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Saturday, November 27, 2010

Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving Day 2010 marked my first Thanksgiving in New England and my first major holiday away from home. Despite the distance from family, I was looking forward to spending a relaxing day with friends and a fellow Iowan. King Arthur Flour gives each employee-owner a free-range Vermont turkey so, my fellow Iowan and I decided to tackle baking our first turkey together. I drove over to her house Thursday morning and we began our food preparation. Our menu was relatively plain, but traditional.

As we were getting started in the kitchen, her husband ran to the nearby dairy farm to pick-up some fresh egg-nog for substance. Super thick delicious egg-nog.


We prepped the turkey very simply. We stuffed the cavity with thyme, onion, garlic, celery and carrots. Then we smeared butter all over the skin.

During the afternoon we snacked on a variety of cheeses, crackers and stuffed mushrooms.

After 4 hours the our 17 lb beast reached 165 degrees and was declared finished. Not too shabby for a first time, eh?

Turkey and gravy...

Freshly baked white-whole wheat rolls.

Spiced mashed sweet potatoes seasoned with cumin, honey, salt, pepper and butter.

Carrots with Dijon mustard sauce and parsley.


And, of course, pumpkin pie. None of us like whipped cream, so we ate slices with vanilla ice cream instead. It was amazing.

My first Thanksgiving in Vermont was a day well spent with good friends and good food. I have many things to be thankful this year including graduating college, getting a job at King Arthur, my lovely family, my terrific old friends, my new friends and entering a new stage in life. Happy (belated) Thanksgiving all!

3 comments:

  1. Looks like you had a feast! That turkey looks yummy! You guys are pros. It has been a memorable year with many blessings to count.

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  2. Wonderful turkey dear friend! Wish we could have spent it together. Skype date soon?

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  3. Beautiful friend. Looks like you got your Vitamin A intake.

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