Let's all be thankful together

If this post is going to be about Thanksgiving dinner last night, I believe it proper to begin with a formal thank you to the host of the evening Matt Chan. Thank you for your hospitality, your hardwork on the turkey, your effort on making the event happen, and most of all (this might sound a bit mushy) for your friendship.

Of course, also thank you Yukiko and Paul for being the co-hosts and the ginormous turkey!

So what was this wonderful event? According to the host on the Facebook event:

Because I’m SO thankful for all the great people I know, I’ve decided to show it by getting you all over to my place for a Thanksgiving bonanza. I actually did this last year when many of you were in NYC, and it was DELICIOUS.

This alone tells you that the dinner is going to be kick-ass!
Although knowing Matt, that "SO" thankful part probably was layered with some sarcasm, but I always take what i can get and im going to take it literally that he's thankful he knows such a great person like me.
=D
And that I attended the event because I am thankful for all the great people I know as well!
=D =D

So the food:
Borscht, Bruschetta, Shrimp Platter, Broc & Cauli Stir Fry, Sweet Corn, Baked Mixed Mushroom Platter, Mom’s style Turkey & Mom’s style traditional stuffing, Pineapple Ham, Roast Beef, Grilled Salmon, Mash Potato, Jumbo shell pasta (alfredo, zucchini, italian sausage), Rice & Stir Fry, Fruit Pie, Pumpkin Pie, Fruit Flan, Cupcakes, and lots and lots of wine.

Speaking of wine, I think a good number of us were pretty drunk by the time dinner actually started and our table was especially loud and obnoxious.


This is the other table.


You can tell that there were a lot of people there...thirty was I believe the final count. Matt, Yukiko, and Paul had to spend the entire weekending preparing the 24lb monster that took 7.5 hours to cook!



Although Ju and I talked about ordering a Turducken online, it really wasn't a good idea since that turkey was so ginormous and I was unable to find a grocer that was willing to ship to Toronto anyway. I ended up making the salmon fillet as I was assigned. For the record, I have never made fish before and I think my lemongrass salmon turned out ok!

Matt did a good job on keeping mums about Tal showing up. I figured I was lucky enough to have influenced Ju to buy a last minute ticket from Seattle to Toronto for Thanksgiving, but who knew that Tal would be here too! And to think that a few days ago Tal and I were emailing about how it was a shame he was going to miss the event of the year.

I pretty much crashed by the time dinner ended, with the wine, the turkey, and all the other goodness. This is the first thanksgiving I had since the first time I came to Canada, which was about 16 years ago, and it was definitely a thankful event.

Again Matt, thanks for the awesome awesome evening and putting up with so many people in your house!