Surtout de Table (Table Centerpiece), Pierre-Philippe Thomire, 1810

On this day it is a common enough meme to post a photo of one’s spread. These groaning board shots say less about giving thanks than of the day’s gluttony. In this spirit of one-upmanship, I must admit that I’ve been guilty of this practice too. Not for redemption, but to go one better, I offer this pic of a centerpiece at the Cooper Hewitt née the Carnegie Mansion. It was once a wedding gift from Napoleon Bonaparte. Now top that if you can!

Today’s menu began with my go to breakfast dish, avocado toast, leavened with a pound of bacon. We got the bird in the oven before noon, if not before kickoff. Our geriatric gas stove, with its finicky electronic ignition is on for the duration. Its ignition only works when the stove is cold. Once lit, it must remain so, or we have to wait until it goes cold again.

In addition to turkey, dinner’s menu includes Anne’s “Basque” dressing and gravy. Our experiment for today is a bit of a portmanteau, five Thanksgiving sides in one pan. The fab five are sweet potatoes, scalloped potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce and to keep the other four separated, an intricate levee system of biscuits. To get these five to cook well together, we first nuked the potatoes, and froze the cranberries and beans. It should be interesting.

Rounding out our cuisine is a pomegranate salad sans romaine. Anne scratch made a pumpkin, pecan and ginger pie yesterday. It is almost time to breakout the champagne and hors d’oeuvres and get this feast underway. This post should be published at about the same time that the turkey is ready to pop. I hope that everything turns out alright. I hope that your Thanksgiving is a good one too.