Can I call a second annual occurrence a tradition? By popular acclaim, we hosted our second day-after-thanksgiving party for friends to bring their leftover dishes from the night before and enjoy a relaxed atmosphere. Perhaps this fits the pilgrim model of thanksgiving even more than yesterday. In an effort to seem down with the times and all, I attempted to organize this shindig via Facebook events. This lead me to realize two things; 1 - I'm not connected online with everybody I want to yet and 2 - If everybody came, we would be violating the fire code. On the belief that not everyone would come, I went ahead and sent out the invites. Now this is the part of the story you may be saying to yourself, "hey wait a minute, I don't remember getting an invite," and my only defense/excuse is that I was sending out invites entirely on the on the spot and thought of whether somebody seemed like the sort that may be interested. No other criteria went into it. It's coming around again next year so let me know if you want to come and please don't take offense if I missed you this year.
We had spent a lot of time planning and prepping for the event and on the day of, instead of door-busting sales, we were shifting furniture and setting up zones for eating, chatting, games and movies. We always plan kid friendly events so the Charlie Brown thanksgiving special was playing in the basement where kids could take their food and play and be noisy. We brought in a couple extra tables and made the executive decision to allow people to eat anywhere they could find a spot. Chairs were a premium but I think we were able to accommodate about 28 people. We played various games and also had the piano ready for those who wanted to start the caroling.
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| Ambroses, Mckennas, some Baileys and a Turner |
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| Mckennas, Doug & Joey and another Turner |
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| The Kitchen Crew |
To relate all this back to food, the spread was more intense than Thanksgiving itself since effectually we were combing a number of thanksgivings into one giant party. In addition to the feast from the day before we also had people who brought the following:
Sweet Potato Casseroles
Rolls
Cider (for making Wassail)
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| It all starts here. |
Cranberry Chutney and Sauces
(and I'm forgetting stuff already)
and we also broke out the Naan and used the Chard dip I mentioned last time. The collage of pictures below sort of show the process. The basic recipe calls for the tender stalks to be turned into mush and Tahini, Garlic paste and lemon juice added. I went really heavy on the garlic this time but this only seemed to make it more addictive.
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| Chard Stalks in the Steamer |
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| Steamed stalks getting liquified |
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| Chard stalks chopped and ready |
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| Done |
And now I'm pooped.
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