Happy Thanksgiving - The 2014 Edition

Happy Belated Thanksgiving, everyone! For those who celebrated, I hope that you had a wonderful day filled with love, laughter, and delicious food! For those who did not or don't celebrate, I hope that you too had a wonderful day!

I know that we are on the cusp of December, but I still wanted to share my Thanksgiving with you all. Every year, my parents host Thanksgiving and it is a rather large affair. We have anywhere from 13 ~ 20 people come, so there is a lot of food to be made and consumed.

This year, our Thanksgiving consisted of 15 people and the food was amazing (if I do say so myself). My family is rather small and spread out internationally, so our Thanksgivings tend to be "Friendsgivings." I love our Thanksgivings because they have a Japanese-American twist. We tend to invite our Japanese friends to join us mainly because: (1) our American friends spend Thanksgiving with their families and (2) our Japanese friends don't really celebrate the holiday, so they have no one to spend it with. It's sort of a novelty to them. This year, we had a couple Japanese friends come, who had never attended Thanksgiving dinner before! They really enjoyed it. 

Our menu this year was a mix of old classics and new recipes. We asked all of our guests to bring an appetizer and we took care of the rest. This was our Thanksgiving menu this year: 
~~~
Appetizers:
Soppressata
Gravlax
Omelet with Rosqufort Cheese
Stuffed Mushrooms
Pate de Campagne
Truffle Cream Cheese & Sour Cream dip (my contribution)

Entrée:
Herb Roasted Turkey with wild rice, chestnut, sausage, corn, leeks, and mushrooms stuffing
Fried Turkey with Creole Spices
Homemade Cranberry Sauce
Yams in a Basil Hayden Bourbon Sauce
Green Bean and Mushroom Casserole topped with Fried Shallots
Sweet Red Shiso Beets & Carrots
Cranberry Winter Vegetables
Sautéed Corn, Butternut Squash, Spinach, & Bacon

Dessert:
Banana Fosters Cheesecake (made by my father's cousin)
Espresso Cheesecake (made by my father's cousin)
French Apple Tart
Pecan Pie
Spiced Pumpkin Cookies
~~~
Quite a feast, if I do say so myself and there was a lot of prep work and cooking that went into executing this menu!
Stuffing the turkey with my mother's amazing stuffing. Her stuffing is hands down my favorite dish at Thanksgiving. I could eat that entire bowl on my own. 
Preparing the turkey
Ready for the oven
Extra stuffing that will be baked in the oven

Whenever we entertain, my father always makes sure to have the most impressive whiskey selection possible. I mean, with over 200 bottles, he has a lot of choose from! 
Whilst the whiskey selection is my father's domain, setting the table is my mother's domain. She painstakingly designs the table centers, devises a seating chart, and elegantly sets the table with our best china. Bravo, mother!
Thanksgiving festivities began around 4:30 for us. As each new guest arrived, a delicious appetizer was added to the food table, and my stomach began to rumble!
A selection of some of the appetizers:
- pate de campagne
- gravlax // omelet with Roquefort cheese

It was a lot of fun catching up with friends, new and old, as well as some family. My father's long lost cousin joined us, as well as my best friend of about 20 years, who is more like my sister than she is my friend. All in all, there was much merriment all round. 

With appetizers consumed and much drinking occurring, a distinctly convivial atmosphere was generated…and it was time to prepare dinner! 
Oven Roasted Turkey (left) and Fried Turkey (right)
As an orthopaedic surgeon, my father loves carving the turkey --- and he does it with such surgical skill and precision!
The spread
A close up on the side dishes:
Green Bean and Mushroom Casserole topped with Fried Shallots // Yams in a Basil Hayden Bourbon Sauce
Sweet Red Shiso Beets & Carrots // Cranberry Winter Vegetables
Mom's Stuffing // Sautéed Corn, Butternut Squash, Spinach, & Bacon
Fried Turkey
Oven Roasted Herb Turkey
Our guests descend upon the food
My very full plate

My "sister from another mister" was smart in wearing a dress that was loose around the belly. I should've done the same thing, considering how much I ate during dinner! Everything was delicious. Still, I knew that I had to make room for dessert, or at least active my "dessert stomach"!
Dessert, anyone?
My mom baked the French Apple Tart and the Pecan Pie
I baked the Spiced Pumpkin Cookies with Orange-Sugar Icing
My father's cousin baked the Banana Fosters cheesecake (top) and the espresso cheesecake (bottom)

I'd say that Thanksgiving 2014 was another fun and successful feast. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and they certainly ate a lot! One of our Japanese guests had never experienced Thanksgiving and apparently was never that impressed by the menu, until he experienced Thanksgiving at our house! I'm delighted to know that we converted someone.

Food aside, I love Thanksgiving because of how it brings people together. Regardless of relation, I love the merriment that I feel and strong sense of love that emanates from the dinner table on Thanksgiving. As corny as this sounds, that's what I am always thankful for on Thanksgiving. I am thankful that I am privileged to feast the way that I do, but moreover, I am thankful for all of the wonderful people in my life (present at Thanksgiving and beyond) and for their unconditional love. 

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