Command Central at the house has been busy preparing for the Thanksgiving dinner, with all the chaos that ensues for ensuring that thirty-five people will be will well sated. One of our nephews and his friend arrived the day before and they stayed with us, until his family came up the next day and then he would join his family at a nearby hotel. I had snuck out that day, even though I am semi-retired, I went to work and missed some of the preparation work, that my Bride would be doing. As I was leaving work, I called to see if she needed any last minute items, which there was none for me to pick up, but she informed me that her Sister and family should be arriving about the same time as I would that evening and she was making dinner for nine.

When I got home she had almost everything ready for dinner. She had roasted whole pork tenderloin after giving it a rub, and had cooked it with an assortment of root vegetables for a hearty meal. She had also made several assorted sort dishes and when I came home, the house smelled wonderful. There was just enough room for all of us to dine in the breakfast room, as the dining room was already set up with a freshly pressed tablecloth, so that room was basically off limits. Her Sister had also graciously brought us over a full cradled standing rib roast for us to cook, along side with the turkey for the Thanksgiving dinner. After dinner, the two sisters started preparing an asparagus and artichoke pureed soup as one of the side dishes for the big meal. I watched as the vegetables were sautéed and then a roux was made and then all was combined, and finally placed in the blender and poured into a tureen to settle over night with some additional spices added. This was then placed in the spare refrigerator overnight. With two refrigerators and a freezer, is amazing that storage room was still getting tight.

My Bride had started enjoying some basic “House” Chardonnay while she was cooking, and I really think that it adds to her creativity in the kitchen. When I got home, I opened a bottle of wine that I was hoping would still be great, but there is always some trepidation with a Chardonnay from 2010. The Cobblestone Arroyo Seco Chardonnay 2010 was wonderful and showed no signs of foxing or being too old. This wine from the Monterey area was perfect, and represented the quality of the winery and my only complaint was that I did not have any more of the wine. My Brother-in-Law had also brought up a bottle that we opened for dinner, one of his go-to wines at his house. We opened up a Meiomi Pinot Noir 2014, that distinctive wine from the Wagner family that is a blend of fruit from Monterey County, Sonoma County and Santa Barbara County. This wine seemed much fuller and a bit sweeter than the last bottle of Meiomi that I had and it paired as well with the pork, as the Chardonnay did. All in all, it was a grand evening, and then there was some “arts and crafts” moment as my Sister-in-Law and one of her sons had to have something “themed” as they were going to run in the Ann Arbor Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning and work up a better appetite for the dinner that they would have later at our home.