Thanksgiving Weekend Up North

Since we couldn't make it down to visit our families for thanksgiving this year, we decided to try hosting our own little feast up here.

My hat goes off to all of you who have ever successfully accomplished this before. Wow! I spent 12 hours straight in the kitchen on Saturday.

There were a few narrowly averted disasters, but I managed to cook our still partially frozen turkey in time for thanksgiving dinner. And miraculously it turned out perfectly!

It was definitely a learn-as-you-go thanksgiving. We had the computers out the whole time... how to rapidly defrost, how to stuff, how to roast, and how to carve a turkey. It was hilarious! 

Dear internet, thank you. I don't know how we would have done it without you.

Since there are no pumpkins or flowers to be found around here for decorative centrepieces, I picked some tall grasses and placed them in vases around the apartment. It did the trick.

And the feast was a feast just like our mothers make. We felt pretty darn proud of ourselves!

And my wild cranberry cranberry sauce turned out amazing : )

And the next day I honoured the bird in the best way I could think of: by using every last bit of it. So I made stock from all the leftover bones. Again, this was a definite first for me - but totally worth it, as I now have tons of richly flavoured soup stock in my freezer. Just in time for the long, cold winter.

Although there's no replacing family on holidays, it was a wonderful thanksgiving weekend up here in the north.