Brooklyn Thanksgiving, Fourth Time's the Charm

The last three Thanksgivings at my Brooklyn apartment have been great, but this year was definitely the best. Why? Well, 1) I've become increasingly fond of cooking and any occasion to have a day off to cook sounds spectacular, 2) my high school friends Jared and Kristen have since moved to New York and would be joining Thanksgiving this year, and 3) most importantly, I decided we would all eat on a real table (read: throw an expensive table cloth over our beer pong table)! With age comes class and apparently more red wine. I feel so fortunate to be able to spend Thanksgiving with friends, especially with friends and a husband who are amazing cooks and put so much effort, love and heavy cream into their food.

Our Thanksgiving dinner consisted of Celery Root Soup, Butternut Squash Salad, Pepper and Lemon Curd Roast Chicken, Holiday Brisket, Chicken Liver Sausage Prune Stuffing, Cranberry Sauce, Roasted Brussel Sprouts and Carrots, Garlic Mashed Potatoes and the most amazing Pumpkin Pie. Thank you Jason, Jared, Kristen and Sean for cooking a kick ass meal.

Some things don't change, pre-dinner pickers. Guess who's guilty...

The Thanksgiving Miracle on Lorimer St

This was my third Thanks(friends)giving in Brooklyn and the past two have been pretty amazing with homemade sweet potato fries and kabocha pie, so when I realized two days before Thanksgiving that I had not decided on what I would be cooking, let alone shopped for the ingredients, I PANICKED. Did I ruin Thanksgiving?! Thankfully, my friend and fiance told me not to worry (but naturally I worried) and took care of all the shopping, preparation and cooking. I'm a lucky girl. Our meal was colorful with lots of vegetables--parsnips, leeks, kabocha, chanterelles--and a lot of butter. Like Paula Dean would have been shocked at how much butter we used. But it was very necessary, as the over buttery, over garlicky, over eating is just how I like my Thanksgivings.    

So My Parents Know I Didn't Starve On Thanksgiving

Our Successful Somewhat Traditional Thanksgiving Spread

Passed out in a food coma roughly around 10 pm last night while watching Elf (again), so I assume Thanksgiving dinner was a success... or, I'll take waking up to a demolished kitchen covered with every dish, utensil, pan and pot I own as proof that it was a festive, feastful night.  Being that I am Chinese, I opted not to cook a turkey (I'm starting to turn into MY MOTHER) and just bought two whole roast ducks from Chinatown.  It made the most sense considering our dinner party was only for 7; however, the rest of our meal was rather traditional: homemade stuffing, rosemary chicken, sweet potato fries, garlic mashed potatoes, brussel sprouts, corn and for dessert, PIES.  I video-chatted my siblings and family in Hawaii twice so it practically felt like I was home.  I want to thank Ben, Sean, Zack and Jason who manned the kitchen and made another Thanksgiving a success!

  Check out the 2 lb Sweet Potato from the Union Square Farmer's Market

Homemade Sweet Potato Fries with Lemon Garlic Aioli by Chef Ben

 Jason sauteing the stuffing ingredients while Sean probably stole a taste of the duck

 Can barely hold back my excitement

 After feast food coma

 Jason's Maple Creme and Kabocha (Japanese Pumpkin) Pie!  DELISH!