After a delicious week of handcrafted dishes that ended in a finale of Strawberry Shortcakes in all shapes and sizes, we ramped up for the ultimate Thanksgiving feast last week with our trainees!
It was the one time we wore sweatpants to work — and we certainly needed to! Our Harvest Kitchen Thanksgiving featured a whole roasted ham AND a turkey, accompanied by mashed potatoes, baked mac and cheese, corn, and broccoli to boot! As we compared our banana pudding recipes and decided whether a crust should top our baked mac and cheese, we realized that we had all brought our own flair and culture to Thanksgiving.
But no Thanksgiving is complete without a spirited debate. Ours: What’s the ultimate Thanksgiving leftover? The answer, which everyone agreed on, was turkey noodle soup, followed closely by the Thanksgiving Sandwich — which is this week’s special at our café, complete with house-made cranberry-mayo, stuffing, and gravy!
We used the opportunity to have a mini lesson on foraging and local ingredients. Can you believe there was no cranberry sauce at the first Thanksgiving? Or even mashed potatoes? In the spirit of giving, each student got to take home some leftovers to share with their families. Special thanks to “M” for donating some delicious Thanksgiving classics, they really added to our celebration.
After the meal, we all enjoyed a long weekend with our families to recuperate and digest. On Monday, we enjoyed the first snow of the season — which ushered in our new winter menu! Stop by our local-foods café in Pawtucket for a nice warm cup of hot cocoa, some apple cider, or to check out our new sweet potato sandwich (it’s vegan!)!
