My biggest concern is making everything interesting and fun but still sticking with our new way of life. While my husband and i are devoted to this, my family may not be so excited about breaking out of traditional turkey dinners and sides to complement the TURKEY... or ham and pineapples, and tons of dressing made with chicken broth or brisket and rice and gravy... or even one year we had a Turducken.
When i think of this, my mind starts playing Everybody loves raymond... the episode where Deborah tries to start a new tradition by cooking fish, and Marie is appalled by the idea. I dont think my family would ever be so difficult, we are all pretty open minded... but i still would like them to enjoy themselves. So i was thinking maybe a formal setting with a few different dishes to try, but without the main focus of turkey it would be like we were just having a bunch of sides(though each dish we have had for an entire meal at some point)
So my next thought was each dish should be presented separately, and this lead to the idea of a five course dinner... We have been to the marine corps ball plenty of times, and the meals are generally set up in a 3 course fashion, but that is about a fancy as we get, so we looked it up
from the wiki:
In formal dining, a full course dinner can consist of five, seven, eight, ten or twelve courses, and, in its extreme form, has been known to have twenty-one courses. In these more formalized dining events, the courses are carefully planned to complement each other gastronomically. The courses are smaller and spread out over a long evening, up to three, four or five hours, and follow conventions of menu planning that have been established over many years.
Most courses (excluding some light courses such as sorbets) in the most formal full course dinners are usually accompanied by ("paired with") a different wine, liqueur, or other spirit; today, craft beers and sakes are increasingly being integrated into the pairings.
So very intrigued by the twenty one course meal we read on, and found that the more courses a meal has the smaller the serving are, for example on the 21 course meal one course was nuts, another caviar. Wiki also drew out the TEN course meal that was served on the TITANIC:
of course this was served to the First Class passengers
First Course
- Hors D'Oeuvres
- Oysters
Second Course
- Consommé Olga
- Cream of Barley
Third Course
- Poached Salmon with Mousseline Sauce, Cucumbers
Fourth Course
- Filet Mignons Lili
- Saute of Chicken, Lyonnaise
- Vegetable Marrow Farci
Fifth Course
- Lamb, Mint Sauce
- Roast Duckling, Apple Sauce
- Sirloin of Beef, Chateau Potatoes
- Green Pea
- Creamed Carrots
- Boiled Rice
- Parmentier & Boiled New Potatoes
Sixth Course
- Punch Romaine
Seventh Course
- Roast Squab & Cress
Eighth Course
- Cold Asparagus Vinaigrette
Ninth Course
- Pate de Foie Gras
- Celery
Tenth Course
- Waldorf Pudding
- Peaches in Chartreuse Jelly
- Chocolate & Vanilla Eclairs
- French Ice Cream
At this point i am hooked, we shall have a full course meal, complete with non alcoholic beverage pairings!! Who can resist that!! Regardless of our meatless situation i believe this to be a thanksgiving to remember... I also put together a menu, that will be set on the table so that our "first class passengers" can have a reference to what they will be enjoying!!
It started as a 5 course menu and evolved into an 8 course meal! we have some very simple things on there and some courses that can easily be made ahead of time. Thanksgiving meals usually take a few days of cooking anyways this one will just mean i wont have to wake up at 2 in the am to put a turkey in the oven!! Though i am planning on making pumpkin donuts the morning of out of our yummy new bread book "Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day" ... actually it is such an amazing book we are making three other breads in preparation for our Titanic meal, some for bruschetta some for rolls, and some bread pudding(maybe). All in all I CANT WAIT... now if only i can push a baby out before then!!!