#Thanksgiving #feast #family #bevsbites

Bonnie’s Thanksgiving Feast Challenge 2020!

December 17, 2020 by Beverly

I had a fabulous time on Thanksgiving 2020 – despite eating with my kids over Zoom – thanks to Chef Bonnie’s extraordinary culinary and planning skills.

My family and friends were almost afraid to ask about my Thanksgiving since they knew I would be eating alone. But the thing is, I didn’t feel alone at all! It was actually fun! I had plenty of company… starting with our traditional “Let’s Get Stuffed” family mascot… who was soon replaced as you can see here…

My Tablemates – Flat Laura and Flat Bonnie

You might be wondering why the chairs say Flat Bonnie and Flat Laura. This was inspired by the Flat Stanley series of books, which Teacher-Chef Bonnie told me about, and Flat Stanley’s worldwide traveling adventures. The concept fit Bonnie’s 2020 Thanksgiving Feast very well since it was a traveling event. FYI. Here’s the official Flat Stanley 50th Anniversary template, if the spirit moves you to make your version.

Bonnie was determined to cook her usual feast, without any compromises – especially when it came to her signature popovers. She willingly undertook the challenge of cooking in her Manhattan galley kitchen and bringing the entire meal to me, with Laura’s help.

There were 4 basic phases to this traveling Thanksgiving event, both in Manhattan and Ardsley, N.Y. 30 minutes north of Manhattan.

Baking on Pie Night
Cooking the feast in Manhattan, which actually started 2 weeks earlier with a few side dishes (soup, cranberry sauce) that were frozen in advance.
Delivering the entire dinner to me in Ardsley, and sampling the desserts (yes, this is backwards, but it’s 2020 and the chef needed her sugar fix)
Driving back to Manhattan, baking more popovers, warming up dinner, and zooming with me. And taking lots of photos along the way!

Now for the details, and the devil is in the details.

Beginning with Phase 1, Bonnie baked the pies on Pie Night, her traditional night before Thanksgiving event, which I told you was happening – but I didn’t have 2020 photos of yet.

Here’s Bonnie in 2020 rolling out one of the pie crusts on the big folding table that functioned as Bonnie’s living room work station, on loan from sister Laura for the big event. And then we can see the fruits of her labor.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Fresh Out of The Oven

Cherry Pie Filling on Bonnie’s New Non-Stick Miracle Pan from Our Place

Bonnie putting the finished almond touches on the Cherry Pie

Plus she made a Lattice Apple Pie. Bonnie always did like weaving loop potholders as a kid. Now she’s moved on to bigger and better things!

Phase 2 began on Thanksgiving Day, when Bonnie moved into high gear to cook her signature side dishes like Stuffin Muffins (3 versions this year!), which she had started prepping the night before. It’s a good thing Laura brought over such a big table!

Bonnie made the popovers in 2 shifts, which didn’t hit me until I saw these photos, the first round below being the GF popovers for me in Ardsley. I had just assumed the cooking was finished before they left. Wrong!

Then she got to work on the Stuffed Pears with Goat Cheese and Cranberries..

For the main course, Bonnie made her Lemon Herbed Turkey Breasts, which are amazing leftovers that seems to get more flavorful with age – if that’s even possible!

I’m always impressed by Bonnie’s ability to stuff all these herbs under the skin without ripping it. I don’t know how she does it! I tried it… once….

Usually I’m in the kitchen cleaning up after the chef, but this time I was home watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade (surprisingly good for a pandemic event without spectators!) and reading a book, far removed from all the action.

All day I was salivating at the prospect of getting a home-cooked Thanksgiving Day Feast delivery from Bonnie and Laura.

Finally, after a whole day of cooking, Bonnie shifted into Phase 3 and loaded up her cart full of food, and drove the 30 minutes to Ardsley. Where did all this energy come from? Ah, to be young again!

Finally, they arrived with food in hand!

Bonnie jumping the fence to get to my patio. I always chuckle when she does this.

I introduced the girls to their dinner stand-ins for the first time. Laura conveniently dressed in teal to match Flat Laura and make it feel more real.

Bonnie started unloading all my Pyrex containers that she picked up two weeks ago. This time they were full of delectable food! I don’t know how I stopped myself from doing a tasting right then and there.

She arranged everything on my kitchen counter, with the side dishes appearing one by one.

Green Bean Casserole with Crispy Shallots

Sour Cheery-Almond Pie recipe from the Food Network Magazine, with a GF pie crust from Danielle Walker.

Pumpkin Pie “Cheesecake” (which I savored for a week afterwards!)

