Giving Thanks

I think I'll make just a quick post about Thanksgiving. There are pictures, but not in my possession, so it seems like you are off the hook.

I haven't really been cooking very long, maybe a year or so, since I moved into my own flat in Parkland before my senior year. I cooked a little bit in the previous house, but not really with the intention of learning new recipes and building my skills. In the past year, and really the past six or seven months especially, I've learned just about everything I currently know about cooking--not much, really. To my limited repertoire, I've added home made soups, pasta sauces, and a curry or two, as well as some other odds and ends. So, I was pretty sure--with a little help--the prospect of feeding six or seven people Thanksgiving dinner wasn't as terrible as it might have been earlier in my life.

Robin, my new housemate and the other cook of the house, and I started shopping for food at 2.30pm: we were ready to eat at 8. I did most of the recipe-related work, and he the more common-sense things I don't still have a handle on. I haven't any idea, really, how long to boil each of the three vegetables we had, before putting them in to roast. Together, however, we made a great big meal that satisfied all. We had,

roast chicken for the three carnivores (all Robin's doing),
an artichoke heart nut roast for the three vegetarians,
cranberry hazelnut stuffing with chestnut mushrooms (both inside and outside of the bird),
mashed potatoes,
an amazing chickpea gravy,
roasted vegetables (sweet potatoes, carrots, and parsnips),
and broccoli.

For dessert was a giant blueberry apple crumble I made in the afternoon, and some blackcurrant custard cake bought from Marks & Spencer's. Four bottles of wine later, we had a lot to be thankful for.

So what am I thankful for this year? I'm thankful for my friends who came over to share the holiday with me. I'm thankful that we were able to have it in our new flat. I'm thankful that I will get to move into said flat in only two short weeks, once I get out of my housing contract. I'm thankful that Anand's Untouchable was good, and that I think I know what I want to write about. I'm very thankful that this term is nearly over. I'm also very thankful to my friends and family still keeping up with me through this blog. I know the posts have gone a bit south lately, but I'll try to freshen things up in the weeks to come. Thanks.