A Time for Thanks

(pics courtesy of Jeorge Jordan)

So this past weekend was a great break from the monotony of work to the monotony of a weekend. Ok it wasn't a monotonous weekend. But I didn't do much to change the world. I think Im looking for purpose. On a lighter note, here's a highlight of our Thanksgiving feast...

Went on a quest to find the perfect table for our Thanksgiving feast. I was intent on having a sit down dinner.(Although I did find myself not sitting down as much running between the kitchen and the dining area - aka our living room) We did consider the traditional "people all over the place" style party. You know the ones where you have friends and family wherever they can find a space (on the piano, in the bedroom, on the coffee table, on the little side table with the lamp) And those are prime real estate. Then the process goes like this a) get your paper plate and utensils b)select your food from the dining table c) wait in line for the microwave d) try to find a place where you can set down your food e) go back for a drink because you only have 2 hands f) come back to find that one of your eggrolls were stolen. g) go back to the dining table to get another one to find out they are all gone. I love those parties. But we were only going to have 8 people so I thought it would be manageable to have a place for everyone.

Thanksgiving dinner was incredible. Courtesy of my wife. Our frozen turkey turned out wonderful, crisp skin, moist, and tender. The gravy was out of this world, the roasted vegetables delish, the salmon warm out of the oven, and bread rolls that melted in your mouth. Ok, Im very biased towards my wifes cooking, but it was really excellent. As a consultant, I am always thinking about lessons learned. As one of our really first hosted parties, here are a few lessons learned... (Please excuse me if these are obvious for you party professionals)

1) Have food available right away for new arrivals to snack on. We had the traditional cheese and crackers and fruit.
2) Too many drink choices can throw people off. I thought I had the perfect selection (Orange juice, apple cider, red wine, beer, coke, diet coke, sprite, pomegranite juice, and water) Isn't that an awesome selection. What more could a person want. Maybe gatorade would have been cool or a sparkling lemonade. Maybe next time.
3) People are afraid to eat things that look too pretty. Our fruit presentation was untouched. Im sure people would have liked to eat the fruits, but I think it looked too pretty. Might have been better to put the grapes in a regular bowl.
4) No need to buy extra pancit when you have turkey, ham, salmon, soup, and roasted vegetables. Whod of thought.

Our Thanksgiving dinner was a lot of fun, and I think everyone enjoyed the food and the company. I know my wife and I enjoyed it. It was definitely lots of pre-planning but I think it would be fun to do it again.