Thanksgiving Part 2: The Big Day.

After a good night's sleep and fun morning watching the parade from the window of our hotel room at the New York Athletic Club (pictures to come tomorrow), we arrive back at my apartment around 1 p.m. to put the finishing touches on our Thanksgiving meal.

Thursday, 1 p.m. I lay out the appetizer spread. We have celery and carrots with T. Marzetti's dill dip, water crackers and pita chips with herb-shrimp dip and blue cheese-walnut spread, the goat cheese stuffed mushrooms, and an assortment of marinated olives and dill pickles from Agata & Valentina's. The mushrooms go in the oven for 20 minutes to melty-perfection. They called for red pepper flakes, and I didn't measure the amount... they were a bit spicy, but absolutely delicious! They were one of my favorite dishes of the day. The dips were both really good, too, and I'm excited for those leftovers the next few days.

Thursday, 1:10 p.m. We pop the turkey back in the oven to heat it all the way through and mix the rest of the ingredients for Martha's simple stuffing into a crock pot (borrowed from my aunt Diane). The recipe didn't call for sausage, but I thought that Italian sweet sausage might be a nice addition. The dried bread seemed to be taking up too much space, even with the 3 eggs, 1/2 a cup of wine, and 2 cans of chicken broth, so I'm a bit concerned about this. We can't get all the bread into the pot just yet either. At this point, we also peel and start boiling our 5 pounds of red potatoes (no recipe for this, I make great mashed potatoes on my own!) and start boiling our Minnesotan wild rice with a mix of sauteed mushrooms and onions.

Thursday, 1:50 p.m. The turkey comes out of the oven to rest, and the green beans go in to cook for 45 minutes. The potatoes are done boiling, so I mash them with my $7.99 hand mixer from Target with skim milk, butter, salt, pepper, and 4 ounces of cream cheese.

Thursday, 2 p.m. We mix some of the juices from the turkey in with the dressing, stir vigorously, add the rest of the bread, and pray to God that it will cook more in the final half hour.

Thursday, 2:15 p.m. Mom mixes up the gravy. I've never made gravy before and don't feel like trying it today... maybe next year! Mom also carves the turkey while I'm dishing up everything else into the serving dishes and heating up the rolls. I mix up a special drink in a big pitcher of 1 bottle of champagne, 2 cups of cranberry juice, and 6 ounces of grand Marnier, decorated with cranberries frozen in ice cubes. On the table in wine glasses, the drinks looked really pretty and festive, and they tasted delicious! Also at this point, my dad and uncle pulled out my awesome gate-leg table, flipped up the other side, pulled out the extra chairs and set the table.

Thursday, 2:25 p.m. I realize all the clean silverware is in the dishwasher still, stop the dishwasher mid-wash and pull out burning hot forks and knives for the whole family. No need to panic :-)

Thursday, 2:30 p.m. We sit down to the table, say grace, pass the dishes and dig in! The turkey and stuffing were actually probably my favorites. I don't normally like stuffing, but I really liked this recipe, especially with the extra sausage. Way to go Martha! Mom was worried that the gravy was a little lumpy, but it was delicious so no one else seemed to notice. Of course, I always love Minnesotan wild rice with gravy, but that's a given!

Thursday, 4:30 p.m. After cleaning up a bit, flipping through some of the advertisements for Black Friday, we serve up our apple pie from Agata & Valentina with vanilla ice cream for dessert. The pie was really good, also one of my favorites from the day.

Thursday, 5:30 p.m. My aunt and uncle get on the road back to New Jersey, we clean up a bit more, and then everyone (kitties included) is ready for a nap and some good old fashioned, American television.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!