Thanksgiving Recap

We started our Thanksgiving celebrations the first weekend in November this year. Ken and I hosted my third annual NYC Friendsgiving potluck at our apartment and it turned out to be a huge success. We had a ton of food and great company and it was our first party in our apartment. Photos from our first party:

Our appetizers and sides included mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potates, spinach dumplings, spaghetti squash, bacon and cheese biscuits, chorizo stuffed mushrooms, and mung bean noodles with cucumbers and peanut sauce:

Our desserts included two pumpkin pies, chocolate cake, two pecan pies, floating islands, and homemade cookies that were made lovingly by Stephane:

Kristen made two different types of dip (seafood dip and spinach artichoke dip) and I ordered a cheese platter from Beechers:

We had so many dishes that I ran out of counter space! Hana made delicious baked ziti and Ken made stuffing:

All of us at our potluck:

The weekend before Thanksgiving, Ken and I flew to Chicago to spend time with both of our families. We had so much fun while we were in Chicago; Ken had to go into Chicago to work everyday but I stayed in the suburbs and hung out with his parents, sisters and niece and nephew. After we arrived on Saturday and settled in, we drove into the city to have Friendsgiving #2 with my friends Angie, Nat, John, and Tuesday. We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cheesecake, and pecan pie. It was so much food and I felt like we didn’t make a dent in the turkey because there were so many good sides.

On Sunday night, we celebrated Dr. Chen’s 70th birthday with a huge Chinese banquet in the suburbs. Monday – Wednesday were spent on meals at Portillos, Jimmy Johns, Walker Brothers, and Go Roma. On Thursday night, we went to Flo’s house to have Thanksgiving there – Ken and I helped out by making macaroni and cheese and Ken made the white rice (a huge contribution for an Asian Thanksgiving). We played with all of the little kids – Owen, on the left, just had a little sister on Monday:

On Friday, Ken’s parents invited my mom, David, Laura and her mom to the house to have another Thanksgiving dinner. We had beef tenderloin, salmon, carrots, asparagus, chocolate cake, fruit salad (Filipino style), Asian pears, and played LOTS of ping pong. The kids had a lot of fun playing with my brother and Laura, too. Sammy and Charley tried to balance as many pillows as possible on David’s head:

Me, Ken and the kids before they went to bed:

All of us:

As if all of the food we’d eaten during the week weren’t enough, on Saturday, Laura’s family invited us to their friend’s house to make dumplings and have another Thanksgiving meal:

By the time we arrived all of the dumplings were already boiling, but we made it just in time to sit down and eat all of the amazing food:

Tofu:

Chinese eggplant:

Polish bacon with wood ear mushrooms and leeks:

On Saturday night, Ken had his ten-year reunion – we went out for pizza beforehand (we had four different types of pizza and they were all pretty good). After the reunion, Ken was in the mood for more pizza so we ordered Pizzeria Due, drove home, and watched Breaking Bad while eating pizza and gulping seltzer.

Now we’re back in New York, trying to get back into shape for Mexico, and enjoying New York’s unseasonably warm weather. We can’t believe there are only three weeks until we’re spending Christmas in Mexico!

Needless to say, we are not in the mood for turkey and can definitely go without a huge meal for a while. What did you do for Thanksgiving?