rsc

We switched things up a bit this year.

Moses Sleeper "bloomy rind" cheese
Red Dragon cheddar with mustard and ale
Roasted artichoke hearts in olive oil
Assorted crackers

Roasted boneless leg of lamb
Roasted potatoes with olive oil, paprika, and oregano
Leeks sautéed in butter
Tossed green salad with mustard vinaigrette

2021 Rancho Real "The Language of Yes" Syrah

Whole Foods malted chocolate Bûche de Noël slice

Blackberry citrus tea

I figured a lamb roast would involve less rush and stress than some of our previous feasts, and I was mostly right; and both the potatoes and leeks were relatiëvely forgiving in terms of timing, which helped. The lamb turned out just about perfectly medium rare, although I think some of the leftover sections may be a bit on the rare side. "Moses Sleeper" is a brie-like cheese, maybe a bit milder. The wine was good, but not oh-my-god good (which probably reflects an unwillingness to waste large amounts of money on our not-that-sophisticated palates). The name seems to be a kind of sideways reference to the Languedoc region of France, although the wine is from California.

The dessert looks yummy, but as I write this we haven't actually had it yet.

Another year, another feast.

"Petit" brie
"Somerdale" Wensleydale with cranberries
Assorted crackers


Roast pork loin with pan gravy
Roasted potatoes
Buttered leeks

Iggy's cranberry pecan rolls

Mixed green salad with mustard vinaigrette


2019 "Petit" Pinotage (Ken Forrester winery)


Chocolate mocha & raspberry mocha cake
Ginger tea


It's purely coincidence that the brie and the wine had the same brand name. Pinotage is a South African varietal that we discovered when we were in South Africa in January of 2020 and decided we liked; it's not easy to find around here.

The pork loin – something we haven't done before – could probably have cooked for about 5 minutes less (it got about 50 minutes at 350F), but it was good anyway.

I'm not exactly sure what to call the dessert, which came from Mike's Pastry in Harvard Square. It's basically two disks of cake with mocha butter-cream frosting and a thick syrup on top; I couldn't decide which flavor to get, and I couldn't quite decide whether each one was one serving or two, so I got one of each. (We haven't actually had dessert yet as I write this, but we've decided that each one is two servings, so we're going to cut them in quarters and each have a quarter of each flavor.)

I had to edit this post because I'd forgotten the rolls.

This year's Thanksgiving feast, for the record:


Small scallops in Galician sauce
Lincet Délice de Bourgogne (soft cheese)
Sautéed duck liver

Roast duck with hazelnut-cranberry stuffing
Yam and apple casserole
Sautéed cauliflower with cumin
Stone and Skillet whole wheat rolls

Tomato and mushroom salad with balsamic vinaigrette

Francis Coppola Syrah 2016

Chocolate truffle cake


Expecting the duck to take at least an hour and a half, I checked its temperature at about an hour and a quarter to see how close it was, and was somewhat surprised to find that it was done, and actually past the target temperature. Perfectly OK for it to sit out of the oven while I cooked the cauliflower and made the gravy. The duck showed no signs of being overcooked; it was moist and flavorful, and the skin was properly crisped (I had followed the previous practice of pouring hot water over the breast an hour or so before putting it in the oven).

We had a bit of an adventure with the gravy. I had put the neck and giblets in a moderate (apparently too moderate) quantity of water in order to produce stock to use as a base, but despite my turning the flame way down once it had come to a boil and keeping it (as I supposed) tightly lidded, the liquid had all boiled away by the time I was ready to use it. So I had to fake the stock by dissolving some vegetable bouillon in a fresh set of water, but once I'd added the pan drippings and some flour it was perfectly good, if not particularly memorable, gravy.

We were expecting to have a mixed green salad (which would have included tomatoes and possibly mushrooms), but we had bought a lettuce mix that included romaine, and despite the fact that we'd already eaten a couple of salads from the same mix without ill effects, we decided to follow the CDC's advice and discard the remainder.

The Syrah was a good choice, my having taken warning from my own notes from two years ago suggesting that a Pinot Noir was a little too light.

The dessert was store-bought (Whole Foods) and quite good, and avoided the problem of having way too much leftover dessert.

A very nice meal. And we have leftovers.

jwg and I have never done Thanksgiving at home since we've been together -- most years we've spent with my family (first in New Jersey and later in or near Philadelphia), but circumstances change, and this year we were in fact at home, and (as we have traditionally done at Christmas) we decided to make ourselves a festive meal. It turns out that the menu for this meal was very similar with the one from last Christmas:

Sautéed duck liver
Shrimp with cocktail sauce

Roast duck with bread stuffing
Yam and apple casserole
Sautéed peas & mushrooms
Whole wheat rolls
Green salad with balsamic vinaigrette

Yellow Tail Shiraz

Pear and blackberry tart
Ginger-Lemon tea

This year I managed to keep the duck from drying out, and I also made a gravy with the pan drippings deglazed with a bit of red wine.

It was all quite delicious.