I’m thankful for many things in my life, but there is one that sticks out the most to me this year: my friends. When you live in a large city away from your family, it is your friends you depend on, get advice from, and know that they always have your back. My friends up here are my family!
When one of my sorority sisters, Cynthia, suggested we all get together to celebrate Thanksgiving before we all scattered about the country this week, I was so excited to have them all over for a “Friendsgiving” feast. It was the perfect way to start off the holidays!
When I first sat down to plan, I decided to take the easy way out and call Whole Foods to get a pre-cooked and cut turkey. Stress free and more time to focus on the decorating elements of the night! But when I arrived to Whole Foods the day of our dinner to pick it up, I was immediately faced with a huge challenge.
They had given me a raw bird instead of a prepared bird. My mouth about dropped. But, with my “keep calm and carry on” motto in the back of my mind, I looked at it and said, “Alright, your name is officially Tabitha. I look forward to getting to know you very well today.” And that was that. I threw it over my back in the midst of the stylish streets in Manhattan, and kept walking along to stay on track with the rest of the errands on my to do list. Little did I know what I was getting myself into!
Thankfully, I had set the table and pre-stamped wine labels that morning with all of the girl’s names in a chocolate ink.
The strings were tied to the stems and all ready to go!
The night before, I had scattered the leaves amongst the tables, and put the harvest corn candles in place.
It was the first time I actually appreciated my “plan ahead” style of living because now I could really focus on my new friend, Tabitha!
I decided to spice things up a bit with the fashionista by drizzling her with black truffle salt!
Oh but wait, don’t you dare forget that regular salt and pepper…in everyday life and on the turkey!
I turned the oven heat up super high and placed Tabitha into her sauna. She was all ready to go!
After Tabitha’s stressful day of being smothered in salt and bronzed to the crisp, I couldn’t help but to give her a crown and shatter her with white pearls. Such a beauty!
As the clock struck 7pm, my sisters all started to mingle in with their homemade dishes at hand. We had all previously planned through a Google Docs spreadsheet about what we should each bring to the table! I was so impressed with all of their creativity and cooking skills in the kitchen. Syracuse University’s Alpha Phi chapter sure did produce some future Julia Child’s in the making!
Homemade Biscuits
Green Bean & Mushroom Casserole
The funniest part of the evening was when I was handed a knife {not a chain saw like regular people use to cut a turkey, but a knife that I use to cut apples}, and everyone watched as I began to give Tabitha a liposuction procedure. After I successfully made her legs look fabulously chiseled, we were all ready to feast away!
And then the sweets came out! Mmm….
Thanksgiving Cupcakes
We all had such a nice to catching up, sharing how thankful and happy we were to have each other {a few tears even sprinkled}, and all in all just coming together despite our busy schedules in the city. It was a perfect Friendsgiving! And I hope for it to be the first of many more to come. Friends put the “thanks” into my “giving.”
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