Turkey (Cranberry) Day!

An email from Zach received this morning at around 10am...

You're using my recipe for the stuffing right? 

You can take the cranberry sauce I made yesterday out of the refrigerator around 4 o'clock to warm up, please leave it at room temp until dinner. 

For the jello, please don't touch the portion I made last night and put in the freezer. 

I'm excited about the gravy I made the other day using my own recipe, hope Jaime and Jess will like it as well. 

Looking forward to it! 

HA! Oh Zach...

My first thought was Jello? At Thanksgiving? I grew up in a Jello loving household; my dad loves green J-E-L-L-O. He was actually a member of a Jello eating club in high school. They used to collect all the half eaten bowls of Jello after lunch pile them all on one table and dip their spoons into the jiggly mass quivering a the bottom of the metal bowls. He'd probably prefer Jello to sweet potatoes, actually scratch that, he definitely does. But Jello at Thanksgiving? Not okay. 

Anyway, that's besides the point. If you don't know Zach than you might not know that he tends towards sarcasm and is generally joking even if you think he's being serious. 

So no, there wasn't any Jello or gravy or stuffing. The only thing on Zach's menu that we actually ate tonight was cranberry sauce. Our turkey dinner with all the trimmings is on Saturday, but I couldn't let the real Thanksgiving pass me by without spooning at least a little cranberry sauce on my plate. Okay fine, I basically made things that were a vehicle for cranberry sauce. Have you ever had Rösti? What about Rösti with cranberry sauce? No? You haven't lived. Rösti is a pretty hearty alpine potato hash pancake, covered in melted cheese, a fried egg and maybe even some bacon if you are lucky, but I pared it down and made a potato-only Rösti that we ate with spoonfuls of cranberry sauce. It was so perfectly brown and crispy on the outside that Zach asked if I had bought it at the store? Store bought on Thanksgiving?! Never! (Unless of course it's the Pepperidge Farm stuffing in a bag, then it's okay). 

There was also chicken, green beans and sprout salad to accompany the Rösti and cranberry sauce. And for dessert I made a tart I spotted on Dorie Greenspan's blog only this morning; a cranberry crackle tart. It was all heavenly. Perfectly Thanksgiving-y even if we didn't have turkey and stuffing or pumpkin pie. Apparently all I need are cranberries on Thanksgiving.

And because it's Thanksgiving and I'm very thankful today, I want to thank YOU - my dear readers who keep me going and smiling. thank. you.