Post Thanksgiving 2.6 thoughts.

     Now that I am far removed from the actual day I can look back at Thanksgiving 2.6 with a mostly positive eye. It took until 4pm for me to really start having fun, but I did have many hours of fun. When I started these blogs to help me to keep track of my ideas, and possible changes I knew I would have to be objective. There will be a lot of objective statements about the most recent TH2 because I did not feel that this was my best event. I did some things well, and I definitely found some items that I can fix for next time. From the feedback I have heard, the positives outweighed the negatives for the 55-ish people that stopped by to enjoy the holiday and eat some turkey. 

     The positive comments (from virtually everyone) made me feel a lot better after the gathering. Whenever someone ate a particular dish, and said they loved it, or when I saw someone go back for thirds I felt like I had some success. TH2 is mainly an eating event, and the eating went very well. This year I did a much better job at judging how much food to make. We had the lowest levels of leftovers ever. I think that if we had hit 60 people I would have had virtually nothing to put away at the end of the night. 

     The biggest “problem” I encountered this year was a time one. Now I have mentioned it in the past that I like having people arrive early to Thanksgiving 2 because it emulates how my family's Thanksgiving happens. Usually not everything is done and the early birds get to help. That may seem like an accident, but I plan it like that. The issue of time that I created for myself was probably 5 times worse than last year. To anyone with eyes I was very busy up until around 4 pm when I stopped cooking and finally sat down. Even with the help of the few early birds I was still severely behind schedule. I made the mistake of back loading my schedule to try and take advantage of the days I had taken off from work. This was a huge problem. I accomplished the set-up during the previous week, but I left too much of the cooking until the last days. All week I was following the schedule and keeping up with it. I felt very comfortable for most of the week. It turns out I was comfortable because I should have done one or two more items each day. Thursday the 5^th and Friday the 6^th should have had at least 2 more items cooked on each of those days. For example: the vegetarian turkey loaf needs to be pre-made in some fashion next year. I believe the inner stuffing can be made on Friday and then have the shell placed over it on the day of and then baked. The deviled eggs I made early on Saturday, and this is definitely a dish that can be made Friday night. I now know 100% that the only food that should be made on Saturday morning is the food that HAS to be made that day. Next year’s prep schedule will look significantly different. 

     The experiment with the indoor fire pit and the tenting of the yard did not go quite as well as I would have hoped. I am pretty sure that the smoke issues were created solely by the use of wet wood. I did not really how wet the wood on my back porch had gotten. The weather on Friday the 6^th was horrendous. It rained over an inch that day and even with the back yard tented off the wood got very wet. Thankfully, the smoke was only an issue for around an hour or 2 and there weren’t many people at the house. Once I smothered the fire and the “exhaust” hole was closed the yard area became a fairly pleasant area to hang out. One guest brought a “jet” style heater and when we fired this up around 8 or 9pm it created a genuinely warm atmosphere under the tent. I will be asking him to bring that next year. It was a great addition to the small propane heater I purchased.  As for the tenting of the yard, this was almost a complete success. The outdoor room was fairly cozy and it did create a much nicer space than a naked backyard would have been. The only downside was the smoke early on in the day. When Quinton came over to help disassemble the tenting we came up with a few ideas for next year’s enclosure. First of all, 40 feet of extra back yard was a bit of overkill, 30 feet is probably enough space. Secondly, if we change the roof shape to allow for an actual chimney I think we can try the indoor fire pit one more time. This is a decision that does not have to be made today though.  

      The final issue that isn't too much of an issue was the beer. What could be wrong with the beer you ask. Well, I bought 3 times more than was necessary. I did have fewer guests than I was expecting, but I would have needed 50 more people. The overabundance of beer has left me with several cases of beer that will not last until next year. I am thankful that around half of what I purchased has a high enough alcohol by volume (ABV) and is the right kind of beer that I can store it for a long while. I was left with 3-4 cases of beer that have to be consumed relatively soon. Thankfully, I was able to give out some well received Christmas presents this year. My family really enjoyed their variety packs. I have a feeling that I will be bringing some beer to the Polar Palooza too.

     Finally, I want to just mention that even with these issues I ran across that everyone seemed to have a generally good time. I know I did once I had caught up with the food. I noticed many beers were tried, and the ox-tail and sauerbraten were greatly enjoyed. The fried turkeys were a hit as always. Now I know to buy less beer, make fewer desserts, make more side dishes and 4 turkeys is an absolute necessity. It is time now to take a break and think only of Thanksgiving 2 in the light terms. I found a few Scandinavian cookbooks, and I have a few weeks to look them over. Let's see if I can make the viking Thanksgiving a good one.