Happy Thanksgiving all. It’s been a great day.
Tracey and I said the same thing 10 minutes after sitting down to inhale dinner, “that was a lot of work.” I rolled out of bed at 7 to get the fire started. Tracey came soon after. The girls stayed in bed right up to 2 minutes BM, Before Macy’s. Taylor of course had to be coerced from her cover but didn’t seem to mind a parental rousing.
We’ve eaten and are finishing off the Beaujolais Nouveau now. Taylor’s cheesecake is on deck. We have a pumpkin pie ready to pitch hit just in case. The cats are napping hard. The Cowboys are on the HD scooping out the whipped cream to place on their holiday win.
Couple of more shots from the day…
The bird came out of the smoker around 4:30. She could have handled another hour in the heat but was not undercooked by any means. The breast was so tender the meat pulled apart as the knife hit it after resting an hour under foil. So I used my hands to pick the dark meat from the bone too. She was mighty juicy and the cherry wood was certainly mild.
The liquor store had run out of Beaujolais Nouveau but Whole Foods had some left. Our friends in the Shenandoah Valley introduced us to this tradition years ago and we’re pleased to have had on our table. The brand was new to us but the wine tasted smooth and refined not something we expected in a harvest wine.
Above is Tracey’s plate believe it or not. She’s too funny. We went back and forth most of the day every time a recipe called for butter, cheese, cream, sugar, oil… you name it. Her mac and cheese was made with whole wheat pasta and whole wheat flour in the cheese sauce. She absolutely hated to add that stick of butter in the stuffing. Hale said, “I didn’t see you put the butter in Mom!” at the dinner table. I took a little heat for not using enough bourbon in the marshmallows on the sweet potatoes but Hale actually ate seconds of sweet potatoes which was a first for her. The meal was a total team effort this year something I don’t think I’ll ever forget.
The camera somehow made it to the table too. Too bad I wasn’t able to surprise Taylor!
I did manage to catch Sabre napping to which he didn’t seem to be too pleased.
Good evening.
