Also, since we were doing that, we decided it was a good idea to try to cook everything from scratch, for the first time ever. I am all about turkey on normal days of the year, I think it's a good, cheap, unfancy food (can't beat taking a real turkey sandwich to work for lunch). But I've never done the whole meal. Most unusually, I got most of the recipes online, and I can't take photos that are any better than the ones already up, so I'll give you the links:
- Pecan Pie
- Corn Bread Stuffing (which I have to admit, wasn't the best. Aaron and I think that the trick might be to have some white bread in with the cornbread, instead of our home-baked dense wheat)
- Sweet Potato and Sage Gratin (one note, even though people post things on the internet and provide beautiful pictures, it does not mean they are good recipe authors. This was a beautiful recipe and it tasted great, but some important things felt missing)
- Aaron made the gravy, and used his own experiments, while taking a tip from Martha to puree roasted vegetables (We netflixed Martha's Thanksgiving special for inspiration.)
- We made our usual mashed potatoes with nutmeg and added 2 tbsp. of horseradish and 1+ cup of buttermilk to make it delicious.
And some other tasty things. Maria made beautiful cranberry sauce and baklava. I've never had baklava actually made by a Greek citizen before. It was out of this world.
Cooking felt good. I liked taking the day to cook....and cook and cook with Aaron. It was therapeutic. It's something I wish we could do more often. We do good at cooking together and don't fight too much (however, with our limited counter space, things did get a little tense when the gravy needed to be made). I can't say the same for wallpapering. More to come on that, later.
