Gracenotes NYC’s Second Annual NYC Thanksgiving

Over the weekend, David and I hosted our second annual NYC Thanksgiving party. This year, our apartment’s larger and we had it potluck style so I didn’t have to do all of the cooking. To see last year’s posts, click here. I did manage to cook a few dishes (including a turkey that we picked up from Costco) and I’ll be posting about all of them throughout the week.

This year’s party was really fun – Joe, Ariel, and Audrey brought lots of alcohol, PAMA liqueur donated lots of pomegranate liqueur, and lots of scotch was consumed (by one individual). We apparently got a little rowdy because security came by to tell us to keep it down, but we were having so much fun that we just closed the door and kept on partying. David had everyone say one thing we were grateful for (a tradition my family does every year) and we played catchphrase until 2AM. I’m grateful for a lot of things, but I’m most grateful for having an amazingly supportive and awesome brother and mom. David went to Brooklyn to pick up extra chairs so we could fit 14 people in our apartment, ran to Bed, Bath, and Beyond when I was worried that our turkey wouldn’t fit in a roasting pan (it didn’t), and helped keep the party exciting while I was putting the final touches on everything. I’m also grateful for my wonderful mom, who talked with me on skype until 2AM while I was preparing all of the dishes so I wouldn’t be lonely, helped me come up with the dinner menu, and thought of the crazy idea for us to livestream the party so other people (like my dad and my mom) could watch us enjoy the party.

Like last year, I’m going to post the recipes and step-by-step instructions on when and how to make each dish – I hope you can take some of these recipes and prepare them during your Thanksgiving with your family and friends. Today, I’ll post a few pictures from our party (we also livestreamed it so my parents could watch from Asia and North Carolina).

NYC Thanksgiving Menu

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup (prepared on Thursday)
Waverly Inn Biscuits (prepared on Saturday)
Stuffed Mushrooms (prepared on Friday)
Macaroni and Cheese with Bacon (prepared on Friday)
Cornbread Dressing (prepared on Wednesday)
Spatchcocked Turkey (brined on Friday night, roasted on Saturday)
Gravy (prepared on Saturday)
Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake (baked on Friday night)
Dark Chocolate Almond Cherry Bark (prepared on Saturday)

The other guests brought the following (I don’t have the recipes, but they were all amazing):

Blake: Green Bean Casserole
Justin: Sweet Potato Casserole
Julie: Spinach Artichoke Dip
Laura: Mexican Dip, Red Velvet Cake
Bethany: Cranberry Bread
Koyel: Mashed Potatoes
Sumon: Pumpkin Pie
Lou: Cranberry Sauce
Ariel: Apple Pecan Cake

Today I’ll do a double post – pictures from our party AND the first recipe, Lou’s Cranberry Sauce.

All of our guests:

Spatchcocked turkey, cornbread dressing, and macaroni and cheese with bacon:

More food:

Justin inspecting the Vilas spring water (from Spain) that was generously donated for our party (and Faire watching him to make sure he doesn’t drop the water bottle on her slice of apple pecan cake):

Blake telling me to hurry up and take my picture so we can start eating the FIVE desserts people made/purchased:

Cantor helping Tigger clean up:

Faire, flying:

Lounging around and thinking about switching into elastic-waisted pants (I offered):

Me and Tigger:

Faire and David:

Faire and Tigger, playing together:

I hope you enjoy this week’s posts – I tried taking as many pictures as possible while I was cooking so you’d have a good idea of how to make each dish.