First Thanksgiving

This post comes a bit late, but this year, we hosted our first Thanksgiving at our house and I'd like to put down some thoughts on it. We had 11 people total to feed and cooked most of the food ourselves. Overall, I think we did fairly well. It was a bit grueling in terms of effort before and after. Cleanup was just as exhausting as the prep work. In retrospect, I definitely would have done some things differently.

For one, I would not have made so much cranberry sauce. In fact, I think I could have skipped it entirely and nobody would really miss it. Most people took a tiny dollop for the sake of having something that is a traditional Thanksgiving food, and not a spoonful more. Maybe next year, I'll just make half a bag and use the other half for something else, like cranberry infused vodka or something.

Second, I would definitely try to do more beforehand. For instance, cranberry sauce is usually served at room temperature. I could make it days beforehand and let it warm up to room temperature on the day of. For the mashed potatoes, I could boil the potatoes days ahead and warm it up in the microwave with some cream and butter before putting them through a ricer. I could also put the stuffing together the day before and just slide into the oven when it's time to bake.

Third, I am rethinking the fresh versus frozen turkey debate. We had a bit of a tough time with our frozen turkey because it took longer to defrost than we thought it would. The cavity of the turkey was still frozen when we unwrapped it in preparation for brining. We ended up having to rewrap the turkey and defrosting it the rest of the way in cold water, which was a pain the butt and I hated doing it. Even though we had a small bird by turkey standards, it felt heavy and awkward handling the thing. If we had gotten a fresh turkey, all we had to do was brine and roast - no worrying about defrosting it. On the other hand, a frozen turkey is cheaper and now that we've learned a few things about defrosting, I'm sure if we get another one, we'll handle it better. I guess we'll have to see how things are next year.

Lastly, I would make one pumpkin pie instead of two and some kind of easy salad dressing instead of onion dip. As good as the onion dip was, having made it from scratch, the crowd we had just wasn't into it. I guess they're more health conscious than hubby and I. As for the pie, I made two pies thinking one wasn't enough for a crowd of 11. What I didn't factor in was the fact that everyone was too stuffed to eat dessert by the end. Most people who ate pie, only had a sliver of a slice and no more. I admit to feeling like some of the effort was wasted on the pie considering I made it fresh from a sugar pumpkin. The onion dip, which was barely touched, and the pie were what kept me up till 4am the day of Thanksgiving. I feel like I sacrificed precious sleep time for nothing. Why do this again if it's not going to be appreciated? Next year, no more onion dip and only one pie. As much as I like entertaining, I don't want to kill myself doing it!