Thanksgiving menu

Just when I worked out the bare minimum four dishes I would prepare for Thanksgiving dinner, a new recipe comes along that I cannot ignore. Candied Lime Sweet Potatoes! Oh gawd. It certainly doesn't help my willpower that the author is a great food photographer.

So here's my menu:

• cranberry sauce, based loosely on Alton Brown's recipe


• maple-walnut greenbeans-- a flavor idea I had while driving to White Flint mall, visiting my hometown last weekend


• Candied lime sweet potatoes from VeganYumYum


• plain stuffing from a bag, which I always crave, and probably some gravy from a mix


• Tofurky


• a variation of Curried lentils with pumpkin/butternutsquash, emailed to me by Julie


• Gingerbread cupcakes from the PPK, with creamcheez frosting

tofurkery

People are invariably surprised by this, but I love Thanksgiving. A holiday based on cooking and eating? The only thing that could make it better would be costumes.

This year Erik and I are driving up to Vancouver BC during the long holiday weekend, so we'll miss all the feasts. That's why I was very excited when John invited us over last night for a pre-Thanksgiving tofurkey feast. I guess that should be Tofurkey(tm).

Besides tofurkey, there was gravy, fresh veggie salad, quinoa and tempeh salad, a risotto corn dish, a rice dish with accompanying collard greens, and I brought mashed potatoes. Yum! They also had glogg, which was incredibly tasty, like warm, spiced cherry wine. Love those Swedes.

This, however, is not where our Thanksgiving ends. I'm picking up my own Tofurkey and dinner rolls from our favorite bread bakery tonight after work. We'll probably devour it next weekend.

I'm pretty excited about Vancouver. Erik's coworker who has spent time there and was supposed to go with us bailed, so now the trip has got a more adventurous feel. And I printed out a list of 101 vegetarian restaurants, cos now I know I can drag Erik around to them. My main hope is to walk around alot and see neighborhoods. Hopefully Vancouver is nearly as wonderful and quirky as sweet Portland.