Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Chateau Elan -- Thanksgiving 2008

You must know this about me -- Thanksgiving -- is my favorite holiday. It is, of course -- say it with me, people -- "ALL ABOUT THE FOOD."
I do put a lot of love and care into the preparation of my Thanksgiving meal. Since we've moved to Georgia and don't have any family to share it with, we typically invite people from other countries to our house for the meal. I've found that international people don't usually have a preconceived notion of what the meal should entail. You won't get them driving home on their cells phones telling their friends-- "I CAN'T BELIEVE SHE DIDN'T SERVE MASHED POTATOES!"
There is also a special feeling of gratitude of sharing with people and giving them an experience that all Americans can join together in without religion gunking things up. It is a day to be joyful for the things that ya got.
We've had people from Colombia, Malaysia, Norway, Turkey-- oh that was a big hit. We got a lot of mileage out of that one-- serving turkey to the Turks.
So with all my homespun tales of a UN culinary gathering.
This year....we went out to eat.
Ha. What fun.
Chateau Elan had a Thankgiving Buffet and hotel pkg that we did as part of a celebration of our 10th anniversary and mother-in-law could watch the kids for the night....



My first course
* Green bean casserole
* Grilled pepper crusted flat iron steak with au poivre sauce
* Maple yams with roasted pecans and marshmallows
* Potato au gratin
* 5- Spice chicken thighs with sauteed okra and tomato relish

They did have one table dedicated to caviar! Heaven on earth. They had a fabulous wasabi flavored caviar that is worth noting for its spicy kick.




I didn't think the pasta bar would be one of my favorite things. Normally we stay away from pasta dishes when we go out since we can do a fair job of this at home, but man am I glad I tried. This fella made one hell of a fresh butternut squash ravioli that had an earthy element from apple wood smoked bacon and celery root carrot hash.

The biggest disappointment of the night was dessert. I know I know...seems impossible...I had my eye on a couple of them. I was so looking forward to the cranberry fruit torte, but by the time we were ready for dessert they had brought out a new torte which was still frozen in the middle. I told one of the guys that was stocking the dessert table and he said he would let the chef know. I should have asked them to microwave it for me, but they all seemed so busy. So I just did a cheese and fruit plate the French way and called it a night. I big fat belly night.



1 comment:

Carolina Mama said...

Wow, this is a fun blog. Y'all know how to make me want to come to Atlanta for dinner. :) Thanks for visiting Carolina GIrls. :) Stay tuned for the blogroll to roll. And yes, we love beach music. Heard the band who wrote that sing this summer!