Thanksgiving Saturday: the Day After

Well actually 2 days after, because if I had been obligated to post on Sunday, you all might've been treated to another photo of the Krampus. Six hours ago I waved goodbye to the last of our visiting guests, and the big question of course, is how did our Thanksgiving go? It seems like the most commonplace, mundane thing to ask each other and we do so every year, but for us, or at least for me, it is a question where I can happily say that I was able to enjoy it with a whole bunch of people under one roof. The Thanksgivings that I remember in Hawaii were always outdoor affairs; buffet tables and makeshift seating set up in the garage or in the backyard patio; an uncle making pulehu (barbecuing) on the grill; coconut trees swaying in the breeze; CHOKE food (that means lots of food). It was an event where you could savor dishes from nearly every ethnic group in Hawaii as each family has their own "melting pot" of relatives: filipino, chinese, japanese, portuguese, puerto rican, korean, caucasian, hawaiian and italian! It was also an event that I had been too gutless to try to pull off until now.

Minus a couple of glitches in the kitchen, everyone got to eat the 14½-pound turkey and some laulau that I had made earlier in the week. I know it was insane to host 15 people at ours, but when it comes to parties I tend to lose count. In the end we were 13 in total. Sorta like the Last Supper? I made the usual mashed spuds, sweet potatoes, baked stuffing casserole and cranberry sauce. A couple of friends who stayed for the weekend contributed with a wonderful vegetarian lasagne. On the hawaiian end of the menu, I made lomi lomi salmon to go with the laulau, and served maki sushi and rainbow roll sushi for apps. The plan for fufu drinks went out the door as there simply wasn't enough space or time to be going tropical, yet with the amount of wine and alcohol that came presented to us upon each guest's arrival, we had more than enough to sing Tiny Bubbles if we had wanted to. Sorry, no hula! Not this time anyway.

So that leaves me with the photos, and perhaps you've already wondered where the heck are they, but now is the time where I'll admit to having dropped the ball BIG TIME because I really have none to share. I forgot to ask someone to photograph the event, and the only picture I managed to take was the sweet potato pie right after it came out of the oven. The turkey photo comes borrowed from last week's Thanksgiving hosted by Slippah Time authors. Just as well, because their turkey was much more beautiful than mine anyway!