Gobble Gobble

I had two different Turkey Trots lined up for Thanksgiving day.  The first was a 5K held in nearby Arlington, VA.  It’s in busy times like these that I forget to look at little details like…say…the elevation map.  This was a HILLY little 5K. 

I decided that I would ‘throw down’ the first Trot, and just casually run the second Trot.  The first trot being a 5K and the second trot a 5-Miler.  Of course, being Turkey Day I had to go in the spirit of the Turkey…dressed as a Turkey.

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There were I’d guess a little over a 1,000 people there.  I ran like my turkey-life depended on it.  Which, was a bit difficult since I didn’t do any of the usual normal pre-race things (ya know…like warmup, eat, drink, etc…).  I just waddled to the start line and ran.

Not too shabby though for running in a costume, four days after a marathon… I finished in 19:35 –or about a 6:18/mile pace.  That was good enough for somewhere between 10-20th place I’d guess.

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I also won an award for ‘Best Costume’, which entailed a autographed hockey puck from NHL’s Washington Capitols Center Brooks Laich.  And one of the local TV stations was there – so if you happened to see me on TV, could ya post/e-mail which station it was?

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After a super-quick drive home to toss the turkey into the oven, I zipped out to the Alexandria 5M Turkey Trot.  This race seemed quite a bit bigger, not sure how many people – I’d guess 2,000-4,000.

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I was of course, still dressed in my costume.  We ran nice and easy while a bunch of chef friends chased me.  At times I felt like the dude in Finding Nemo – “Friend, not food!”. Good times!

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After this, it was time to get my Turkey Dinner in play.  I hosted seven others for Thanksgiving at my place.  I was a cookin’ fool.  I cooked virtually all day Wednesday (until 2AM), and then again on Thursday before, between and after the trots.  It was a big menu…but not too hard.

Pictures are easiest from here on out…

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(The day before, my kitchen table covered with ingredients.  The 19 pound turkey just went into brining bag, where it would hang out for about 19 hours)

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(I setup a side table with serving dishes all pre-labeled with sticky notes, so there wouldn’t be any last second surprises)

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The turkey came out of the oven perfectly.  I was really happy since I’d never done a turkey before, or a Thanksgiving dinner.

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Here was the Thanksgiving Menu.  All in all I did about 20 hours worth of cooking.  But everything came out perfectly, so it made it worth it – plus it was a great time with friends.  I cooked everything myself except the Green Beans and Apple Pie (brought by friends).  The rolls came out awesome, as did the gratin.  I forgot to take photos as most of the food came out, so…you’ll just have to use your imagination.

Thanksgiving Dinner

Appetizers:

Red Wine Infused Salami
Pinot Grigio Infused Salami
Adriatic Fig Spread
Cranberry and Hazelnut Crackers
French Baguette
Lightly Salted Pumpkin Seeds

Cheeses Selections:

Pont L’Eveque Marie Harel (France)
Wensleydale with Cranberries (US)
Patacabra Goat (Spain)
Mushroom Double Cream Champignon (Germany)

Main Course:

Herbed Roast Turkey
Creamy Mashed Potatoes
Roasted Butternut Squash Gratin
Cranberry Quince Compote
Roasted Sage Sweet Potatoes
Fresh Cranberry Sauce
Citrus Green Beans
Cornbread Stuffing
Freshly Baked Dinner Rolls
Homemade Turkey Gravy

Dessert:
Homemade Pumpkin Pie
Apple Pie
Pumpkin Macadamia Nut Biscotti

Hope everyone has a great remainder of the holiday weekend!

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17 Comments

  1. WOOO I’M THE FIRST TO COMMENT, AWESOME!!

    Anyway, it’s a good thing I live 3,000 miles away because I SO would’ve been like “what time should I arrive???”

    That dinner menu looks simply incredible. Nice work! Thankfully my own family’s dinner was pretty solid so I’m not TOO envious. But wow! Sounds like you really pulled off a great Turkey Day!

    The costume is also fab. I like the sparkly material and the picture of you and your chef friends is awesome. So happy you had such a wonderful Thanksgiving!

    Still waiting for that marathon race report…;)

  2. i can’t believe you doubled up on the Turkey Trots! i hope you had a fabulous dinner party!

  3. Wow, I couldn’t even find ONE turkey trot.

    And that food looks delicious. I had microwavable mashed potatos and corn for my T-day dinner. 🙂

  4. I never laughed so hard in my life until I saw the Turkey outfit.

    My wife and I want to know if you would like to come to Ohio next year and cook us that very same dinner.

  5. SLB

    Nice job on laying down two races, damn you’re fast even dressed like an ugly bird!

    Great food photos as always, you could have a second career, well third after you blog I guess!

  6. Can I borrow your turkey costume next year?!?! WOW…that was/is an impressive sounding feast!

  7. I made my first turkey this year too! Turkey good, gravy FAIL! So anything you learned on the gravy front would be much appreciated…

  8. Two runs in a turkey suit… crazy I tell ya crazy!

  9. Fantastic. All that grub looks awesome. What kind of wines were you drinking? Hopefully you were supporting the Northern California economy.

    Sweet turkey outfit, too.

  10. you know, you should really at least TRY to get in the holiday spirit. sheesh.

  11. Well Ray, I finally met you. Only I didn’t know it at the time. I was working the finish line in Alexandria and some lanky dude in a turkey costume walked by. I thought to myself, how did that turkey that Sarah Palin pardoned get all the way down here? I always thought I’d recognize you from your photos but you were in disguise!

  12. ray…I never knew a Turkey who cooked one..but you are amazing…wow…

    two races with the costume…

    and the spread you put on….

    wow.. and sometime if you get a chance… try frying one of those suckers…its fantastic….
    glad you had a great turkey day

  13. that dinner looks amazing! and it makes me really sad that I didn’t get the chance to fix dinner this year – ah well I’ll have to wait for Christmas

  14. Holy Crap! And I thought I made a T-Day dinner. My hat is off to you my friend!

  15. Martha Stewart would be proud of your Thanksgiving Dinner!

  16. Nat

    Okay, I’m several weeks behind here but I cannot get over how organized you are! That food looks amazing!

  17. Luiz

    Hey! First photos of The Girl of The blog!