thanksgiving recap . . .

This year I made Thanksgiving dinner for M and his aunt and uncle.  It was a great crowd to make dinner for.  Here are some pictures from the day.

The Table Spread:

Place setting: rosemary, thyme, and sage - I especially liked these name cards because they looked and smelled pretty, and because after the dinner was over I just tipped them upside down and let them dry out.  Now I have dried herbs that will last up to six months.

Turkey - This year I used the Zankou garlic paste on my turkey.  For those of you that live in LA you know what I am talking about when I say the paste they give you for you rotisserie chicken that kind of resembles vegetable shortening.  That is what I spread all over my turkey, and the skin turned out nice and crispy.  Unfortunately, I over cooked the turkey a little bit due to the fact that my thermometer was clearly NOT working...  She did look beautiful though and had great skin :)

Brussel sprouts with pomegranate, orange and lime zests, and toasted hazelnuts - I got this recipe from Bobby Flay.  This was my favorite dish of the day, and my favorite to prepare.  I don't know about you but I love picking the seeds out of pommegrantes, for me its similar to snapping bubble wrap. Anyway, this dish was all about texture, it had a pop and a crunch to it that was delightful.

Roasted Veggies - I put cauliflower, red onions, and carrots underneath my turkey as it roasted and they were very good.

We also had my granmother's noodles, which I have featured on this blog before.  We also had mashed potatoes, stuffing, and homemade greenbean casserole.

And of course we had pumpkin pie with whipped cream:

After dinner we streamed the British series Sherlock Holmes from Netflix, which is a modern take on the classic.  Believe me by 4:00 p.m. I was ready to kick back and relax.  SH is a particuraly brilliant (much more intersting than the Hollywood version), and I highly recommend.  The first season has 3 episodes, but they are about 80 minutes in length.  Season 2 is due to air in early 2012, and I hope it will be available on iTunes or Netflix.

Courtesy of BBC.

Later in the evening, since many of the stores opened at midnight in Burbank, M and I went out at 11:45 p.m. to see what all of the fuss was about.  We headed to Best Buy, and I couldn't believe all of the people that were out, I would say there were over a thousand people waiting in line at Target and Best Buy alone.  The Cheesecake Factory even had a truck at Best Buy and they were selling food and beverages to those poor souls waiting in line. 

Then M and I headed over to Macys, you should have seen the women in the shoe department...need I say more... hilarious.  We did not buy anything, and we were both in bed by 1:30 a.m.

All in all... it was a lovely Thanksgiving Day, and I am very thankful that M and I spent another Thanksgiving together and with those that we love :)