Lattice Apple Pie from Against all Grain (the flakiest crust yet!)

Bonnie carefully documenting everything for her Instagram *@bonniesbitesoflife*

Then Bonnie surprised me by unexpectedly announcing we were sampling the desserts before she and Laura drove back to the city. The chef said she was hungry and couldn’t wait any longer to sample her wares. Besides, it was already 7pm.

Bonnie served all 3 desserts to each of us, and we ate in different corners of the apartment – with the windows and the patio door completely open, fans on to get the air flowing, and the diffuser running with powerful anti-viral essential oils. I am proud to say we were CDC compliant.

While Bonnie was serving, I greedily gobbled my plate up. How’s this for a future painting?

They left me my one-third share of each dessert, which I used as a reward after walking every day the following week.

My hunk of the Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake. Wish I had that now!

Of course, I had to take photos of the partially eaten desserts for future paintings.

You can tell that leftie Bonnie cut this pie.

Then the kids packed up the remainder of the desserts for the trek back into the city.

And I waited patiently… sort of…

We’re now into Phase 4, where the kids did a repeat set-up in Bonnie’s apartment. Little did I realize how Bonnie had so thoughtfully choreographed the entire evening. I was given permission to eat the soup while waiting for the formal dinner festivities to start.

The kids set their table with soup at the same time.

Then silliness began.

After the soup course, Bonnie made two more rounds of popovers, one GF for Laura and a gluten pan for herself. FYI. My popovers were GF and dairy free.

Admittedly I was a bit sad that I was missing the real life big reveal, the moment when Bonnie pulled her signature popovers out of the oven – until I saw these epic photos around midnight. Even now looking at this photos, Bonnie’s unbridled popover joy shines through, and I get my warm fuzzies.

At the time, I wouldn’t figure out why I was being asked to wave.

Finally, dinner is served! We were all instructed to load up our dinner plates with each dish.

We sampled many of the dishes together, from the pecan sweet potato casserole, to the moist turkey breast with cranberry sauce with just the right amount of tartness (Bonnie has it down to an art), to the second round of desserts.

Bonnie’s Instagram story at @bonniesloo told it all. Here is her summary of the 2020 Thanksgiving Challenge in a nutshell:

And eat together we did – joyfully and gratefully. I am so lucky the girls are both close by.

What I’ll always remember about 2020 is that Bonnie took the Thanksgiving Challenge and excelled on so many levels – the initial idea, the planning, the execution, the humor and the love. So much thoughtfulness and love went into this 2020 Thanksgiving that I felt like we were together the entire time – even though we spent less than 30 minutes in my apartment!

It was the most unique, creative, clever Thanksgiving ever, while maintaining so many of our family traditions. As the same time, we were CDC compliant! I will always remember how happy we were despite the health challenges of the times.

Of course, I’ll end this blog with our Official 2020 Thanksgiving Day Photo.

Beyond a shadow of a doubt, this was the best day of 2020.

Thank you, Bonnie, for willingly, lovingly, and so skillfully taking up the 2020 Thanksgiving Challenge!

Thanksgiving: Bonnie’s Labor of Love

November 26, 2017 by Beverly

In case you’re new to my blog, let me introduce you to our in-house chef, Bonnie, and her sous-chef for the day, Laura. You can see what has become our Thanksgiving motto, Let’s Get Stuffed!

Bonnie is the mastermind behind our elaborate Thanksgiving dinner – and happily stuffed we are. In fact, we’re gleefully stuffed full of leftovers (a word that doesn’t do justice to the magnificent flavors) the entire weekend!

She is incredibly organized, starting with her typed up menu and shopping list. The ingredients are lined up on the counter in advance and ready to go – whetting our appetites for what’s ahead.

Wednesday night before Thanksgiving is Baking Night. It’s a family tradition that no one wants to miss, especially those of us who want to lick the spatulas… Bonnie starts by preparing her pie crusts, which is fun to watch. She stands on a stool to get more leverage with the rolling pin when she rolls out the dough. Smart lady.

In past years, Bonnie has made 4 or more different desserts. This year she found a Food Network Recipe for 4 Pies in 1. Why make 4 different pies which you can make only one? You can see the 4 different fillings: pecan, apple, pumpkin and cherry.

Bonnie recruited me to help with the crust since she says I have a particular talent in smoothing down the bumps and cracks. Probably something to do with being an artist, and the practice I had with my mother making apple pies. Glad to help. Here Bonnie is putting the cherry filling into the crust.

I thought the 4 Pies In 1 was done at this point. However, Bonnie still had to put the finishing crusts on the cherry and apple pies before baking.

