Thanksgiving Festivities 2009

We have been quite busy the last few weeks. John and Louisa (aka Pop Pop and Lovey) have been here since November 15th; Sister Mary Anne (John's sister) came in the day before Thanksgiving; and Bryan and Corinne (Uncle B and Aunt CC) have spent quite a bit of time with us over the last few weeks. And, of course, we're spending lots of time with Uncle Joey - as he has recently moved to Mount Pleasant, and tons of day visitors have dropped in to say hi to all these out-of-towners.

So, Thanksgiving is over. We're all fat and happy (and sleepy). And, we are relaxing this Saturday afternoon. So, where do I start?

We took Mom and Dad to FIG the first weekend they were here (Food Is Good). It's an all natural, all local food establishment. Michael had sweetbreads for his entree (bold move - but he said they were amazing). I got the fish stew - which was awesome! It had trigger fish as the base - which is a local, firm white fish...YUMMO.

We went to the Farmer's Market the Saturday before Thankgiving - to get 8 dozen farm fresh eggs (which we ran out of the day of Thankgiving because Lovey's dressing took the last dozen), brussel sprouts (which Michael broiled with pancetta), sweet potatoes (which were mixed with naval oranges and scooped into orange peel cups and topped with vanilla marshmallows), homemade cornbread - Lovey's recipe, 2 ten pound turkeys from my CSA (which have been referred to as "special birds" by everyone all week), ricotta cake (Aunt CC's bubby's recipe), chocolate chess pie (Uncle B's specialty), pecan pie (Reynolds, GA recipe), and a pumpkin pie made with a white heritage pumpkin that was the sweetest thing I had all day! Oh, and my favorite - fresh cranberry relish...

And, then we finished up the festivities with an oyster roast on Friday after Thanksgiving, with pickup games of frisbee, football, paddle ball, etc. We had tons of folks stop by - including our Floridian cousins: Scott, Julie, Ansley and Ella. Michael made his "famous" gumbo - well, it's known as his famous gumbo now - as it was perfectly done with chicken thighs and sausage - and everyone took home the left0vers. No one left here hungry Friday night.

Aunt Maryanne, Pop Pop, Uncle Joey, the boys and I are going to the Unitarian Universalist church tomorrow morning. We want to make sure we give a BIG thank you to God - as we have been truly blessed this holiday.