Urban Family Thanksgiving

My lovely guardian angel sister-friend Anne declared, "Let's have an urban family Thanksgiving dinner here!" And that is exactly what we did.

Here is what we served:

Lillet Blanc over fresh tangerine zest (on the rocks)

Assorted cheeses (an aged sheep's milk gouda, a garrotxa, a tangy blue, a creamy brie-like cow's milk cheese) with pumpkin butter, sunflower honey, fig-almond spread, sliced New York apples & crispbread

Butternut squash panna cotta

A red salad of pomegranate, beets, red onion & blood oranges

(A choice of Albariño or pinot noir with dinner)

Roast duck & cornbread dotted with dried cherries

Hazelnut, sage, & mushroom stuffing

Cranberry chutney

Shaved Brussels sprouts with pecorino romano

Gingered yams with mustard greens

Homemade pumpkin and cherry pies with mulled apple cider granita

Annie made pie crust from scratch!

Quotable

"When poor Southern families created 'soul food,' all they had was produce from their humble backyard gardens. Soul food started as local, organic, and sustainable—terms we’re now more likely to associate with Trader Joe’s than Amy Ruth’s. Vegan food activist Bryant Terry wants to change those associations; to bring the growing movement of health and eco-conscious food back to its (low-income) roots."

- Heather McGhee

Quotable Quote

Everyone knows there are foods that are sexy to eat. What they don't talk about so much is foods that are sexy to make.

- Julie Powell

Quotable Quote

You must be careful with your indulgences. The more you eat of something you love, the less of a luxury it becomes.

- Mary Roach

Quotable Quote

Cooking is like love.  It should be entered into with abandon or not at all.  

~Harriet van Horne

Quotable Quote

It's difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato.  

~Lewis Grizzard

Quotable Quote

One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.  

~Luciano Pavarotti and William Wright, Pavarotti, My Own Story

Quotable Quote

One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.

— Virginia Woolf, "A Room of One's Own"

Quotable Quote

“I always say a gastronome who isn’t an environmentalist is just stupid, and I say an environmentalist who isn’t a gastronome is just sad.”

- Carlo Petrini, founder of Slow Food