This will (somewhat) chronicle the next, and so far best, chapter in my life! I've moved to Hockessin, DE with an amazing woman that I am happy to call my fiance, and soon my wife. I also have a great house, dog, and couldn't be happier!

28 November 2008

Thanksgiving 2008

There is something liberating about smoking an Ashton and having a dram of Bruichladdich.

It also make this stupid blogger formatting wizard somewhat less frustrating. Such are the benefits of good cigars and great whisky.

Anyway, on to the point of this post!

Tanya invited me to her relatives' house for Thanksgiving this year. She warned me that they are crazy people and I should be prepared to be surprised and possibly shocked at dinner. Luckily, I've experienced 32 years of Craig (and our associated extensions) family dinners, so I'm pretty sure that nothing would surprise me.

However.

Tanya's family IS crazy! But, they're incredible as well. Very genuine and very funny. I had an absolute blast at dinner.

We showed up and the wine had already been flowing. Quite a bit of it! The best part was that is was homemade. The origins are somewhat shady, but after talking to Jim...I found out that it was made somewhere in South Philly. Not exactly wine country or the Napa Valley, but it was good. Granted, it was twice as strong as regular wine, but tasted great. There was also some homemade lemoncello that Tanya's Uncle's (Anthony) Mother made. Linda was her name. Not only did she make the lemoncello, but she made cookies, cranberries and cranberry mold (both from fresh cranberries by the way!) that were to die for. Tanya has already professed that she would like to be that woman someday. Hey, I would like to be that woman someday. If I could prepare food like this...I'd consider it!

The entire dinner was absolutely amazing. I tried a small amount of everything. I took what I would normally consider about half a portion of each dish and I still had literally mound of food on my plate. By the end of the dinner, I wished I had worn sweat pants instead of slacks. I needed the extra room!

I was the DD, so I could only sample the aforementioned drinks, but Tanya had no such inhibitions. Let's just say she'll fit right in with the Craig's at any family function;)

We actually forgot that we brought the camera until well into the meal. We managed one quick shot of the table, put the camera down, and it didn't surface again for several hours. Tanya decided to take a lot of candid shots of her family, which came out great. Unfortunately, we didn't get any shots of the two of us, but we'll solve that at the next family outing.

This was a great Thanksgiving! Her family is awesome. Can't wait to introduce her to ours!


Here are the pics:

Tanya's cousin, Phil, helping prepare the table. On the right is the aftermath of the first round of eating. We are all trying to mentally prepare for dessert.



The Matriarch. This is her Uncle Anthony's mother, Linda (on the right).



The two primary cooks. On the left is Tanya's Aunt Gabriella. Her Aunt Lee is on the right.



Tanya and her Uncle Anthony. And then again after a couple lemoncellos....



Yes, she was blowing kisses. On the right is her other Uncle, Chris.



Though not alcohol induced, I was getting pretty tired. That's what eating your bodyweight in awesome food will do to you!




What a great Thanksgiving! I can't wait until the next one - probably Christmas.

Great times with great people! Thanks Tanya!

1 comment:

Holly said...

I LOVE it!!! And I covet Tanya's earrings!!!! :)