Thankful

For the company who shared my table tonight, and for friends and family and colleagues.

I was worried when my oven broke a few days ago. My landlords, though, when they couldn’t get it fixed in time, gave me the key to the restaurant they run downstairs, and let me use the kitchen there. So I’m thankful to them, as well.

We inaugurated my mom’s china and silver — since I have it now, there seems to me no sense in not using it on special occasions — and the food, cooked collaboratively, came out well.

There’s the cut-up turkey, roasted and then stewed for the last 40 minutes in the manner of doro w’et; the giblet gravy; ayib be gomen, an Ethiopian side dish with chopped collard greens and spiced cottage cheese; the turkey stuffing; the mashed potatoes; and a salad of lamb’s lettuce, tangerine slices, roasted pistachios, and pomegranate seeds, with a vinaigrette made from orange juice, rice vinegar, shallots, and pistachio oil. Not pictured: for dessert, a honey-pecan tart with bittersweet chocolate glaze.

Reader, I hope your Thanksgiving was fine, as well.