Thanksgiving Bonnie-style

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!