gobble, gobble...baaaaa

Today being Thanksgiving Day, I had to forgo sleeping in to start on The Meal. My mom decided to eschew all tradition this year and decided that we would have a Thanksgiving Lunch instead of a Thanksgiving Dinner and asked me to make lamb instead of the traditional turkey. Since I'm all for breaking the rules and shattering conventions, I was all for it.

Since I marinated the lamb last night, I was able to whip everything up in just a couple of hours, and without a lot of stress. The meal turned out pretty fabulously, despite the fact that it was haphazardly thrown together at the last minute. Read: I didn't set foot in a grocery store at all during the course of planning or preparing this meal. Luckily, my parents are champion supermarket shoppers, so there was a lot in their fridge to work with.


the menu:

• Roasted leg of lamb with a rosemary, garlic and olive oil marinade
  (drizzled with a raspberry and red wine reduction)
• Eggplant fans roasted with a garlic and balsmic vinegar paste
• Candied yams and sweet potatoes roasted with walnuts
• Parmesean and peppercorn brussell sprouts on a bed of ribbon carrots
• Steamed rice infused with dillweed

The best part had to be the ice cream cake brought over by my sister's finace. Around the edge of the cake, read the words "Happy Thanksgiving." And in the centre was an image of a roasted turkey drawn with icing. The cake stayed in the freezer and was never brought out for dessert. But in case anyone asks, I guess we did have a Thanksgiving Turkey.

The only tradition that we didn't do away with was going around the table and having each person say what they were thankful for before grace was said. This is one thing I dread every year, but my dad is so unbelievably persistent, so each year I end up blurting out one trite response after another. The sake of this year's thankfulness? "Food." Yep. You got it! The lamest possible answer. But it was accepted with a few chuckles, and we moved along to the next person.

Now while I admitedly bitch and moan a significant amount in this forum (what's a blog for, after all?), I actually do have much to be thankful for. But for fear of turning this into a typical Thanksgiving Day in Canada post, I will refrain from listing my "things to be thankful for" countdown here. Instead, maybe I should tackle all those unanswered e-mails in my inbox and start there.

Enjoy your turkey sandwiches tomorrow, folks!


Tres Tres Chic :: Mocean Worker