Thanksgiving 2013

Leslie said it was her best Thanksgiving Day ever.  Massive quantities of American comfort food looked good to her after the past 4 or 5 years in Asia, and Sandy baked both a turkey and a ham.  With 20 people to feed at precisely 2:00 p.m.,  Sandy wrote up a critical path for getting everything on the table on time.  Brook read  it and saw that the turkey had to go in the oven at 6 a.m., the relish tray could be started by nine, the deviled eggs had to be stuffed starting at 9:30.  "It would be a lot more impressive if you said to start the eggs at 9:23," Brook commented.

            Mark whipped up a batch of guacamole and some dip for chips containing smoked salmon and habañeros so keep Drew and two college roommates fed before dinner time. That's the rule when your son is 6'5"--you feed him what he wants, when he wants it.

            Eric brought 8 pies.  He forgot to pack two pecan pies, but what's Thanksgiving dinner without forgetting at least one dish in the refrigerator? He served pumpkin, sweet potato, mince, and peanut butter pies.  I think most people were a little cautious about sweet potato pie, but just because it's one of those southern treats that Eric learned to make during his years in Virginia, and most westerners hadn't heard of it.  Once they tried it, they loved it, but the hit of the pies was the peanut butter with a chocolate crust. It's painfully rich, and I'm still trying to talk him out of the recipe for it.

            The weather was balmy and warm, so we had to do our run on the beach. Eric drove 4-year-old Vake and me in his Yukon, following Sandy, Leslie, Johnie, Brook, and her dog Charlie Brown in her Lexus. Vake observed, "They're ahead of us, but we have more potential energy."  Especially when we're loaded up on sugar pie.