Thanksgiving Lunch

So the day that we set for Thanksgiving arrived, with soaring temperatures of 43 degrees. (Well over 100 F) Which, as I am sure you can appreciate, is the perfect weather in which to be baking a 12 pound turkey for five hours. But due to the numerous postponements we had previously made (for health reasons) I wasn't about to cancel again. Instead I stuffed the bird in the oven and dashed out to the markets to grab some fruit and veggies and whatever fabulous treasures I should happen to find. I was back within an hour and a half to start preparing the rest of the food: there was mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, turkey, rice (thanks Haleh), garden salad, pasta salad, numerous batches of ice cold, parsley, lemonade (don't knock it till you've tried it) and pumpkin soup served up in it's own shell (Ruhi's idea, and a pretty groovy one too.) See what I mean? I made Mehran, before he escaped to play soccer with some friends, hollow out the pumpkin with a melon baller. This was a challenging and tedious process and one that he was not very enthusiastic about- although it worked splendidly compared to with an ordinary spoon. Anyway the soup was pretty good. Not the most tempting thing to have on a hot day, but it was delicious the next day when served cold.
For desert there was the torta caprese, cheesecakes, chocolate wafers, chocolate pudding and banana creme pies (courtesy of Celeste) and also some fresh dates. But the best part - and the part that I pretty much got no photos of (save for the first picture of some of the kids) -was just getting to catch up with family and friends, some of whom we don't get to see as often as we would like. And, contrary to what you might think after reading this post, it is really the family and the friends, not the food, that made the whole celebration worthwhile.