Since this was a new recipe, Bonnie prepared a backup pumpkin pie for Jay, just in case. And she made gluten-free pumpkin muffins for Laura and I, which somehow I neglected to take a photo of. How can that be?

Pumpkin Pie

On Thanksgiving Day, Bonnie was up bright and early. By the time I got up, Bonnie had already prepped several dishes on her 17 dish menu, 20 items with desserts. Several variations of stuffing were included.

Bonnie with her signature Stuffin’ Muffins and Sweet Potato Casserole

Stuffing for Stuffin’ Muffins

Stuffing for the Mushrooms

Making the popovers is the highlight of Bonnie’s cooking odyssey. No doubt about it. She loves putting that popover pan into the over and watching the popovers rise.

The best part of the day is watching Bonnie’s face glow when she takes the risen popovers out of the oven. She loves it so much she does it twice, with and without gluten. No Thanksgiving or blog would be complete without these two popover photos.

For the first time, the gluten-free popovers seemed to rise higher than the regular popovers. Bonnie’s secret is the new 1 for 1 flour from Bob’s Red Mill, which is engineered so you can use the same amount of flour in the gluten-free recipe as in the original recipe – which turned out to be delicious!

As Bonnie started preparing the turkey breasts and I was documenting her progress, things got a little rowdy in the kitchen.

Somehow we went from here…

...to here. Open Revolt!

And then to here (remind you of the Magic Mirror from Beauty and the Beast?). So there is some silliness going on in the kitchen in this behind the scenes view.

At this point, I couldn’t keep up with the dishes and pots and pans. I called for reinforcements.

While the team was in the kitchen, I put the finishing touches on the table.

Bonnie hung the Friendsgiving banner over the mirror since we were having friends over. Somehow Bonnie managed to sneak upstairs, change into a sophisticated outfit, and greet Barbara and Bruce – just in time to finish rolling zucchini with guacamole for appetizers.

Zucchini with Guacamole

Stuffed Holiday Mushrooms

Barbara brought her bread bowl with dip and chips. Thank you, Barb!

One by one the warm dishes moved from the oven to the buffet table as we all enjoyed these delicious appetizers, while trying not to overstuff ourselves before the main meal.

Lemon Herb Turkey Breast

Cranberry Sauce with Orange

Roasted Asparagus with Tomatoes

Brussel Sprouts and Grapes

Sweet Potato Casserole

Cauliflower Puree (aka Mashed Potatoes)

Roasted Pears with Goat Cheese

Wild Rice Stuffing

Popovers – a Thanksgiving staple

Oh yes, I can just hear Bonnie saying that I forgot the Butternut Squash Soup (which was stored in a Mason jar that I somehow overlooked. I’m also missing a good closeup of the Pumpkin Muffins, but she didn’t notice yet…)

Bonnie got everything on the table, and took a second to sit and enjoy the fruits of her labor.

Bonnie still beaming with 2 different recipes for Popovers

Finally, dinner is served! The dining room is open. Help yourself while everything is still warm!

The girls: Laura, Barb, Bonnie, Beverly

Buffet Table

After taking a break to make room for dessert in the dessert stomach (an inside joke of the night), Bonnie presented her piece-de-resistance dessert. Turns out I had to move quickly since the tray is really heavy. (Take the photo already, Mom!)

Then the chef could sat down for the night, listen to our rave reviews, and take satisfaction that this was another job well done.

Of course, we marked the end of this wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with our traditional selfie. This time Bonnie set the timer on my new iPhone 8 and put it on a shelf. (Our arms weren’t long enough to include 6 people. I don’t know how you did it, Ellen Degeneres.)

After Barbara and Bruce left, the girls wandered upstairs for sister bonding time. Jay and I spent a while cleaning up, basking in the afterglow of a terrific evening.

We marveled at Bonnie’s ambitious menu and the super human energy it took to execute it. The menu featured distinct flavors, yet everything went well together. Jay and I were especially amazed by her Wednesday night baking adventure, which kept Laura and Bonnie up until 1:30am after both working day jobs.

Up to her elbows in pots and pans on Thanksgiving, Bonnie looked content and happy. Sometimes people ask why she does this every year. The answer is that it is a labor of love for Bonnie – and it shows on her face. She is focused and totally engrossed in the task before her. Everything else falls away. Of course, we are so grateful that she shares the love with all of us.

Later I went upstairs and found Chef Bonnie and her sous-chef.

So maybe Chef Bonnie is human after all…. Bonnie, thank you for making Thanksgiving such a superb eating experience (click for 2015 and 2014 when Bonnie established herself as the Other Food Artist in the Family).

