The Operation was a Success!

Another Thanksgiving Day has come and gone.

This is my third Thanksgiving at the house in Arcata, and my first year making the turkey. As a matter of fact, I prepared everything for the meal this year. Good thing I'm on vacation. Over three days, I made several trips to the grocery store, making sure I covered all the angles and had everything I needed. Of course, on Thanksgiving morning I had to send Dick to Wildberries for olive oil. However that was the only hold-up in an otherwise superbly executed feast.

It is a testament to my good planning and the assistance of my housemates and dinner guests (all three of them) that we pulled it off beautifully. There was enough food to feed ten people of course. It's hard not to over do the Thanksgiving feast. The menu this year:

- 12 lb "Willy Bird" free-range turkey
- whole cranberry sauce
- italian-style stuffing w/ parmesan, bell peppers, raisins and pine nuts
- candied yams w/ marshmallow topping
- mashed potatoes
- fruit salad
- black-and-tans all around! (using Bass and Guinness)

Everything turned out great. I got a few pictures, I'll get some of them together and post them here soon. Perhaps the best part was that we managed to do all of this without completely destroying the kitchen. This is a good thing as I'm going to be back in there today making turkey soup stock. I dropped the ball on the turkey soup last year, but not this year. I remember when Liam and I made soup a couple of years ago. Best soup I've ever tasted. Hopefully I'll be able to pull off something similar this time.

It's a bonafide tradition: There are two wishbones on display in the kitchen, and I'm about to add a third. I probably won't be here for Thanksgiving next year, but I told Dick he should do his best to carry it on in my absence.