Thanksgiving 2010
My family hasn’t always been enthusiastic about celebrating Thanksgiving, but with new babies in the family, and with the rest of us getting older, it’s nice getting together and spending time with the entire family together.
Traditionally, we’ve been pretty nontraditional when it comes to Thanksgiving, often opting for Chinese Takeout rather than your usual Turkey and Stuffing meal. But now that both my parents are retired and are no longer the sole providers of the family, we started a new tradition this year – family potluck. My sister Cristina made a turkey with all the fixings, my Dad made spaghetti and lumpia (Filipino Spring Rolls for those of you who aren’t familiar with the delicacy), my cousin Cherylene brought Thai Lettuce Wraps (made by her mom), my other sister Rachel bought a Strawberry Shortcake from Loblaws, and I also ended up buying a Strawberry Shortcake from Costco (a slight dessert miscommunication…but you can never have too much cake if you ask me…). Even my 12-year old God-daughter Cristalyn contributed to the feast with her specialty – strawberry jello!
All the food, whether cooked from scratch, prepared from a box, or prepackaged by a local grocer, was tasty and delicious. From my sister’s stuffed turkey, complete with plastic bag full of gizzards, livers, and all the other lovely innards you’re supposed to remove before roasting (she shouldn’t feel bad, it added to the flavour of the brine, lol), to my aunt’s lettuce wraps that my Dad kept insisting were Peking Duck wraps (for the record, the filling is made from ground pork and spices and my Dad claims to hate Thai food) – it was a feast beyond most feasts we’ve ever had for Thanksgiving. Good food. Family. And all the strawberry shortcake you can eat. Thanksgiving doesn’t get much better than this.
I’ll leave you now to salivate over the pictures below…
Love the turkey pics!