Kelly the Culinarian: Cooking with Kelly: Turkey day!

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Cooking with Kelly: Turkey day!

OK, the title is a little deceiving. I didn't do any cooking at all. My mom made a really great feast: 12-pound turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, dinner rolls, stuffing and cauliflower in a cheese sauce. It was quite amazing. We all mashed and dished the tasty stuff in the kitchen, while we sipped on what my sisters called jingle bells:

1 part cranberry juice
1 part sprite

And the adult version:
2 part cranberry juice
1 part white wine
1 part sprite



We live in a drafty house, so we serve our foods buffet/potluck style in chafing pans. We have an electric three-section chafing set for turkey, stuffing and potatoes and then we used an additional fondue-type set up with gel fuel for the veggies. It's not a perfect system, but it's start.

We have a tradition here in the Mahoney household: Every year after turkey dinner but before pie, we go to downtown Chicago to see the Marshall Fields windows. I refuse to call it that other name that owns it now ... The theme this year was the Nutcracker, although I recall that back in the day when it was Field's, there were more windows, but it was still cool. My favorite window had nothing to do with the Nutcracker. I really enjoyed the tree decorated with Frango mints.

Anyhow, another wonderful holiday at our house. Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving everyone!

15 comments:

Lorelei said...

Creamed cauliflower is one of my all-time favorite "vegetables." You can't really call it a true vegetable if it's mostly cheese and cream, but it sure tastes good... Glad you had a great Thankgiving.

zewt said...

hmmm.... so fast and it's already thanksgiving?

Dagny said...

Great slide show!

Unknown said...

Hmm. I'm going to have to try these 'jingle bells' soon. :) (and the first 2 times I typed 'jingle' it came out 'jiggle', so these may be jiggle bells around our house)

Sugar Bean said...

Everything was so well prepared and well presented. Glad that you had a great time!

East Meets West Kitchen said...

Yum! Must try that adult version, and love your slides! Happy Thanksgiving to you too!

Unknown said...

I love Thanksgiving in Chicago. We used to go every year the day after Thanksgiving and shop til we dropped on Michigan avenue. The crowds were crazy but it never seemed to bother me as the holiday spirit was in the air.
Thanks for the Jingle Bells recipe. Sounds perfect!
Kristen
http://dineanddish.squarespace.com

Cynthia said...

Happy Holidays!

Sharon Y. said...

It's so wonderful to celebrate a holiday feast potluck style with family members. We do this every Christmas :) Happy Thanksgiving!

Joan said...

It sounds like you had a wonderful family Thanksgiving. And I love your Marshall Fields tradition...it sounds like a terrific way to start the Christmas holiday season.

madre-terra said...

For many years we have done an art show in Chicago in December. This year we opted to do other shows instead.
Imagine my surprise last year when we went to go and see the windows at Marshall Fields and it was that other store! I'll miss them this year...thanks for the pictures.

winedeb said...

Kelly, by the looks of your photo book, which is really cool BTW, you had a very nice Thanksgiving! Great idea on the way you guys serve dinner!

Christo Gonzales said...

jingle bells sound great and the buffet serving technique is cool

Big Boys Oven said...

Looks so incredible... such you enjoy them!

bp said...

What a lovely Thanksgiving meal. Cute slideshow! Incidentally, I took a little vacation with the family at Chicago... and it's brrr, freezing there!