Well, we survived! There were no dogfights, no food poisoning, no injuries involving cutlery. Of course I didn't think to take a single picture of our meal before we ate it, but here's a picture of the wrecked kitchen afterwards.
And while cooks justifiably get all the attention on Thanksgiving for the hours, or in Dave's case days, they work to put a meal on the table, let's also sing a song of praise to the poor unsung schmucks like me who turn this (above) into...
...this, about five hours later.
Thank god for that new dishwasher.
Olga and Luna -- our co-worker Dylan's dog -- got along fine, and in fact they seemed to enjoy each other's company. They played and chased balls and Olga got so excited she was barking in the house, which she never does. (We could have done without that bit.)
Oh, some of you asked yesterday about deboning the turkey, and how that works. Dave has tutored himself on the process and was prepared to do it himself, but when he bought the turkey, our local butcher offered to do it for him. So that's what happened. When we got it, it was already cut into four quadrants and the bones were handed over separately, for making stock. It made carving and serving a breeze.
It's a bit like spatchcocking, which Dave did several years ago, and which also makes the turkey much easier to store in the fridge -- the end goal, as far as I'm concerned.
During the meal, Dave and I were trying to remember whether we'd ever hosted Thanksgiving dinner in London. We normally travel during Thanksgiving break, but I had a feeling that during the past ten years we must have stayed home at least once. A quick survey of my blog showed me where we've been each year:
2022: Brighton
2021: Bray (Clamato Cottage)
2020: Dave had a root canal and we got take-away
2019: Rules restaurant with friends; a weekend traditional feast
2018: Traditional feast for guests
2017: Cambridge
2016: Copenhagen
2015: Lisbon
2014: Cotswolds
2013: Istanbul
2012: Leuven, Belgium
2011: The great grouse experiment in Notting Hill
So we've hosted Thanksgiving twice before with guests, in 2018 and 2019. How soon we forget!
Anyway, this was fun, but I'm kind of missing the travel. Hopefully in coming years we can get back to more of those long-weekend getaways!
Success!
ReplyDeleteHappy Thanksgiving Steve! That first photo gave me agita, but you did a fine job cleaning it all up! This year, I went to my son's girlfriend's parents' house and did no clean-up! I did bake a pumpkin cheesecake and a cranberry pie, though. The downside is that I brought home no leftovers, so I think I'm going to make a pan of stuffing to eat for the rest of the week with cranberry sauce!
ReplyDeleteIt might have taken 5 hours? But you did a good job!
ReplyDeleteSome of us are creators like Dave (and me) and some of us are clean-up specialists like you (and Shirley). Each to our own. Glad to hear your Thanksgiving feast was successful.
ReplyDeleteThat first photo is what our kitchen looks like every time SG cooks a meal for the two of us. The after picture is what always make me happy.
ReplyDelete“It's a bit like spatchcocking”
Thanks! That makes it SO much more clear.
Our blogs are a great way to keep track of our lives!
Lol @ Mitchell. I don't think some things can be explained with words.
ReplyDeleteSo. Steve is good with knives. Perhaps you should refrain from suggesting boullon cubes the next time he makes stock.
Ps the kitchen looks great. You are a cleaning artist.
ReplyDeleteDave is good with knives. Had a.
Delete*Gads
DeleteI wish I loved with you, you do a fantastic job of cleaning up the kitchen. That's one of the main reasons I dislike holiday meals, cleaning up afterwards. I cook the turkey and make the gravy ahead of time, a day or two beforehand.
ReplyDeleteA very successful and enjoyable meal, I can tell! : )
ReplyDeleteYou visited Lisbon! One of my favourite cities.
Wow! Your kitchen transformation is amazing. 5 hours of cleanup produces a sparkling and perfect kitchen.
ReplyDeleteThat first photo is the perfect after Thanksgiving photo! I love it! My kitchen looked like that but my oldest son helped me to get it back in order. You certainly did an amazing job of cleaning up your kitchen.
ReplyDeleteGlad you had such a nice day. We did too! So glad it is over and I have nothing I need to do today!
I take it that Dave does no cleaning-up as he goes, eh? I'd run the dishwasher twice before the first guest arrived and Lord knows how much cleaning up I'd done the day before with the preparations. And then, of course, there is still much to be done afterwards. Glen is good at cleaning up and the kids help too. Still, it's going to take me a day or two to get everything back in order.
ReplyDeleteI think I'm getting way too old for this. I suggested that we all go to Wendy's next year for Thanksgiving. Or Whataburger. I did not get a very positive response to that suggestion.
That first picture would have had me having fits ... trying to clean up while still getting the cooking done! Ugh!!
ReplyDeleteKudos to you for doing your part and getting the clean-up taken care of!
I completely forgot that you had ACTUAL DOGS at your gathering so I was puzzled by the dogfight comment. I would hope you would all be civilized enough not to fight each other. Ha! I'm glad you had a good time. And that kitchen truly WAS wrecked. Yikes!
ReplyDeletePutting on a big meal is lots of work but well worth it.
ReplyDeleteI have a serious question. I put the turkey carcass in the roaster over night and shut it off this morning. I pour everything through a colander. The broth goes into the fridge to chill. Then the turkey is 'picked', the bits of meat in one bowl, the bones and fat in the garbage. You spoke of separating the bones from the little bits of meat and feeding the meat to the foxes. Serious question: tonight we will be having turkey gravy and mashed potatoes. What is left over will become turkey soup. Don't you ever do leftovers? It seems that if the fat is part of the deboned turkey, what would be left easily sorted pile of bones and meat. You pull the broth from the fridge, skim the fat, and you are halfway to your next meal.
