Thanksgiving In The Q – Adopt A Shack Rat

This past weekend we welcome a solid group of young men and women to come feast on the carcass of a dead bird with us. ‘Twas glorious.

We had M and J  down for the weekend, so we got into the spirit of a fall family gathering as of thursday evening at 11pm. Unfortunately DH and I had to work the next day, but the boys got a kick out of spending time with my furbabies and watching TV. We treated ourselves to a beer and a movie that evening, so the weekend was off to a good start!

Saturday involved a hunt for a large piece of wood that could be hacked into many pieces for a fire, and we were successful! We found a tree that had been cut down, right behind the dog park. Two ratchet straps and a bit of elbow grease later we had the log in burnable chunks and were ready for lunch.

Sunday – GO day

Sunday morning started off with some cinnamon buns, homemade of course, and a game or two of Settlers of Catan, traders and barbarians. We love board games, so is it any wonder we chose this weekend to break open a new expansion pack? nope.

The Turkey

At 11am I started cooking the Turkey. It was a standard frozen turkey, the ones you bake from frozen. It went in the pan with: a chopped onion, diced carrots, two sliced portobello mushrooms, the remaining fruity wine from my Beef Provencale stew, and a healthy sprinkling of Herbs de Provence on the bird itself. I wanted the aromas and juices to all mix together and create some mighty tender and flavourful  meat.

I added a generous basting of butter on the bird every hour on the hour. With two hours to go, I added a sprinkling of brown sugar to coat and caramelize. With one hour to go I added a layer of bacon to the bird.

This bird was delicious and everyone snagged some bacon.

The pumpkin Pie

I decided THIS would be the year that I made a pumpkin pie. It looked fairly easy, and I wanted to make a crust and little pie toppers that were adorable. This was mainly an aesthetic decision, I regret nothing.

Like most things, I googled a recipe and decided on this one. I’ve used Ana Olson recipes before, and each time they’ve turned-out perfectly!

I have some woodland creature cookie cutters from Ikea many seasons ago, that I use every fall/winter for appropriately goofy cookies. I went with the squirrel and a heart. Squirrels plant acorns, from which mighty oak trees grow i.e DH and I building our life and army family together.

As the recipe states, the outcome is a very custardy pie, and it does indeed settle once it’s out of the oven. It did take longer to bake though, but that might be because it was in there with the Turkey.

Setting the table

We had 8 people total around the table. DH and myself, M and J, our friend Da, a new addition B and his two dates.

We invited our guests to bring a vegetable side or desert. J covered the starch portion of the evening with sour creme laden mashed potatoes.

I decided red would be the colour of the day, so we went with our new hemstitched placemats, red and floral napkins, our leaf napkin rings, water and wine glasses. It was basically an occasion to bust-out all our new wedding stuff.

I added our crystal candlestick holders with long white tappers, and our gourds. All the huricane lanterns were lit, and we added some christmas lights behind the potted flowers on the second bookshelf for additional lighting.

Turning the kitchen into a buffet!

Because we don’t have a kitchen table or island, and because the counters were full of things, I asked DH if I could borrow one of his tables from the basement for a buffet. Silly us, our buffet is actually full of things like our bar, and the key bowl, and other knick knacks.

I loaded-up our two-tier beverage dispenser, all of our serving gear, the coffee service (with baileys, duh), and the necessary arrangements for our cheese platter. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of it with the table cloth, all set up, but the picture I did take, sums up the amount of food and awesomeness on the table.

We toasted to old friends, new friends, future friends, and family.

We roasted by the fire with coffee cups full of baileys.

We boasted of full tummies and past exploits.

We concocted the greasiest of stories while playing Cards Against Humanity, and more importantly, we had fun!

How was your thanksgiving?

Enjoy!