Thaksgiving Potluck

This year was definitely one of my stranger Thanksgivings. Instead of spending the weekend relaxing in Kentucky, grateful that midterms were over, I woke up bright and early, ready to start a new batch of experiments in lab. Instead of spending the morning in the kitchen, helping Mom prepare dishes and watching the Macy's parade, I imaged cells and analyzed data. And finally, rather than enjoy and enormous and spectacular dinner, comprised of more dishes than I can count, I dined on (still pretty yummy) vegetarian spaghetti. 

For the most part, this year's Thanksgiving passed quietly and unnoticed. Although some of my American lab mates mentioned "Happy Thanksgiving," for most of my very international lab, Thanksgiving was just another Thursday. 

Although my actual Thanksgiving day was a little less than spectacular, the day after Thanksgiving was absolutely delightful. The Friday after Thanksgiving, Ben and I had several of our new friends-- both American and not-- over to the apartment, where we hosted a wonderful Thanksgiving. Even though our menu was a little untraditional (Swiss grocery stores don't exactly have turkey and stuffing!) we were surrounded by amazing food and, more importantly, amazing friends.  

our thanksgiving menu:

bread + olive oil, dill, and garlic*

salad: mixed greens, dried cranberries, candied walnuts, gorgonzola cheese*

greek potato salad (a cold salad with potatoes, capers, olives, and other goodies)

green beans (using this recipe)*

garlic mashed potatoes (using this recipe)*

crepes with cream, mushrooms, and peppers

sliced ham*

apple crumb cake

*dishes Ben or I prepared (the rest were cooked and brought by our friends) 

Although I have definitely been cooking a lot more lately, I was still pretty impressed by the amount of food Ben and I prepared! Fortunately, we were able to spread out the cooking over a couple of days. I made the (absolutely delicious!) mashed potatoes the night before, the salad the morning of, and the green beans about and hour before our guests arrived. While there were definitely a few mishaps (candied walnuts should really be made with actual, granular sugar-- not sugar cubes!) the dinner was positively delicious.  

garlic mashed potatoes. delicious. 

our very, very full kitchen table!

(there would be more pictures, but my camera
battery died soon after)