Giving Thanks

Saturday was supposed to be our annual Thanksgiving dinner with friends, but - you know - it became a victim of the foot fall.  But we all thought that we should at least keep the date and so we decided on a get-together at a local restaurant.  Can I help?  No, they said, we'll take care of it.  You just come.

Fine with me.  I had/still have enough to do.

Werner had had a few whispered conversations on the phone during the past couple of weeks, so I was a bit suspicious but perfectly willing to go along.  I'm the one - you know - who has NO interest in discovering what the Christmas presents are before hand.  Let me be surprised!

Klaus and Johanna picked us up and off we went.  I had no idea where, but it took a while, all the way to Verden, 35 miles south of here. Then I knew where we would eat - Pades.  OOOOHHHH.  Pades used to have a Michelin star, but the chef decided to give it up a couple of years ago and concentrate on serving his clientele instead of making himself crazy.  But as you can imagine, he still has a great kitchen.

So here we were - the usual crew of Ursel, Klaus and Johanna, Ulli and Ilsemarie plus Ilsemarie's sister Meckie.  Can you tell they're sisters?

After a glass of Prosecco, the server asked "Are you ready?" and then she came in with - unbelievable !! - a whole roasted turkey on a platter!

I am overwhelmed!

Here's the menu that our friends sent to the chef to prepare.  You can imagine, several of these items were new to the chef - chief among them black-eyed peas!

Pumpkin-carrot soup with fresh chili and cream cheese
Roast Turkey
Cranberry Sauce
Green Beans
Mashed Potatoes
Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Black-eyed Peas!!

How incredible. And how delicious.  I was not quite speechless, but I hardly knew how to say how wonderful this all was. Still don't.

But it wasn't over yet.   Since we always have dessert at our house, we had dessert at Pades, too: a little lemon meringue tart quite reminiscent of Key lime pie.  Wow.

And it was STILL not over - one more item on the menu, just for me.  Turkey to take home for a cold turkey sandwich on toast.  They thought of EVERYTHING!

Thanksgiving is always a memorable event, but this one will be right up there with the best and most memorable of them.  Thank you.