I love reading about everyone's Thanksgiving dinner.

wowsie, that's quite a spread, just lovely !!!

Nice pictures and looks like really good food. Give me those blue crabs any day (their my favorite food)! We just had steamed spiced last week for a late birthday celebration for me with my family and they were excellent and lots of them.

What do you have drizzled over the eggplant?

As always, too pretty and artistic to eat.
Also, too enticing NOT to eat ! !!
Looks wonderful.
Bet it tasted even better.

Rusty

Beautiful,all of it.Those crabs really caught my eye.

Shelley

Wow, nice! That was a lot of work.

Fantastic looking spread!

Ditto Dixiedog's question.

You amaze me decarch!

Beautiful spread. What are the various colored little things on the plate around the turkey.

I agree, it's all beautiful but I'd love those crabs!

Annie

Beautiful!
Love the crabs, but I'd take a little bit of everything.

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving Dcarch.

Sol

Thank you everyone. You make me feel so good with your kind complements. I am glad everyone had a happy Thanksgiving.

"What are the various colored little things on the plate around the turkey."
Those are a variety of olives, pearl onions, cherry tomatoes, button mushrooms, peppers, all pickled to different flavors. The idea is to wake up your taste buds after each bite of turkey. Turkey tastes good, but itÂs still on the boring side even with gravy. This makes it more interesting.

"What do you have drizzled over the eggplant?"
¼ cup thick Chinese oyster sauce,
1 table spoon ketchup
1 table spoon balsamic vinegar
2 table spoons red wine
10 drops of sesame oil and lots of pepper.
Get an empty plastic soda bottle and burn a small hole in the cap. Shake and mix the above and squeeze on the egg plants.

dcarch

Wow! That's art not dinner! :-)
Everything feels so special.

I have to know just where you are standing to take the 5th photo!
Tall chair? Balcony/stairs? We got the whole table in, but not a straight down shot like that!

Deanna

Certainly an interesting arrangement of foods....but the logistics have me confused.
Is that really a meal that you eat? How do you deal with the crab? Are they gutted already? Do you serve them with a mallet? Before the turkey? or with the turkey?
Do you carve the turkey at the table? What happens to the juices from the bird when you carve? Do they get all mixed up in the pickled veggies?
What kind of soup will you serve in those little bowls on the service plates?
Think I'll skip the turkey....just pass the crab, the shrimp and a mallet please!!
Oh and save me some mango ice cream!
Linda C

"Certainly an interesting arrangement of foods....but the logistics have me confused.
Is that really a meal that you eat? "

The concept is simple: serve all the food at their proper temperature. The logistics is complicated; itÂs almost like planning a coordinated military attach. In order to do so, I had crabs and shrimp cocktail, which were to be served cold. All the others were done simultaneously, including the herb bread from the bread machine. This of course has the benefit that you get to sit down with everyone and not get stuck in the kitchen.

"How do you deal with the crab? Are they gutted already? Do you serve them with a mallet? Before the turkey? or with the turkey? "

The turkey was served first when it was just out of the oven.
The crabs: Everyone enjoys crabs, but itÂs not easy to eat crabs. First, those were selected large size crabs, the Dungeness was over 3 lbs, and comparing the lemon slices, you can get an idea that the blue crabs were huge. By now, some of you may suspect that I am a little crazy :-). I have special crab eating tools that I made, making it much easier to enjoy in a civilized manner, no need for mallets: I made a few of this lobster/crab shears from an ordinary pair of scissors

"Do you carve the turkey at the table? What happens to the juices from the bird when you carve? Do they get all mixed up in the pickled veggies? "

Interesting, thatÂs something I never realized. As you know, I do my turkeys in a very different way. I donÂt remember ever getting any juices when I am carving. Not one drop. It seems that all the juices remain in the meat. All I got this time was 1/4 cup of drippings mixed with lots of fat in the roasting pan. I always have to make gravy some other way.
Carving:
You may also notice that my turkey faces down on that platter. I roast my turkey that way. Reasons: The thighs get cooked and the breasts will not be over cooked, just working with the thermal dynamics of a regular oven. A problem most people have to deal with.
The turkey is presented to the table the same way. I find the other way a little pornographic. LOL. I carve the turkey the other way in the kitchen on the counter. If you are careful with carving, all the sliced meat can stay on the turkey and the turkey can be returned to the dinning table nice looking whole and the sliced meat will remain hot.

"What kind of soup will you serve in those little bowls on the service plates? "

Pumpkin soup was served. No more room on the table for the bowl of pumpkin soup, made from leftover pumpkin pie making.

"Think I'll skip the turkey....just pass the crab, the shrimp and a mallet please!!
Oh and save me some mango ice cream! Linda C"

What everyone did that day. :-)

dcarch