I guess you could call it fusion?

My Thanksgiving feast brought together two wildly different cultures - mine, and Smooth Melon's.

It was a potluck hosted at our place. Good thing we have a place, because there is no way our families would gather in one spot at the same time otherwise. Especially not for a group meal that would require, ahem, accepting our differences. All in all, everyone seemed to have a great time and even enjoyed "all them different flavors!".

La mia familia:
* Handmade ricotta gnocchi and tomato sugo w/ parmegiano reggiano
* Cranberry sauce with orange zest, slow simmered from real berries
* Stuffing made from Grand Central bread
* Roasted brussel sprouts with bacon and pecans
* Lemon-Lime jello with whipped cream and walnuts
* Mashed potatoes
* Cranberry-orange pound cake

Smooth Melon's folks:
* Roasted root vegetables (my favorite dish of the night, by my no-dairy no-wheat sis-in-law)
* Yeast rolls from scratch
* Wheat-free dairy free pumpkin pie. No, I have no idea how this is accomplished. Something about amaranth flour.
* "Scalloped" corn (canned corn with saltines and ... something?)
* Green bean casserole (canned green beans with cream of mushroom soup and those crispy onion thingys)

These last two are courtesy of my mother-in-law. 'Nuff said.

She did make two apple pies, though.

And of course, we roasted the turkey. My first turkey. After I pulled the bloody, purple neck and giblets out of the carcass, I could no longer touch the raw bird. Smooth Melon had to take over. We brined it, though - it was soooo tender.

Turkey soup and turkey tacos are on the list for this week, since we got a damn 17-lb bird. Cripes.