In Burlington, potlucks became a staple. There was nothing we loved more than whipping up a delicious entree or appetizer, grabbing a bottle of wine to contribute, and trekking the sidewalks of Burlington to the apartment of whoever decided to host that night - and the trek was never longer than fifteen minutes. What could be better than an insane variety and amount of food to enjoy with your entire group of friends? Not much.
Fast forward to the days of living in NYC. There are a good amount of us who live in the Big Apple but getting together is so much different than it was in Burlington - instead of walking, we take the subway. Instead of popping by each other's houses unannounced, we make sure our hour commute to someone's home is planned out. Instead of hosting get-togethers in homes with big kitchens and living rooms, we meet at restaurants so we can all fit around one table. I missed these Burlington potlucks and all the warmth and security they provided in our everyday lives.
Until last night.
Our dear friend Lou decided he wanted to bring back the annual Thanksgiving potluck (it was genius thinking, really). He made some phone calls, convinced people to free up their Saturday night, and found a friend of ours, Pun, to host the party and provide the turkey. The hardest part was deciding how and when and where to cook our food - could it be cooked at home and then reheated at the party? Did it need to be baked at Pun's house because it would only be edible fresh out of the oven? Would there be enough room in that oven for the people who needed it? Tricky, tricky. The five of us who live in Astoria did our best to cook or prep our dishes before-hand, then had to shlep our steaming hot tinfoil baking dishes in bags from northern Queens to downtown Manhattan (we decided to take a cab rather than the subway to make our lives a little easier). We were very late, our arrival was chaotic with the final food preparations necessary, and there was just barely room for all our food in that little New York City kitchen.
But it worked out.
And oh, the joy.
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| Pun, prepping the stuffing in the microwave. Soup and cider on the stove. |
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| Elyse's delicious orange-infused rum and cider with cinnamon sticks |
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| Arden to the rescue with her turkey carving skills |
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| the spread |
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| thank god I made green beans... |
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| holiday parties are the best |
1 comment:
Yum and fun! Even though I now have potluck ease, I miss those NYC nights of friends crammed around a tiny table balancing plates loaded with a hodgepodge of eats on our laps. It's good stuff :)
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