THANKSGIVING

Thanksgiving was particularly special to me this year. My family came up from North Carolina along with Phil's mom and grand dad. Ruby came from LA, Kelly from Portland as well as Susan and Tony from NYC. Mindy hosted us.

I decided to grill the turkey this year. It came from Heritage Foods at the Essex Street Market. Andrea and Mott both grilled too, so we kept in touch all morning monitoring grill temperatures, etc. It was fun but stressful. I salted it the night before and after getting to room temperature in the morning I stuffed it with apples, onions and sage.It was tricky trying to keep the grill temperature at an even 35o degrees, when my brother showed up he took over and got things straight. We added some applewood that had been soaked in water. Andrea brought it for me, provided by "NC's most prominent Jewish farmer"
There was a pan underneath that we used to collect the drippings (that Tony turned into a delicious gravy). Using my new Thermapen, I was able to quickly determine the inside temperature of the bird. Once we got the grill temperature right, it cooked pretty quickly, approximately two and half hours for a sixteen pound turkey. Zach and Alex (my nephews) did a great job of monitoring the temperature, checking it every ten minutes. I was afraid it would be dry but the white meat was perfectly juicy. My older brother let me carve the turkey (usually his job) and I think I did a pretty good job.

Ruby, Lynn, Myrna, Jan, Mindy and Susan were in charge of side dishes. Everything turned out great and on time. We had mashed potatoes, sweet potato pie with marshmallows, brussels sprouts, pureed squash (with young ginger Andrea sent from NC), corn soufflé, roasted cauliflower with capers (from Il Buco) and chestnut stuffing from a Martha Stewart recipe that Kim recommended. Myrna made cranberry chutney and we also had canned cranberry gel, that everyone seems to prefer to the real thing.

Jan and Lynn brought pies from Bubby's: Pumpkin, Apple Whiskey and Pecan. Susan brought rum cake from Blue Ribbon Bakery. Phil was in charge of de-crumbing the table and Poppy (Phil's grand dad) set the tone by having a little of each dessert. Kelly led the clean-up crew.

This was the best Thanksgiving I've ever had. The weather was perfect, it was fun to cook with all my family and friends and the food tasted great. I am truly thankful.