Thanksgiving Day 2007- grateful for the farmers

I love this holiday - sitting around a big table with family and/or friends, sharing good food, wine and conversation. I am grateful for the food that comes from the hard work of two of those at the table - Nicolas and his mother, Helen. Here are some pictures of the farmers, getting to relax.



It was such a relaxed, fun preparation this year because all three guys helped me. I hadn't even asked; they just found things they wanted to do. Gillen went out in the rain (yes, finally rain!) and collected holly, yellow mums, and evergreen branches to decorate the table, adding turkey place cards from construction paper. I think it's been five years since we last made those together. It was a sweet addition. Jesse helped to make Apple Pie. And Nicolas - well, he ended up cooking a duck. I had asked him to pick up a rotisserie duck from a market in Atlanta that cooks them, as an alternative to my usual two day brined turkey tradition. Somehow, he missed the "rotisserie" part and I didn't realize until a few hours before we were going to eat. We had a little ham nugget too, and lots of sides so I thought we should just put the duck on hold but Nicolas rallied, looking up a recipe and then running to the farm to get turnips, thyme and parsley with which to braise the duck. So his duck was braised (pretty well actually) instead of cooked ;)

I hope you had a wonderful, stress-free day as well.