You’ve spoiled me for life.

Thanksgiving Bonnie-style

November 29, 2015 by Beverly

Thanksgiving is a holiday I look forward to for months. Welcome to Bonnie’s Thanksgiving Day Feast!

Here’s the behind-the-scenes look at this event, which extends over multiple days.

I’m fortunate enough to have a daughter who absolutely loves to cook Thanksgiving dinner – and she relishes every minute of it. While cooking can sometimes feel like a chore to some (me!), it’s pure joy to her – from planning the menu, making typed and categorized shopping lists, to picking the best looking fresh ingredients. She grows more confident every year.

In 2014, I wrote a blog post about Bonnie’s Thanksgiving called Other Food Artist in The Family. It’s definitely worth reading to understand how much skill goes into assembling the menu and balancing everyone’s likes, dislikes, and dietary constraints.

Yet cooking is more of an art than a science, and Bonnie has the art down. Somehow I can make the same recipes, but they don’t seem to taste as good as Chef Bonnie’s.

In retrospect, I wish I had taken more photos of the prep days. I would have if Laura and I hadn’t gone to Manhattan to meet good friends from Atlanta and see the Macy’s Thanksgiving balloons being blown up. Jay stayed behind to help, easing my guilt at leaving the chef (though Bonnie’s perfectly capable.) As you can see, Bonnie’s fashion sense rubbed off on Jay.

Bonnie was so well organized that she had everything lined up on the counter waiting their turn to go into the oven (glad it’s a double oven!). I was fascinated by her ability to multi-task with ease, juggling 3 to 4 recipes at once, with varying cook times and temperatures – even precooking some of them only to put them back in later so everything could be ready and stay warm at once.

It’s a good thing I re-read my own 2014 Thanksgiving post because I was about to unwittingly repeat myself. I was going to say that Bonnie upped her game, that she outdid herself, and that she made the most recipes ever. However, with 20 different items on the 2015 menu I would have been wrong – she made 23 last year. How quickly we forget!

Minor details, however, since the end result is a astonishing series of dishes that delight everyone’s palate – from butternut squash soup, to baked pears, a butternut squash and apple salad, lemon herb turkey breast, homemake cranberry sauce, quinoa salad, to her signature stuffin’ muffins and popovers in two varieties (with and without gluten).

Psst. Don’t tell anyone, but I hid the pesto green beans in the garage refrigerator to snack on over the weekend.

For me, it wasn’t so much the number of recipes that Bonnie made, but how gracefully she did it that was so impressive. Somehow being a full-time special ed school teacher for another year honed her multitasking abilities. Also, cooking is simply Bonnie’s way of relaxing, being creative, and having pure, unadulterated fun.

I thought Bonnie’s proudest moment was when she pulled her gigantic popovers out of the oven. She is radiating so much happiness looking at the “pop” that I bet Bonnie could write a book about it and give Gretchen Rubin (author of The Happiness Project) a run for her money.

I must confess I don’t do all that much. Jay, Laura and I are just part of the supporting cast. Bonnie keeps us busy all day cleaning pots and pans and making counter space in anticipation of upcoming dishes. My favorite contribution is setting the dining room table.

Now it’s time to get dressed and dig in. I’m always surprised by how we clean up so well and amazed by Bonnie’s limitless energy after such a long day, and her ability to savor her own handiwork. A lesser mortal would be asleep by now.

Here’s the chef’s dinner plate.

We took a cleanup break between the main course and dessert to make more room for this delectable finale, as if we weren’t stuffed enough already.

Bonnie’s heart has always been in baking, as you can see from these 5 desserts, including two a sour cherry tart and pumpkin pie that rival those from the famed Riviera Bake House here in Ardsley. The last three are a pear galette and two delicious gluten-free dairy-free options – apple date bars and caramel cheesecake (in the square tins), both using an almond butter, coconut flake and date pie crust. The family practically attacked the dessert table.

Of course, we couldn’t forget the traditional family selfie.

Though somehow we did manage to skip our tradition of going around the table to say what we’re grateful for. But then it’s never too late, is it?

I am grateful for my good health, my wonderful and accomplished family who support me in all the endeavors I choose to pursue. I especially appreciate having a daughter who is happiest in the kitchen on Thanksgiving, as well as throughout the year. Her happiness is contagious and I am a much better cook because of her (note I reserve the chef designation for Bonnie).

Thank you, Bonnie, for another memorable holiday feast, and for dramatically changing my attitude towards cooking!

While I can’t really speak for the rest of the family, one picture is a thousand words.

I hope you enjoyed the celebration half as much as we did, and you’re all invited back next year!