Thanksgiving Training Camp

Planning

I can't stress it enough, but plan it all. It will all eventually come apart, but planning will at least keep you on track. You should create a calendar of when things should be done by and eventually breaking it down to 15-minute increments for the big day.

Dinner Guest List

It is never too early to start asking people if they are coming for Thanksgiving. Also, never assume someone is coming or isn't planning on coming. As families merge, the politics of where people go for the holidays get complicated. It is always better to extend the invite early. For most people, usually the person who invites first is the house one will go to.

Honey Do List

If you have a toilet that runs, fix it. A doorknob that is on its last life, replace it. All of those little things you have just dealt with will turn into "a thing." A thing that you will have to explain to everyone and another thing you will have to manage.

Coat Check

Thanksgiving means fall, which means cold, which means coats. Make sure you have room in the coat closet to hang all of your guests' coats. If need be, take yours out and put them on your bed. Also, make sure you have enough hangers.

Also, make sure you have a place for shoes and boots just in case things are wet or even snowy.

Dessert Rotation

While not everyone will come to dinner, a good way to see all of the family and friends that have come in from out of town is to set hours for people to come over and visit for dessert. Keep things casual with a selection of drinks and a spread of desserts. With many people coming from out of town, we try to highlight local favorites with:

Drinks

• J. Rieger Premium Wheat Vodka
• J. Rieger Midwestern Dry Gin
• J. Riger Kansas City Whiskey
• tonic
• soda
• lemon and limes
• Boulevard and a selection of local breweries for our heavier fall beers
• Coors Banquet and Michelob Ultra for our safer drinkers
• Red and white wine
• Coffee
• Hot chocolate for the kids

Desserts

• Pie, pumpkin, mince meat, bourban pecan
• Apple and pear tart
• Salted carmel chocolate tart
• Cookies

Seating

A week or so before the big event, set up the room with all the chairs and tables you are going to need. This will help visualize the flow of the room, along with what you will need to borrow or buy. If you don't have enough chairs and want everything to match, look into renting extra. Or arrange a mix and match of them. Also think about who will need a soft chair.

There will be politics and one of the best ways to manage them is manage the seating arrangement. Some will scoff at a seating arrangement, but we have the kids make something that's 'personally' made for each person, which helps removes the idea of a seating arrangement. Think something simple. We've taken acorns and cut a slit to hold the place card, created 'turkey notes'. Though turning it into a personalized gift is always considered thoughtful.

If there will be a kids table, always make sure at least one of the parents is seated close, so they can excuse themselves easily to take care of any issues that arise.

Also, if there are teenagers and little ones, think about having a separate table for them. They are already going through stuff in life and the last thing they want is to be the big kid sitting at the kindergarten table. It's also a good time to set them a more formal table so they get used to having more glasses and items on the table.

Make sure you seat yourself closest to the kitchen. There will be an ask for something that's not on the table.

Dinnerware, Serving Dishes, Glassware & Napkins

You invited 15 people but you only have plates for 12. Make sure you have enough silverware for dinner and dessert. If salad forks or dessert plates are an issue, make a salad a course and when everyone is finished, clear those dishes and start a cycle in the dishwasher. They will be done by the time you are ready for dessert. Or invest in some appetizer plates. If you host more than one party, they will be used.

If you borrow, make sure every place setting matches within itself. If you borrowed some silverware from Mom and Dad, make sure the silverware at each setting is from the same family.

This is also a good time, to dust off and clean all china, silver and make sure all the glasses are spotless. Which can all be done while binge-watching some Netflix. Also, if you are using linen napkins, break out the iron. If you want to get extra fancy, be sure have a stash of light and dark colored ones. Grandma will appreciate you gaving her a dark napkin for her dark colored dress and the fact she doesn't have white lint on it.

After you have created your menu, figure out which dishes you will serve them on. Also, double check you have enough pans, pots and baking dishes to cook everything.

Menu

With my Creole heritage, I tend to lean towards a southern menu that is edited several times and finalized a couple weeks before Thanksgiving. I try to follow a mix of categories, with several candidates for each category. 1 main protein, with a possibility of a second, depending on the number of guests. 1 starch, 2 - 3 vegetables, 1 stuffing/dressing, 1 sauce for the main protein, typically a gravy, a cranberry dish, 1 'southern thing', and 1 bread.

With everyone coming over at all different times, I typically have one quick and easy bite for people to munch on. We also try to make a quick breakfast, like muffins made the day before, so the kids can last until dinner and is easy to clean up.

So below is my first round of our menu. I'll be sure to post where I ended up on Thanksgiving.

Breakfast

Pumpkin Muffins

Noshes

Shrimp cake bites Jammy eggs with smoked salmon and dilled creme fraiche.

First Course

Pumpkin soup with brown butter crawfish tails and toasted seeds

Buffet

• Roasted duck with an orange reduction
• Andouille corn bread dressing
• Potato gratin
• Cranberry relish
• Green bean casseroule
• Roasted baby carrots
• Brussel and leeks with walnuts and tarragon
• Some type of seeded roll

Drinks

We always have red and white wine to choose from. Usually two of each, one is easier on the palette with the second being a bit more adventurous. We will also have the standards of beer, vodka, gin, and whiskey, with all the mixers. Just always have coffee and water on hand. There will always be that one person who gets a little too toasty.

Playlist

Adrienne introduced me to the idea of always having a mix of music playing in the background. With the possibility of new significant others being thrown into your holiday traditions, a good playlist mix, can help start a conversation. We usually go with some type of jazz, though recently we've developed a taste for lo-fi hiphop.

Having a couple of Amazon Echos or Sonos helps contain the music into the rooms and allows people to watch the game while you enjoy the tunes.

Print Your Recipes

Once you've decided on a menu, print all of your recipes. On game day I will tape them to the cabinets for easy reading. Plus, trying to flip between browsers on your phone with cooking hands is never an easy task.

Doing this will also help you to quickly combine all of the ingredients together for your grocery list.

Grocery List

There will be multiple grocery runs. Go over your recipes two to three times. You will miss something. Once I get all my items down, I then try to group them according to the grocery store layout. Though here a couple of extras to add:

• Coffee
• Half and Half
• Ice

If you plan on getting your bird from a local butcher or a restaurant, be sure to order your in advance. They will have cutoff dates for ordering and most of the time specific dates and times to pick it up.

Prep, Prep, Prep

You have the menu and all of the food. No matter what you think, you will never ever cook your entire menu in one morning. So prep, prep, prep. First, order a bunch of storage containers, to hold everything. I'm a big fan of the cylinder ones. Also, grab some painter tape and a sharpie to label what and how much is in each container. Believe me, a cup of onions compared to a cup and half, look really close when you're cooking. I also like to group all the ingredients for a recipe together in the fridge.

After you have everything sliced and diced. You can also make a lot of things ahead of time - soups, cornbread for the dressing, potato gratin (can be up until the last baking part), dough for the rolls and even a lot of the pies and desserts.