Sharing A Family Tradition...

Hi all,

As Thanksgiving came and went last week, I found myself alone on 'Turkey Day' for the very first time in my life. While last year was an entirely different version of Thanksgiving (shopping at Selfridges and getting sauced with mom!), this year was even more strange. I flew to Dublin at 5am on the morning of Thanksgiving, worked all day at my client site, checked into a hotel, and took several of my teammates out to celebrate a recent success. We had Indian food for dinner...and while I love a good naan bread and curry, it just wasn't the same.

And so, after feeling sorry for myself, I decided to invite over a few friends for a feast on Sunday. Albeit last minute - it was nothing short of a proper Thanksgiving. I was pleasantly surprised that after a quick email on Friday afternoon, there were 8 of us in total, most of whom had never met each other before. It was a grand day - filled with all sorts of mishaps just the way Thanksgiving should be - we had an electrical issue (lost power to the kitchen), a flood (water leaking from the refrigerator and washer), and no butter for the mashed potatoes (the worst disaster of all!). And yet, the dinner was fabulous - we had little individually stuffed game hens, (cranberry & apple stuffing), mashed potatoes, gravy, homeade cranberry sauce, my famous spinach/feta/apple/walnut salad, squash (thanks to Alistair), tri-colour salad (thanks to Beck), crumble-apple pie, lemon cheesecake (thanks to Steven), and Banoffe Pie (thanks to Ian - well sort of!), and enough wine that we each had our own bottle and more!

It was a day of celebration - a day of friendship, and a day of playing games. My favourite kind of thanksgiving! I must say, in the end, you never regret taking the time spend a whole day cooking, and enjoy it for a whole day with you friends/family (okay maybe my stomach regrets it because I am still full!)

Attached are some pictures of our drinking, eating, and game-playing!

Cheers!

Suzy

PS - This year, I am dedicating my 'thanks' to my mom - for teaching me how to throw a beautiful dinner together, to create a place where my guests feels welcome and happy, and to hold my cool under pressure when the entire kitchen falls apart before my very eyes!