Meal No. 1006: Thanksgiving on the Half-Year

Just over five years after I bought this wonderful old Roediger House, I undertook some major renovation work on it, with Peter R. "Pete" LaRoque as my General Contractor. The designs by Sam Binkley, my architect, included removing the original one-story add-on kitchen (it was bare, basic, and perhaps 12 x 12). We also removed the old bathrooms on the back of the house as well as the mudporch. In the place of all that, I not only got a very nice new master bathroom and a new guest powder room, but also a grand open kitchen area.

Tonight marked exactly five years since I was able to make the first meal in that new kitchen space, which I have spent the last five years loving immensely and spending much time in. And, as you can tell from the meal blog entries, I've enjoyed making lots of meals in those intervening years.

Coincidentally, tonight was also the occasion of the annual "Thanksgiving on the Half-Year" dinner event that I've been hosting for the last few years. That holiday meal is so fantastic and, while it's important that it remain special as a holiday feast, it seems a shame to have it limited to only a time or two around Thanksgiving and Christmas. So Memorial Day is the excuse for whipping up all that great food and serving it to a table full of friends.

Beef Tenderloin in Wine Sauce

Herb-Roasted Turkey Breast

Turkey Gravy

Beef Tenderloin

Wine Sauce with Garlic, Mushrooms, and Onion

David Venable's Apple and Bacon Stuffing

Corn Pudding

Layered Green Bean Casserole

Slow-Cooker Sweet Potato Casserole

Everything (except for the creamy horseradish sauce)

I'm so glad to have the dining room back in service.

I also got around to making the carrot cake that just seems to belong with this meal:

Generally, I tell whoever's coming to not bother bringing anything, but it doesn't mean I'm going to stupidly turn down something like a really good home-made key lime pie, which tonight's guest Michelle was kind enough to make and bring. Here it is alongside a slice of the carrot cake.

Finally, I'd like to note that today marks the third anniversary of the arrival of the wonderful and amazing Cyprus to the Roediger House, and given the uncertainty of her actual date of birth, today gets celebrated as what is believed to be close to her fifth birthday. The RoHo is much better with her in it.

---

"Oven-Roasted Turkey Breast," Betty Crocker: Holiday Entrées, Sides, Brunches, & More, November 2001, p. 22-23.

"Beef Tenderloin in Wine Sauce" (p. 296) and "Spicy Horseradish Sauce" (p. 295), from The All-New Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook. Compiled and Edited by Julie Fisher Gunter. Birmingham, AL: Oxmoor House (2006).

"Layered Green Bean Casserole," from my sister Allison in Rossville, Indiana.

"Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Topping," from Southern Living Slow-Cooker Cookbook. Birmingham, AL: Oxmoor House (2006), p. 234-235.

"Cornbread Stuffing with Apples and Bacon," from David Venable. Found online.

"Blue Ribbon Carrot Cake (1981)," also known as "Best Carrot Cake (October, 1997)," from Southern Living. Also found online. The recipe I follow was recommended to and shared with me by John & Ebbie Linaburg of Woodstock, Virginia.