Charlie and I were on our own this Thanksgiving, so our day was full of much lounging around, snacking on tasty tidbits, and reflecting on all the things that we have to be grateful for: our very-soon-to-be-born little baby girl, each other, Charlie's incredible/awesome/amazing recovery in the last year, wonderful supportive families, a new job and city next year, great friends all over the country, silly animals, cool sunny days, long weekends, even longer maternity leave, new toys, laughter, joy, anticipation, change, and new beginnings. And it turns out that while reflecting on our sweet, cozy little life, we also managed to stuff ourselves full of Thanksgiving goodies.
Our menu-for-two included a delicious brined and smoked chicken prepared by Charlie, Herbs du Provence chestnut and sausage stuffing, Mom's (and my very favorite) corn pudding, cream-braised brussel sprouts (a revelation), Mom's cranberry-orange chutney, utterly indulgent sweet potato casserole (I added a splash of Maker's Mark... I had to...), ethereal popovers, pecan pie (which turned out to be a complete disaster... still swishy... now we pretty much have a pie's worth of gooey praline topping), and pumpkin pie with spiced whipped cream (this one actually retained pie form). Plus there were various appetizers of cheese, meats, crackers, olives stuffed with delicious things, smoked oysters, and whatnot. I hope your Thanksgiving was as warm and restorative as ours.