Five Novels That Serve Up Thanksgiving Dinners.

A humanist Thanksgiving proclamation.

An awesome moment from this morning's Macy's parade (see it here, too)!

Vintage photos of past Macy's parades.

The Obamas' Thanksgiving Eve.

Political turkeys of the year.

Charlie Chaplin's Thanksgiving.

Bartlet calls the Butterball Hotline.

Time's Thanksgiving Trivia.

The One With the Turkey Head.

Thanksgiving Quiz!

Let Us Remember the True Meaning of Thanksgiving Before It’s Abolished.

What's Bush eating today? Here's the menu!

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Thanksgiving

It's my favorite of all the holidays. It's so simple -- just a meal -- and even though some of the huge family Thanksgivings of the past could be rather loud and chaotic, I still think of it as a peaceful holiday. I've never been much for the over-eating side of things, but I do love lots of leftovers -- they keep me out of the kitchen for days, and once we're finally starting to get tired of turkey, G-Dog will use up what's left by cooking a batch of his now-famous turkey and wild mushroom soup.

I hope you're spending the day with people you enjoy, and that your travels are safe. Take care!

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope this finds you well and enjoying a safe and happy holiday (or Thursday, if you don't happen to be in the US at the moment)! Things are starting to get very quiet here as the dishwasher finishes up and the l-tryptophan kicks in...

Thanksgiving is by far my favorite holiday. No fuss, no shopping, no annoying commercials, no decorations or silly costumes -- just a simple meal with people we enjoy. I don't have any photos, though, as I spent the day in the kitchen, so this is one from the archive.

Counting stars by candlelight, all are dim but one is bright;
The spiral light of venus, rising first and shining best,
On, from the northwest corner, of a brand new crescent moon,
While crickets and cicadas sing, a rare and different tune,
Terrapin station.

(The photo is from a couple of months ago -- right before the Market Street Bridge closed -- and the words are, of course, from Robert Hunter.)