Was it the stuffing? The mashed potatoes? No. I’ve realized my favorite parts of Thanksgiving are not so specific as one dish on the table. As Tom and I begin to establish our own Thanksgiving traditions, I’ve become attached to many of them. This was our firstofficialthanksgivingasamarriedcouple and we were lucky to enjoy it with two great friends, Mary and Brett. Perhaps obvious, my number one favorite part of Thanksgiving is setting the table, just as last year. This year we also repeated the practice of serving a relish plate full of homemade pickles in the living room before dinner. Standouts were Tom’s pickled okra and Brett’s pickled chanterelles. A few of us also ended up with a black olive on the end of each finger for fun. The best part of Thanksgiving hors d’oeuvres, though, is most certainly Tom’s turkey liver pâté. I want to eat this all-winter-long… so if you have any spare turkey livers in the back of your fridge, you know where to abandon them—on our doorstep. Number four, well, the TURKEY. Tom’s method of roasting the breasts and separately preparing turkey legs and thighs confit continues to delight. And lastly, but not leastly, it is every little bite each a combination of the plate before me, that serves to make Thanksgiving a special meal. Each dish broken down into discrete, distinct mouthfuls is what makes this dinner Thanksgiving, to me.

Tags: black olives, Brussels Sprouts, Chilewich, cranberry relish, Dinner, friends, Gravy, Mashed Potatoes, Pate, Pickles, Relish, set the table, Stuffing, Table Setting, Thanksgiving, Turkey, Turkey Liver Pate

This entry was posted by Martha on Thursday, December 9th, 2010 at 9:46 am and is filed under Dinner. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.