Week of November 20: Our First Thanksgiving

This year Andrea and I hosted our first Thanksgiving as a married couple at our home. I'm not sure how this happened but somehow my side of the family decided that we were in charge. "Geu Nyang... Dae Chung", advised my mom. This is a very common Korean phrase. It translates to "just roughly", or more colloquially "just enough to get by". I've always wondered why this phrase and mentality was so common in the Korean culture. If you don't believe me, just take a drive in a Kia or Daewoo.

"Dae Chung?" There was no way our first Thanksgiving was going to be Dae Chung. So Andrea and I planned ahead, laid out the menu, researched the recipes, shopped early and even drew up a cooking schedule. Our meal would be simple yet elegant, natural yet flavorful. Our planned menu was as follows:

Roast Turkey with Shallot Butter and Thyme Gravy

Mashed Potatoes

Green Bean Casserole (used canned green beans instead)

Roasted Brussels Sprouts (plus grated lemon peel)

Bread Stuffing

Kim Chee

Creme Fraiche Biscuits, and

Pumpkin Pie

A perfect meal for a well planned out Thanksgiving right? Well almost. Not everything was perfect.

The Thanksgiving dinner was set for 2 PM. All together there were 9 adults (my parents, my uncle and aunt, my cousin Andy, my brother Brian, Andrea, myself and our friend Kathi) and 3 dogs (Blackberry, Cody and our dog Kodi). However, the dinner ran a little late... 3 hours late. The main reason was that the turkey took a lot longer to cook.

Everyone was in good spirits waiting for the turkey to be done. A few glasses of wine didn't hurt.

We estimated about 2 1/2 hour for the bird to be done, to reach 170 degrees. However, it wasn't until about 5 PM until we were finally able to sit down at the table and begin our dinner.

My mom catches Brian "inspecting" the brussels sprouts and Kathi and Andrea show off their smiles as the turkey arrives.

And after an hour of gorging, the last man eating, my uncle finally threw in the napkin. I think Andrea was rather shocked that my uncle who's about 5 ft 4 and maybe 100 pounds ate probably enough to feed a small country. With our stomachs filled and our belts loosened, we retired to the living room to stretch and catch our second wind for dessert.

Another unplanned imperfection was the dessert. I had attempted to procure a pumpkin pie the previous night from a local bakery, Bakesale Betty. Betty had made 300 pumpkin pies but by the time I got there, all the pies were spoken for. As I added my name to a waiting list, which eventually was unsuccessful, an elderly woman picked up her reserved 2 pies. She even opened up the pie box to show me her prize. It was then I realized that I was having a Seinfeld moment. Remember "The Rye" episode? I refrained myself from calling the 2 pie lady "an old bag" as I knew that my aunt had volunteered to get the pumpkin pie. However, when my aunt showed up, she had a chocolate cream pie and a boysenberry pie. It seems that her local bakery, Heidi's, had run out of pumpkin pies as well. What was this world coming to?

All in all, our first Thanksgiving was a success. After the dessert, everyone began entering into the post turkey coma syndrome that not even a strong cup of Joe could prevent.

Put a fork in us... we're done!

One by one, my family left and Andrea and I , along with Blackberry and Kodi, all laid about in the living room, half asleep, full bellyed and completely content.