>Thanksgiving is now over. Thank God.

My Thanksgiving went something like this:

Despite the fact that we were serving Thanksgiving dinner at 1 pm, we still had to serve breakfast from 7 – 11 am anyway. So I opened that morning, arriving to work at 6 am to serve oversized breakfasts to people that were going to be having Thanksgiving dinner in a matter of hours. And we were hella-busy, even. (Yes, I used hella.)
Thanksgiving is the only time of year in which I work the evening shift, as each and every table gets their very own turkey carved tableside, and with over 400 people coming in between the hours of 1 and 8 pm, it required quite a bit of manpower.

Service for Thanksgiving went something like this:

– My assistant would greet the guest, offer water and baguettes, etc.

– I approach the table, with holiday greetings and offer wine pairings.

– First course is served, with champagne: Butternut bisque with candied chestnuts, caramelized apples and nutmeg creme.

– Second course, with Chardonnay, is served: harvest greens with vanilla poached pears, toasted almonds, citrus goat cheese and huckleberry vinaigrette.

– Main course is served with Syrah: Yukon gold potato puree, winter vegetables, cranberry, currant and vanilla relish, herbed sausage and sage stuffing, old fashion turkey gravy, and turkey carved tableside.

– Dessert, served with port: Chocolate Creme Brulee Cake, white chocolate ice cream, candied cranberries.
(Selling a couple bottles of a $400 wine was a bit of a bonus…)

I did this about 21 times during service. After a seventeen hour day, I got to go home. Granted, with a quite a bit of cash, as the average bill for a table of two went for $250.00 before gratuity…)

The really exciting part? After not getting home until about 11:30 pm, I had to be back at 6 in the morning for breakfast service. We were unendingly busy until the end of service yesterday.

This morning is the first time I’ve been able to breathe in four days. Ahhhhhh.
fortunately, Thanksgiving is the only holiday where it is impossible to have any family time. Christmas, Easter, Mother’s Day…since I only work breakfast the other 364 days of the year I still have evenings for family things.

So no more turkey for another 361 days. Bonus.

Voulez-voulez-vous gobble gobble.