With 5 kids, spouses, “significant others”, 5 grandchildren, a new great-grandchild, 2 huge bronze Newfoundland dogs plus a partridge in a pear tree, Thanksgiving Day at our house here on the scenic Eastern Shore of Virginia is usually a busy, noisy day of cooking, eating, talking. This year was no different except that we didn’t do it on The Day. Instead, we all got together for Thanksgiving Day dinner on Thanksgiving eve. First time ever, but the advantages turned out to be numerous. For those who also wanted to spend some time at the in-laws house, the opportunity was there. And for moi, it enabled us to not only enjoy time with the entire family but also to be able to make reservations to attend the very elegant Thanksgiving buffet at the The Lodge in Williamsburg. Talk about having my cake and eating it too !
In the South, preparations get underway several days before the day itself because special efforts have to be made to round up just the right ingredients. For example, no traditional Thanksgiving dinner in Virginia is ever complete without a big mess of either turnip or collard greens. And not just any old greens, only those tender and fresh- picked need apply. And on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, it is a time-honored tradition to serve a creamy oyster stew, steaming hot, fragrant with plump, briny local oysters, preferably from our Seaside, topped with pungent flakes of chopped fresh parsley. The sweet potatoes should be Haymans, a super-sweet white variety, indigenous to the Shore. Ham can be either country ham or fresh smoked but it must be served sliced very thin and, at our house, ham has to be studded with whole cloves before baking and finished with a crackling sugar glaze at the very end. Corn pudding, a lusciously rich mac and cheese as well as fried apples rendolent with cinnamon and nutmeg are among the compulsory side dishes. If one is serving turkey instead of ham, then a stuffing made with chopped pecans and crumbled sausage must be added to the onion and celery mixture and fluffy mashed potatoes are added to the “must-have” accompaniments. Hot yeasty dinner rolls round out the edges. The fabulous homemade potato dinner rolls from Kate’s Kupboard Bakery in Belle Haven, VA are delightful– if you remember to get on Kate’s order list early. If not, you are just plain out of luck and get ready to start soaking the yeast yourself ! ( Also great from Kate’s is her melt-in-your-mouth coconut pound cake– moist, tender, so delicious. In my book, better than either pecan or pumpkin pie.) So, they came , they ate, they laughed, they talked and everyone departed the evening in a jolly mood.
And so, for the first time since I can remember, early Thanksgiving morning I was not up wrestling stuffing into a 28 pound turkey or getting ready to make my secret mac and cheese recipe. Instead, I was relaxing with Hubby, enjoying several cups of my favorite coffee, feet up, watching the Today show. Wow ! It felt strange but I was really getting into it. Then, about 10:30, Hubby, Eldest Daughter, boyfriend and I piled into the car and set off for Williamsburg, roughly an hour and a half from the Eastern Shore, heading for our noon reservation at the Williamsburg Lodge, an elegant hotel owned by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and dedicated to continuing long traditions of Virginia hospitality.
One of the things I like best about the holiday buffets The Lodge offers is not just that they are true foodie delights but also that they make so much effort to insure that everything is beautiful and presented in a really eye- pleasing manner, the colors and textures are real food art. Beautiful ice sculptures abound, some co-ordinated to the holiday and some to the foods being served. I especially loved the sculpture done for the cold steamed jumbo shrimp, which were cleverly arranged on a carved flat block of ice which was backstopped with a huge scallop shell carved from crystal clear ice. Ice carved pumpkins, an ice sculptured cornucopia and watermelons carved into elaborate roses, the list goes on and on.
After ordering a bottle of Virginia Chardonay, we headed for the goodie- laden tables– the Lodge had really outdone itself with this spectacular Thanksgiving buffet. First order of business, check out the Cold Salads and Appetizers table. Then mosey on over to check out the long line of Hot Food Stations where a cute mini-tankard shaped mug of pumpkin bisque called out, “try me first”. Deliciously different, flecked with tiny chunks of scallion and spiced delicately with a bit of nutmeg, it paired beautifully with the white wine. Next up, I grazed among the cold salads and appetizers, highlighted by a mirrored tray of dazzling terrines, a delicious rainbow of eatable colors and textures. Down the line, my husband was drawn in by long, glistening filets of Scottish salmon, both hot smoked and cold smoked, thin sliced, accompanied by a horseradish aioli and a dill cream sauce, presented alongside cold grilled fennel and artichoke hearts. My pumpkin bisque was followed up by a bit of crisp Ceasar salad, few of the perfectly chilled shrimp and some fat stuffed olives, all wheting the appitite for the hot offerings to come. In fact, I ended up circling the Carving Stations and the Hot Foods Stations twice before making up my mind what to try first.
I finally opted for the grilled beef tenderloin, perfection in pink, piping hot, sliced thin and accompanied by a creamy horseradish sauce with pasta in a lush white clam sauce and green beans with crisp bacon as side dishes. Hubby was working on a whole new selection of terrines, pate’ and cheeses from the Appetizer Station alongside his healthy serving of Ceasar salad. Eldest Daughter on the other hand was swooning over the chicken piccata, lightly drizzled in a Madeira sauce and tossed with quartered baby bella mushrooms, with a few dollops of onion-garlic mashed Yukon Gold’s and some of the crunchy green beans on the side. By that time, we were all just trying to save a little room for the indulgent pastries beckoning like the Sirens from the Dessert Station. Delights like demi-tasse cups of baked Pumpkin Creme’ Brulee, open-faced apple cranberry tart, tiny chocolate molds filled with a delicious liqueur laden mousse, tiny scoops of house- made chocolate and strawberry ice cream, best I ever tasted and, of course, pecan, pumpkin and apple pie. And a Cupcake Station where, amazingly, more adults than children were lining up to ice and decorate their cupcakes ! A hot cup of aromatic coffee and a last bite of fruit tart brought this delicious meal to a close. And then, off to the historic restored Colonial area to walk it all off in the warm afternoon sun, another fine holiday coming to a close. (Posted by Marlene Cree, licensed Virginia agent with Blue Heron Realty Co., 7134 Wilsonia Neck Dr., Machipongo, VA)