Thanksgiving 2.6 . . . the Countdown Begins!

            With Christmas 2: Christmas in July behind me it is time to start preparing in earnest for Thanksgiving 2.6. Since I have started treating TH2 as a whole year event I feel I have made the prep work a lot lighter this year. The very first thing I have to do is come up with the invitation. After the invitation is written I need to continue the testing process and finalize the menu. Finally, I have to write what has become my backbone document, the schedule. Once these few things are started I can start asking people to join us for one of my favorite days in the whole year.

Already done prep work
            This year I decided to start my food experimentation in January instead of waiting until July. I used to think that 6 months was enough time. I know better now. As of the end of July, I have tested 10 recipes and will be using 8 of them. I have also found 3 German beers which I will be offering. In a non-food direction I have purchased a pro style chafing dish. If it works in the way I think it will I will be getting at least one more. I want to recreate a proper buffet style set-up. Since it worked so well at Christmas 2: Christmas in July I will most likely buy a 2^nd one. Now with CH2 past I will be accelerating my recipe testing and preparing myself.

Invitation challenges
            The writing of the invitation used to be my favorite part of the entire process, but that was in the olden days  (2 years ago) of Evite/Anyvite. Now with the Facebook being so popular I have had to transition from the party invite sites to just Facebook combined with some email invites. The template for these really diminishes the importance of the greeting and focuses more on the invitees. I feel that the regular guests will simply skip the intro, but I think I still need it for any newbies. Regardless if anyone else reads the intro, I will still write it in the same style as years past. The audience in my head demands it. I invited 137 people last year, and around 56 people showed up. This year I am shooting for 150 people invited and 62-65 people to join us.

Menu stuff
            You can see the current menu here. You can also see that it looks a little empty at the moment. The main dishes are set: 2 fried turkeys, 1 large oven roasted turkey, 1 veggie turkey loaf, sausage chowder and a German sausage assortment. I may add the ox-tail stew from last year or add in some fried fish. I will be taking some unofficial polls to help me decide whether or not to add either item. Desserts are my favorite part of any meal. I have been lucky enough to test most of the desserts at my office. I am not concerned with the sweetest portion of the meal because I know I have a few strong regulars to go along with the new “themed” items.  The side dishes are my biggest issue this year. I have had the least practice with the German sides. As of today I have only found 1 side that I want to serve.

Schedule
            The schedule is the most important part of the process of Thanksgiving 2. I realized several years ago that this event was too big to keep track of in my head, I had to devise a system to help me. I am able to use last years for the recurring items, but I had to make a significant change this year. The last 3 years I have used the week prior to prepare the house and make any foods. This year I am going to start preparing a week earlier, also known as the week of Thanksgiving 1. I'm hoping the extra few days will make make the set-up a bit easier. You can see what I have planned so far at the schedule page Here. I don't have it written down on the schedule, but in the near future I will start purchasing the plates, plasticware and drinks. I believe I have found a new place to purchase some of these non-food party items, but I have exhausted my beer purchasing options in my area of Pennsylvania. I think I will have to head to Delaware or to the Bethlehem area. There are 124 days left until the big day and I feel like I have a nice handle on the situation.