A Quiet Thanksgiving at Home in the Bay Area

A few days at home for Thanksgiving back in late November 2011. The focus was on preparing the house and the meal. We set the dining table early in the week, putting down a patterned runner and arranging a centerpiece with candles, grapes, and persimmons. The napkin rings had little feathers, a nice fall touch.

There were smaller projects throughout the week, like decorating turkey-shaped sugar cookies with icing. For the main course, we cooked a whole bird on the rotisserie attachment of our grill, letting it cook slowly outside.

When it was time to eat, the table was filled out with the good plates and silverware. We opened a couple of bottles of Cakebread and lit the candles. The final spread was traditional, right down to a turkey-shaped cornbread and corn on the cob. Just a classic, comfortable holiday meal at home.