Living far from home means holidays have a whole new meaning and feel about them. Our dear friends, Amy and Mark Starr, moved to Denver about two months before we did and they also gave up the luxury of having family and a community of friends living nearby to move to an unfamiliar state to follow their dreams. Amy is doing her first year of residency at the Denver Children's Hospital so she can be a pediatrician. Amy and Mark are a critical part of our lives here- we all talk frequently about how we have become each other's family. We usually see them several times a week for impromptu dinners, game nights, and outings to (if possible) free local events. Amy and I cry on each others shoulders when we are discouraged or homesick, escape for girls yoga night, or try out new recipes on each other. Mark and Micah primarily spend their time together playing a card game called "Magic." Their obsession has even drawn them to Magic tournaments- huge geek fests where they are overwhelmingly outnumbered by pasty, awkward, virgin nerds. To each his own, I suppose.
This was the first Thanksgiving that both of our families had spent completely away from our families- where we would be responsible for the entire dinner, including the turkey. Because Amy and I both love to cook, we saw this as an enjoyable challenge. We both spent weeks planning our dishes and to fully admit it, we were "geeking out" just as much as the guys were on their Magic game...except our obsession became gratins, turkey brines, and pastry crust recipes. We called it our first grown up Thanksgiving- which is kind of funny since we are pushing 30. But truly, you don't really feel like a real adult until you are entirely in charge of the whole meal.
This turkey was a recipe that I found on the Food Network website by Alton Brown I brined it overnight in a delicious concoction of vegetable broth, salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, allspice, and candied ginger. I felt pretty cocky about my ability to make a good roast turkey, but when it came down to the last hour or so of cooking, I got really nervous and felt the full weight of the responsibility of pulling off the iconic dish of the holiday. My fears were relieved after I started carving and was rewarded with the most flavorful, moist, delicious turkey meat I have ever tasted. Luckily, I wasn't the only one to think so...everyone was impressed expect Penny, who has very little interest in meat at all. Ramona slept through the whole thing, but later raved about the quality of the breast milk.
Penny's favorite part was drinking cranberry juice cocktail from a fancy glass that was "just her size" as she says. She also had a little set of golden silverware and used a real glass plate. She has repeatedly told me that her favorite Thanksgiving food is bread. She relished a huge piece of Amy's homemade brown brown spread generously with her favorite condiment: butter.
The Spread
In order to feel like it was Thanksgiving, I had to attempt to make two family dishes: my mom's potato casserole and my dad's stuffing. As for Mom's recipe, I knew that if I followed the recipe, I would get an almost exact replica of the real deal. With Dad's recipe, I knew I would be on shakier ground. Whereas my mom follows recipes like a true baker- measuring everything accurately and rarely straying from the instructions, my dad is more like the Swedish Chef from the muppets. I knew I would probably not be able to replicate it exactly, but I did a pretty good imitation. At least it was good enough that Mark and Amy said it was the best stuffing they had ever had. Thanks Dad :)
After our feasting, we decided to head on out to Sandcreek Park, which is just a few minutes drive from our house to enjoy the sunset. The weather has been absolutely beautiful lately. It got up to 65 degrees on Thanksgiving Day- definitely the warmest and driest Thanksgiving I can ever remember having. Just more reasons to feel thankful to God for all the blessings he has given us over the past few months, even with all the hardships.
To help Penny understand Thanksgiving, I taught her about the history of the pilgrims and the Native Americans at the first American colony at "school" as we call it. We also made a Thanksgiving Tree during one of our craft times- an idea I stole from some volunteers who did the same activity at My Father's House during family night for the homeless families. We made the tree out of construction paper and taped the branches to the kitchen wall. Then Penny helped me cut out leaves (she is getting really great at using scissors!) and we put the leaves on each person's plate. Then everyone wrote something they were thankful about and we taped them to the tree. I think this will probably be a tradition for us now. Not only was it fun, but it helped create meaning for Penny about the day. She was thankful for "the delicious food God made, my Mom and my Dad, and the lovely home we have here." For as much as I complain about our basement apartment and our terrible neighborhood, if Penny finds it lovely, I'm satsified completely.
CHEERS!
This turkey was a recipe that I found on the Food Network website by Alton Brown I brined it overnight in a delicious concoction of vegetable broth, salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, allspice, and candied ginger. I felt pretty cocky about my ability to make a good roast turkey, but when it came down to the last hour or so of cooking, I got really nervous and felt the full weight of the responsibility of pulling off the iconic dish of the holiday. My fears were relieved after I started carving and was rewarded with the most flavorful, moist, delicious turkey meat I have ever tasted. Luckily, I wasn't the only one to think so...everyone was impressed expect Penny, who has very little interest in meat at all. Ramona slept through the whole thing, but later raved about the quality of the breast milk.
Penny's favorite part was drinking cranberry juice cocktail from a fancy glass that was "just her size" as she says. She also had a little set of golden silverware and used a real glass plate. She has repeatedly told me that her favorite Thanksgiving food is bread. She relished a huge piece of Amy's homemade brown brown spread generously with her favorite condiment: butter.
The Spread
In order to feel like it was Thanksgiving, I had to attempt to make two family dishes: my mom's potato casserole and my dad's stuffing. As for Mom's recipe, I knew that if I followed the recipe, I would get an almost exact replica of the real deal. With Dad's recipe, I knew I would be on shakier ground. Whereas my mom follows recipes like a true baker- measuring everything accurately and rarely straying from the instructions, my dad is more like the Swedish Chef from the muppets. I knew I would probably not be able to replicate it exactly, but I did a pretty good imitation. At least it was good enough that Mark and Amy said it was the best stuffing they had ever had. Thanks Dad :)
After our feasting, we decided to head on out to Sandcreek Park, which is just a few minutes drive from our house to enjoy the sunset. The weather has been absolutely beautiful lately. It got up to 65 degrees on Thanksgiving Day- definitely the warmest and driest Thanksgiving I can ever remember having. Just more reasons to feel thankful to God for all the blessings he has given us over the past few months, even with all the hardships.
To help Penny understand Thanksgiving, I taught her about the history of the pilgrims and the Native Americans at the first American colony at "school" as we call it. We also made a Thanksgiving Tree during one of our craft times- an idea I stole from some volunteers who did the same activity at My Father's House during family night for the homeless families. We made the tree out of construction paper and taped the branches to the kitchen wall. Then Penny helped me cut out leaves (she is getting really great at using scissors!) and we put the leaves on each person's plate. Then everyone wrote something they were thankful about and we taped them to the tree. I think this will probably be a tradition for us now. Not only was it fun, but it helped create meaning for Penny about the day. She was thankful for "the delicious food God made, my Mom and my Dad, and the lovely home we have here." For as much as I complain about our basement apartment and our terrible neighborhood, if Penny finds it lovely, I'm satsified completely.
CHEERS!
Thank you, Heather....for such a beautiful post about your first Thanksgiving away from home. I felt as though I was right there beside you. I pray for God's very best for you and your sweet family as you begin your new life in Colorado.
ReplyDeleteMuch love,
Mary Schleining
PS I know you don't know me but I went to OSU with your wonderful mama and my husband, Brad, and I worked with your dad in Campus Life before any of us had kids here in Portland. We've been friends for a long time. Your parents are the best!!