ReplyDeleteAnd this sounded like SUCH a criticism. It is not. I am just curious about chefs.
DeleteYour spatchcocking (amazingly, I know what this is) comment reminded me of a great cook friend when I asked her what pancetta was, and she said oh, you know like lardon!! Much clearer..
ReplyDeleteThat is exactly how the kitchen should look after a wonderful meal with friends. And, I'd say you did a great job putting all back in order.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the Thanksgivings through the years. I loved seeing your photos of Cambridge again. I'm sorry I didn't get there on my visit in October. That means I have to come again....but plan better.
When, if ever, I begin to mourn the huge feasts of Thanksgivings past I tend to forget the hours of cleanup afterwards. Good job, Steve. I'm sure I don't have to tell Dave that. He *knows* how good he is, I suspect.
ReplyDeleteThat 1st picture brought back a lot of memories, Allison & I used to entertain a lot back in the day, the kitchen was different but the chaos was the same, Good on both of ya for creation and repair of the aftermath! Glad it turned out well. Your butcher certainly did you a solid by deboning the bird beforehand. I looked at a Youtube video of how to do it and decided I'll pass. :)
ReplyDeleteGrowing up in the deep south, as I did, every Thanksgiving featured a lasagna pan full of sweet potatoes cut up in pieces to be at the same thickness, basted with a brown sugar and butter syrup, and then marshmallows were put on top and placed under the broiler. Good eats! I love the picture of the aftermath of the cooking.
ReplyDeleteWow, that's an excellent clean up job. I've sometimes despairingly looked at my kitchen, thinking it would never look normal again. But then it does! (although it can be lots of time and effort) I like your balance of travel and hosting; it means that you don't get burned out on any one thing/place.
ReplyDeleteWe have the same floor x
ReplyDeleteGZ: I'm glad it's over. LOL
ReplyDeleteElizabeth: But how great to be able to celebrate Thanksgiving without doing all the work yourself. Great to hear from you!
Frances: Well, that includes the time to run the dishwasher cycles. In terms of hands-on work it was much less than that.
YP: We all have our skills! I think I'm a creator, but not of the culinary variety.
Mitchell: Oh, it's a good thing I blog, because otherwise I'd have no idea what I'd already done or when I'd done it.
Debby: Dave, you mean! He is VERY good with knives, but he uses them judiciously. :)
Pixie: Well, having a dishwasher makes all the difference. If I'd had to wash all that stuff by hand I'd have had a migraine.
Catarina: We LOVED Lisbon! In fact I want to go back to Portugal and see more of the country.
Susan: It always feels good to get it back in order. I can't go to bed with dirty dishes in the house.
Ellen D: Yeah, as much as I love the holidays, it's a huge relief when they're done.
Ms Moon: Dave doesn't clean as he goes, but I usually run at least one dishwasher load before we even sit down. Whataburger! I haven't heard that name in ages.
Marcia: It felt good to get it all done!
Bug: Ha! Yes, that wasn't a metaphor. I meant ACTUAL dogs fighting. :)
Red: It was worth it, and it helps that Dave and I can split the labor.
Debby: Oh, we eat lots of leftovers! We'll be eating the turkey meat for days. The only meat I discarded was from the bones we used to make the stock, because it had been boiled for hours and hours to extract the flavor. So I picked the carcass, like you, but we put that meat out for the foxes because Dave felt it would have been tasteless and gray and not really suitable for us anymore. I suppose it COULD have been turkey soup if Dave hadn't had other plans for the stock.
Boud: Ha! By now I am well-versed in this chef lingo, and don't even realize when I'm using it.
Sharon: Yes! Just an excuse to come back! :)
Catalyst: He really did do an amazing job. It's hard to pull together a big meal and have everything come out more or less at the same time.
Jim: Yes! We LOVE our butcher!
Debby: I didn't take it as criticism!
Allison: Well, as a fellow Southerner, you definitely know what I'm talking about, then! What's the perfect Southern addition to a sweet dish? More sugar!
Margaret: Yeah, we're now basically done hosting for the year!
Debby: I knew what you meant. :)
John: (Sorry, you were in spam!) I like this laminate floor, which the landlords only recently installed, but I wonder how well it will cope if we have a dishwasher or laundry flood!
ReplyDeleteSG, the obsessive historian, asks me several times a day when we did something or when we went somewhere. I remember a lot from our 42 years (and before) but rarely specific dates. The blog is a gold mine.
ReplyDeleteI'm the schmuck who cleans our kitchen too but I rather enjoy the process for some reason. I love seeing organization coming out of chaos I guess.
ReplyDeleteI always debone our turkeys. I guess that is because for decades, I have always smoked them ahead of time and to save space in the refrigerator/freezer, I debone them after they are cooked. It also allows me to turn the bones and leftovers into stock which is then used to hydrate the dressing and make gravy on the actual day. I do admit that I have never deboned a raw turkey, but I have done that a lot with chicken and I don't think it would be any different other than starting size.
Excellent job on the cooking, Dave, and on the cleanup, Steve. We hosted the feast over here too, and I was the main cleanup crew though my daughter and nieces helped. The dinner my husband cooked was yummy as always, so I judge my part in the whole endeavor to be worthwhile.
ReplyDeleteBig smiles at your kitchen (which is huge, compared to mine). Ours looked similar -- but with far fewer people. It sounds terrific -- three cheers for you both. The clean-up can be as rugged as the cooking!
ReplyDelete