Thanksgiving: Taken by Storm

I think that would be an accurate movie title, if there were to be one made about the way our Thanksgiving went yesterday.

This being mine and Daniel's first Thanksgiving married, and also our first away from our families, pre-move, we knew it had to be special. So we decided to spend it with our dear friends Nathan and Jill, also transplants from far away and unable to connect with family for the holiday.

A few days before the grand event, Jill calls. Keep in mind that none of us have ever cooked anything "thanksgiving-ish" before. (this is the reader's digest version of the convo):

Jill: "So, what's our plan for Thanksgiving?"
Me: "I dunno...we've always had traditional turkey, cranberry, stuffing, etc..so I'm not sure what else works for turkey day"
Jill: "So you wanna go easy, or do you wanna go for it?"
Me: "I'm up for going for it. You wanna go for it?"
Jill: "I wanna go for it"
Me: "Ok, let's go for it:
Jill: "Ok!"

We decided to go for it. By the end of our phone conversation, I was in charge of the green bean casserole, the stuffing, the mashed potatoes, and the bread. Jill took the turkey, the cranberry sauce, and the salad. Oh, and the house. We had it at their place :)

So yesterday arrives. The night before I had spent an hour in the kitchen doing "prep":

3 onions, chopped. (Daniel cried like a baby, and I was the one chopping the onions)
12 corn bread muffins, baked (for the stuffing)
lots of groceries, including 3 cartons of heavy cream (yay clogged arteries) bought.
recipes, in hand.
supplies, packed and ready to go.

Thanksgiving, here we come.

We arrive at our destination at 11:30 am and come across Nathan and Jill having a hands-on turkey education class. There is a metal "thing" buried deep into the turkey legs holding them together or something, but we need to get it out to clean the turkey and it's not coming out and what do we do? We get pliers. Nathan and Jill get salmonella all over their hands. It is nasty. But in the end, Nathan and Jill prevail over the metal turkey-leg-holder-thing.

Immediately afterwards, we send the husbands to the store for extra supplies. Jill's cranberry chutney had almost a million ingredients, and we needed some bleach cleaner to get the turkey nasty out of the sink. Men out of the house, Jill and I sit down to plan out the day. Our goal? Eat around 6:30.

11:45, turkey in the oven.
12:45, walk to the beach to play frisbee, get lunch
1:45, check turkey, baste if necessary
2:00, eat lunch, commence "Speed Scrabble"--so fun. And I also discovered that eating pomegranates is my new favorite thing. It's so satisfying picking the little juice ball things out of there and eating them. Great. Man, I wish I could post pictures now. They are glorious.
3:30, start the cranberry chutney. More onions chopped, along with 2 apples and some ginger root. Jill is putting in the other million ingredients. Then the chutney simmers.
4:00, start the stuffing and green bean casserole
5:00, everything goes in the oven, start the mashed potatoes and bread.
5:00, is the turkey ready? Check the thermometer. Nope, not ready yet!
5:30, the turkey is ready. It needs to sit awhile.
5:31, the husbands stop playing their carcasonne game and do the dishes. Such lovely husbands.
6:00, rolls go in the oven, casseroles come out. Commence chopping for salad.
6:15, turkey is carved, casseroles on the table, bread in the basket, salad, done!
6:21, everything is not only out on the table, but so are the utensils and plates, our glasses of premium wine provided by nathan's brother Brian, and we are holding hands for the prayer.
6:23, Jill and I pause and look at our table and spread and think, "wow, we did that. WE DID THAT!" but wait, we haven't eaten it yet. Will it taste good?

6:25, we all take our first bites, and immediately think "OH YEAH BABY! THIS IS SOOOOOO GOOD!"

I'm sorry but Jill and I beamed. The green bean casserole was supreme. And it was not the recipe provided on the Fried Onion Strings container, thank you. The mashed potatoes, so creamy, the stuffing, divine. Turkey? Juicy, tender, and the cranberry chutney? A perfect compliment. And it just so happens that Brian is a wine connoisseur so it complemented everything perfectly.

After the initial 'goodness' shock, we then proceeded to stuff our faces. Completely full. It was ridiculous. There were surprisingly little leftovers, but we will enjoy those for dinner tonight. After we had eaten rounds one and 2, we sat and played a game before the turkey lethargy set in. And set in it did. Daniel and I arrived home around midnight and fell asleep with full bellies and happy hearts.

Happy Thanksgiving to all. Next year let's have it at my house!