Today was a wonderful day full of food, family, friends, and great weather here in Seattle (a bit cold, but mostly sunny).  I exercised my creativity by spending most of the day in the kitchen cooking up a Thanksgiving feast for the family. 

Here's what I whipped up:

• Roasted duck – here's the recipe I mostly followed.  I don't really like to follow directions so used it as inspiration.
• Sauce – I can't quite call this a gravy but did come up with a red wine sauce made from the duck "parts" plus some herbs from the garden (thyme, rosemary, etc.)
• Mashed parsnips with truffle olive oil- I'm too cheap to buy truffle oil, but the infused stuff does a nice job
• Seared Brussels sprouts – render the fat out of some bacon, saute the sprouts in it, and add the bacon back – you'll love it!
• Butter sage roasted Cornish game hen – as the name implies, mix butter and sage and roast those birds in the oven
• Some great wine including a 2005 Pine Ridge Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon
• And turtle cheese cake for dessert – store bought, but darn good

I hope you all had an equal or superior feast today.  Time for bed and an early run to work some of the goodness out of my system.