I am absolutely food obsessed. This is not a new development. Food and memories of holidays, people, and places are pretty much inextricably linked for me. I remember baking cookies with Gram Novotny when I was too tiny to reach the counter (I had to stand on a step stool or chair). My passion for all things culinary really blossomed in my teen years.

In High School Home Economics I couldn’t care less about the sewing machine part, but I LOVED the cooking part. My teacher Mrs. Swenson required students to complete a shopping list which was our ingredient “order” for the dishes we planned to make for the following class. If you made a mistake, you had to beg ingredients from other students (hopefully they had extra), or shamefully ask the teacher to bail you out. There was a huge sense of embarrassment and failure if you found yourself in this situation.

I continued cooking through college and in my 20’s hosted Thanksgiving in St. Cloud all by myself for my parents, siblings, and grandparents. I remember injecting my turkey with a solution of briny aromatics to make certain it wasn’t dry. I started collecting cookbooks during this time of my life, and have amassed quite an eclectic collection ranging from fancy chef books to those tiny magazine cookbooks you find in the grocery store checkout line.

Joy, for me, is menu planning, problem solving recipe substitutions, and making things from scratch which you would normally purchase (spice blends, buttermilk, pumpkin puree). Andrew and I try to cook a large variety of food. We mix it up with seasonal dishes, brand new creations, and old favorites we make time and again (Martha Stewart’s Macaroni & Cheese is in this category).

This year we invited our friend Maggie, who we met in year 2 of Portuguese language class, to Thanksgiving. She recently moved to Lisbon from Olhão and I haven’t seen her since we moved in August of last year, so we were very excited to catch up. Last year we shared our menu with Maggie and she was definitely interested in joining us for the next installment.

I was really hankering for a themed Thanksgiving. Over the past 3 years we have attended an international potluck, cooked an “everything on 1 sheet pan” version for 2, and hosted our friends The Goulds in 2024. Years ago I took an online personality quiz and the results were a personalized Thanksgiving menu – I made every single dish it suggested and it was great fun.

I was looking for a way to mix things up and might have been feeling a bit nostalgic when I decided on a Tour of the States. We would make a dish to represent each state that Andrew, Maggie, and myself had lived in, and we would round out our celebration with some can’t miss classics.

The last week in September I gathered the necessary data – we had collectively lived in 10 states (Maggie moved around a bit more than Andrew & myself). I started the researching and planning phase right away. Some states were easy because they have a designated fruit or vegetable. Other states required a bit more creativity to find a recipe that fit both our theme and the type of food we still needed. Eventually I found appetizers, cocktails, savory dishes, and desserts that fulfilled the mission. Maggie would arrive on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and would head back to Lisbon on the Friday after Turkey Day so why not spread out our menu from one day to a 3 day extravaganza?

The menu was finalized before Halloween and this allowed us to start shopping for dry goods. We try to avoid massive shopping trips because we almost always carry our groceries home on foot (uphill). By November 8th, we had purchased all of our non-perishables. We felt so darn organized this time around.

A whole turkey is one of the more challenging ingredients to find. Last year we found turkey breasts and made a tasty roulade. You can pretty easily find turkey breast, and deli turkey slices, but it is rare to see a whole turkey in a supermarket. Andrew headed to one of the local butcher shops a week in advance and ordered our 15 pound bird. This just might be the first year our turkey was coming straight from a farm to our table.

Andrew loves baking, so he had 2 desserts and bread rolls on his to do list. Normally his go-to Thanksgiving dessert is Bourbon Pecan Pie, but he switched it up for a Tall Apple Pie with a Cheddar Crust. This reminded us of growing up in the Midwest, where it is not uncommon for friends, family, or even restaurants to offer a slice of cheddar cheese with your apple pie instead of ice cream.

We started prep and a handful of recipes on Monday, with the goal being to do as much in advance as possible. We thought we were in pretty good shape since we had made soup, apple cider, pumpkin puree, and muffins several weeks before. Unfortunately Basil our tiny terrier fell under the weather and after 3 very restless nights for the entire household, we ended up being exhausted and a bit behind on our recipe prep when Thursday rolled around. Ultimately, Andrew and I divided and conquered and somehow we executed our mega menu which could have fed a small army.

Aside from cooking and eating we played a few board games, including Hitchiker, Ark Nova, and Not So Neighborly which was a lovely gift from Miss Maggie. We also managed to watch a couple episodes of Survivor between courses.

Post holiday I made a 4 hour broth with the bones and bits which I used in a Turkey Noodle Soup and it was exceptional. Andrew used some more meat in a homemade Turkey Pot Pie, and we still had turkey breast leftover, so in the freezer it went. Fortunately I had cleaned it out in advance to make room for the new batch of leftovers.

As with any holiday celebration, there were highs and lows. The lowest point was probably the combination of a large turkey, a small oven, and a blueberry glaze. The glaze turned into a hard, very dark substance reminiscent of charcoal. This was a major disappointment for crispy skin lovers because I ended up peeling it off and discarding most of it. The upside was the meat inside was juicy and terrifically tender. The leftover Blueberry Sauce that we served with the turkey was also absolutely delicious, so it pretty much worked out in the end. Although most of our food turned out well, one of the most unexpected high points was the Grapefruit Granita. It was fantastic. We even poured prosecco over it and turned it into delicious cocktails. I will definitely be making it again.

I hope you all had an amazing Turkey Day, I’m off to begin transforming the house for Christmas (I’m already a week behind)!