Thanksgiving Suggestions

I just have a few minutes to write down what we are doing for our friends and family this Thanksgiving...

First and foremost, have fun! Thanksgiving is the best holiday because its all about spending time with friends, eating lots of really good food and drinking tasty beverages. We like to get really into it and put out a really impressive table, but we don't want it to feel like hard labor so we take our time and spread it out over a few days, each one being a good reason to party.
About one week ago a small group of us got together to write up a guest list and a menu. We had this conference over brunch at the Slow Club. That Gorgonzola burger and several mimosas really gets the creative juices flowing. Here is the menu that we came up with:

Noon:
Guests begin to arrive, we crack open some sparkling wine and set out platters of hors d'oeuvres to include:
Charcuterie, Cheese, Crudite, Oysters on the half shell with black pepper mignonette, and our American sturgeon caviar topped blintz stuffed with smoked salmon mousse, more champagne and a gradual shift toward vodka martinis, which we like extra dirty.

1:00
platters of persimmon wedges on skewers to stimulate everyones appetites, and more martinis...

2:00
Salad time! This year our salad is going to be frisee with julienne honey crisp apples and duck confit tossed in sherry viniagrette and served over warm fingerling potatoes in whole grain mustard hollandaise. Mmmmmm... with this salad we are going to serve a nice crisp and not overly sweet Gewurztraminer, that has not yet been chosen.

3:00
Platters of honey crisp wedges on skewers, again to stimulate appetites, because we are not even close to finished yet...

4:00
Now we eat! We have 2 Heritage turkeys coming from Willie Bird, one will be stuffed with traditional stuffing, the other with crab stuffing. We are making a salmon en croute with a garlic creme sauce, which is a Classic Russian dish called Koubiliac (keep your eyes out for this recipe, its incredible). We will have all the traditional sides, the cranberry, turkey gravy, and whipped potatoes. We are adding a gratin of butternut squash, an apple rosemary puree, and buttery sauteed brussel sprouts. Shortly after dinner, we all usually find a couch cushion or so to nap on. Some will be done for the evening, but most of us will manage to claw our way back over to the table for dessert, which will just happen when it happens.

7:00??
We always like to end this evening properly so we get some nice bottles of port and a bottle of chamomile grappa (and if you have never tried this, its essential). This year we will be having pumpkin pie of course. We are scratching the apple pie in favor of a apple tart tatin, yum! and the shocker, we are gonna bring a little upstate NY and make individual maple flan's, which are just incredible. Look for the flan recipe too. About this time is usually when my memory starts to get a bit hazy. I think there is usually something about tequila and hot tubbing that goes late into the evening.

There are going to be 35 of us eating and 4 of us cooking so we have a lot of work to do. However, we are doing this because we enjoy it, and the best way to make sure that the process is as enjoyable as the outcome is to make them one and the same. So, as I said, we already had fun planning.
Now the party starts on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, the day we go shopping at the farmers' market for most of our groceries. Staying organized is pretty important in order to avoid making any big mistakes like realizing at the last minute that you didn't buy a turkey... but if being organized stresses you out, forget about it. Just make sure you have fun, turkey or not.
Thanks for checking in! Mike and Abby