Thanksgiving at Chez Akitachow in 2008

Thanksgiving Day!  Prepared the usual suspects and had one of Matt’s friends, Chris, over, which made it a nice time.  Matt has a great group of friends – all bright, creative and inquisitive individuals.  We have fun spending time with them because it’s nice to get fresh perspectives on the same old nonsense. 

The meal was topped off by a castle-shaped 7up cake with lemon glaze and a sprinkling of blue sugar. 

Berry and Steve spent some quality time resting on the futon in a tryptophan haze later in the day.  (Yes, I know this tryptophan thing is made much of, when it’s most likely alcohol or blood sugar swings due to the consumption of so many carbs knocking you out). 

Let me add a final bit about the holiday table:  One thing I always do instead of ironing my cloth napkins (to be honest with you I don’t iron anything) is some sort of decorative fold.  If you have a good quality napkin and fold it flat as soon as it comes out of the dryer and then store it flat you’re in good shape to do this.  Use 15-inch napkins, at the smallest.  Old British cookbooks are good sources of information here since napkin folding was immensely popular in Victorian England and through at least the 1930s.  The origin of napkin folding, or napery, is argued.  Some say it actually started in Victorian England  due to the worship of all things ‘Oriental,” which, in the case of napery, sees its antecedent in origami.  Others say it is hundreds of years older than that.  I prefer to use the old folds, like the cockscomb, just for the hell of it.  The Mrs. Beeton’s series of cooking guides has a number of outrageous folds and there is information on the Web if you can’t find them in hard copy.