Family Dinner

Wow! Where to start? Last night was our Thanksgiving pot luck dinner with our NYC friends. I am still reeling from how talented all of my friends are in the kitchen. I suppose I'll start with the menu since that was what was so impressive (the clean up crew may have been equally as impressive, though in quite a different way.)

Appetizers:

Baked Brie w/ Pecans and Pears

Feta-Tomato Dip

Creamy Squash Dip

Stuffed Mushrooms

Pumpkin Bread

Main:

Honey Glazed Turkey

Bacon topped Corn Bread

Green Bean Casserole

Ciabatta, Proscuitto & Mushroom stuffing

Corn Pudding

Orange-Cranberry Sauce

Mashed Potatoes

Sauteed Vegetables 

Dessert:

Punkin Pie

Punkin Pie Cheesecake bars

Kahlua Cake

Every person whipped out their culinary A game and brought a dish that complimented the flavors of the season wonderfully- chestnuts, pears, squash, spiced cider, pumpkin, and the list goes on... 

Jeff, where did your face go?

We packed a full house, with 'Cuse folks, VT folks, and folks of folks so it got pretty loud. I was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of Zach with his hands over his ears. Wish I had caught that with my camera.

Chef Meltzer was in charge of preparing Benjamin, the bird.
And what a fine job he did too. Top notch pedophile chef & carver. 

Benjamin from behind

The spread.

The plate.

The joy.

The man.

Kahlua Cake. cool whip, heath bars, cake, pudding. This is my new raison d'etre. 

The question of the evening became, Why spend so much money dining out when we cook insanely good food at home? The answer: Dinner Club. The idea is the host is responsible for an appetizer, entree and dessert for 8-10 people. Host plans the menu. It happens once a month. Everyone helps with clean up. BYOB. Lemme know your input. I'm thinking we start in January (when everything else finishes).