Everyone pitched in to create an incredible spread this Thanksgiving. Thanks to my friend Dan, who has spent many a Thanksgiving with us, for taking most of these photos.

With the bird safely in the oven by 9:30, and mom onto making a pumpkin pie, we relaxed a bit, then got into full swing around 1pm. My favorite part of Thanksgiving is those three or four hours when we’re all cooking in sync, everyone handing around spoons for tasting, adding a little of this or that and tasting again. In the midst of all the activity, the oven was turned off accidentally for a full hour with the turkey inside. I’d have to say it actually improved the texture. The turkey turned out to be incredibly succulent and flavorful from the browning outdoors. We also found time to invent a new dish – bulgar with roasted shiitake mushrooms, peas, plumped prunes, and mint. It was a wonderfully sweet and savory alternative to bread dressing.

I wanted to show you all the excitement we had this morning when mom’s bird went into the domed pizza oven out back. Her friend and mason Nick came over to assist us in searing the bird. Except for it initially blistering because the temp was up to 600 F (in mom’s words POW POW POW), everything went off swimmingly and it is now a delicious golden brown. The bird was expertly rotated on an enormous peel by mom with Nick’s assistance. We carried it ever so carefully into the kitchen and then into the oven. As we closed the door Nick sighed in relief, admitting that he’d dreampt that it had fallen on the floor. Well we say, HAHA! Can’t wait to taste it!

Anyone who stopped by last year around Thanksgiving will remember I cooked some family recipes away from home.

This year is a family reunion, two families actually, each cooking in our own kitchens and bringing the food together. When my mother was growing up Thanksgiving was very much about tradition and ceremony. In our home it’s generally about new experiments, cooking what you like, and different families coming together to share what they love with each other. We split the menu in half and find out how it comes together on Thursday!

The slaving. The spread. The whirlwind. THE TURKEY. The food. The company. The pie. The piled plate. The tryptophan. The fire. The passing out. Ahh, tis the holiday.

I’m breaking new ground this Thanksgiving: organizing a holiday menu, being away from my family for turkey dinner (sniff), and killing two birds with one stone (heh) and visiting both families during the weekend. We’ll be cooking with Matt’s family for Thanksgiving and then dropping in on my own on Saturday. Cooking in a new kitchen always levels you: there’s unknown oven heating times, range heat differences, the challenge of remembering every single ingredient you need in advance, and the unknown palettes to please. We are going to cook the shit out of this meal.