Our gathering this year initiated by me. With 6 children among 3 moms living in the southern portion of California it made sense to meet in Hollywood for Thanksgiving. I recommended much of the menu according to the tastes and traditions of my friends. We had turkey wrapped in bacon, ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, two kinds of sweet potatoes, green beans almondine, a lovely salad brought by guests, corn bread with bacon stuffing, apricot sausage bread stuffing, a raspberry-cream cheese jello, three kinds of cranberry sauces, homemade pumpkin pies and cheese cake, purchased cherry and pecan pies, ice creams, and whipped cream. It was all quite traditional fare. I made stuffings and gravy at home and traveled with those. Pie filling and crust pastry dough were made at home and assembled there. My crust discs didn't have enough moisture and fought me. Thankfully pumpkin pies only have bottom crusts that were well covered by filling. They were not pretty! But the taste and texture were good. I cooked the turkey and a spare breast there. The turkey went into a roaster. I cooked it 450 for an hour and then turned it down to 325 for the rest of the cooking and held it at warm while everything else finished. It was quite fine. It was an organic 19 pound tom. My friends made the sweet potatoes, cheesecake, jello dish, and cranberries. We also had canned cranberry jell. The young'uns love that stuff. Alice and Haley made guacamole to snack on before the meal. Our hostess Lisa made hot cider and coffee. Though I asked and my emails were forwarded to all guests, no one told me that the two daughters of my friend's friends are vegetarian. :( They ate around the heavily meaty offerings. I would happily have made something for them and some veggie stuffing had I known. I had many sous chefs among the young adults who wandered in and out and helped. Everyone pitched in with everything that needed to be done. Though I am perfectly capable of turkey carving, I was also really ready to abdicate the duty due to tiredness by the time the bird emerged. I asked my son to carve. He stuttered in a panic and left the kitchen. :) I asked the super social husband of the friend's friend to carve. He also blanched at the request but manned up on the spot and did the job. Bless his heart. All of the young folks took over at dessert time and set everything out after we cleaned up the main event. We were supposed to be 15 but the elderly momma was unable to attend so we were 14. I packed up a boxed meal for her. Things I would do differently next time: have a Silpat on which to roll pie crusts, make a vegetarian side that can work as entree for the vegetarians. Make sure we don't buy 2 hams and twenty pounds of potatoes. Lisa and I accidentally doubled up on a few things. I sent my starving student children home with two bags of potatoes. Otherwise, I would not change much. If we do this next year I will suggest that the adult children make some of the sides as well. Thankfully other people took photos! The youngsters gathered in the patio before dinner. Left to right: Lisa, Alice and Alice, Noelle, Haley, Daniel, Aimee, and Gina. Daniel and Alice amusing themselves while waiting to eat. Serving ourselves. Alice and Aimee with their plates. Someone's plate. The kids' table. ;) Candace, the ham thief. She was banished to the patio until dessert after helping herself to a portion of ham from the buffet. She is very tall and will counter surf if not watched carefully. The oldsters. Lisa, our hostess, is third from the left. Tom, the turkey carver is pretending to steal a kiss. Alice and Haley with desserts. Post orgy, um...meal.

I had to dig deep for those :-). The second one is not quite right, a little oof or something, and the third one I was practicing indoors without a flash at the gas station. A security camera was filming me while I was getting those shots lol. I was practicing with high ISO w/o a flash. That was shot at ISO 3200. I asked the night clerk if it would be ok. She looked a little dubious but said go ahead, what are you going to use them for? Nothing in particular. Well, now we know lol. Thanks for the comments.

I had a similar situation in my last house. An electric oven w/ pull out tray below & a tall storage area above. I didn't use it for much food storage. Stored pots & pans below & tall things like my vintage Hamilton Beach malt mixer & the KA mixer above. Also, the bags of chips went up there. That said, I never noticed any excess heat, particularly not below (heat rises). When you think about it, built in ovens usually go into wood cabinets so they must be quite well insulated so I wouldn't have any qualms about storing food there. Want to add that storage above the oven wasn't what I'd call easily accessible. Least ways, not unless you're quite tall. I'm 5'5'' & have a long reach--monkey arms! Personally, I would plan to store bulky, seldom used items up there or do a divided storage for cookie sheets, etc. Remember that the cabinet is going to be counter depth, approx. 24''. I remember grabbing a long wooden spoon to reach in & give a bag of chips a flip out of the cab & catching them before they hit the floor...that was often easier than dragging a step stool

Mmmm...potato pizza. Must try that one Spatz, though I'm lazy and just by Lebanese flat bread to use as a pizza base when I make them. Tried lentils in red wine? 250g Puy or brown lentils, soaked overnight 2 medium carrots finely diced 1 onion finely chopped 1 tbs tomato paste 2 tbs good olive oil 1L good stock 750mL red wine 1 stick cinnamon salt and pepper to taste In a saucepan, reduce red wine and cinnamon over a low heat to about 150mL, around 20 mins. Heat olive oil in heavy frypan and cook onions and carrots for 10 mins, stirring occasionally. Add lentils, tomato paste, wine reduction, stock, salt and pepper then simmer, covered, for 30 to 40 mins until thick and lentils are soft. Add water if necessary. This makes a fantastic pie filling, or as a bed under pan seared salmon, or as an accompaniment to whatever takes your fancy.