Monday, November 15, 2010

Ten Days of Thanksgiving: Day 4

Today I am thankful for my aunt (aka my Minneapolis Mom), her amazing cooking skills, and our shared passion for Julia Child and all things French.

Last weekend, we had our 2nd Annual Julia Child night at my aunt & uncles house. You can ready about the night on my aunt's blog here and here. It was an absolutely fabulous night! There were 15 adults and 4 children there - so quite the large group! I brought the Barrister with - he didn't seem to be intimidated by the large group, which is good because there really is no such thing as a small gathering in my family... I mean, my immediate family has 15 people when you include spouses and children... so yeah... It's best that he gets used to this early on!

Anyways, I am very thankful for my aunt for opening up her home to that large group! And for spending hours in the kitchen, slaving over what was a delightful meal. I have always been close to my aunt, but blogging has brought us even closer together!!

Now for a very picture heavy post! First a disclaimer - I have a cheap point and shoot camera and I am not so great at photographing food... So these pictures won't really do the meal justice, but it's the best I could do.

My mom is on left, my aunt Barb is on the right - we are all sporting our Anthropologie aprons! If you don't own one, I highly suggest getting one! If you need a gift for you best friend, mom, sister, or mother-in-law - you can't go wrong with an adorable apron!

The appetizer course - cheese, olives, crackers, and Gluten Free Gourgeres. Oh. Em. Gee. The Gourgeres were amazing. I might have had 5 or 6 of them. Oh, and I also shared some dark chocolate covered cherries that I bought in Seattle. Nothing wrong with throwing a little chocolate into the savory appetizer mix, right?


The salad course which featured warm squash. It is my cousin Suzanne's recipe (she also has a blog) and it was delicious!! My aunt substituted rouquefort for the stilton to make it a bit more French!


While the adults enjoyed their salad course, the kids snacked on cheese and apple slices.


Between the salad and main courses, my uncle Paul, aka the baby/child whisperer,entertained the kids. I love the look of absolute joy on my nephew Matthew's face! He is a huge fan of Paul!

Now for the main course! My aunt prepared Beef Bourguignon, a potato casserole, and green beans prepared Julia style! Oh my gosh, the food was amazing. My aunt is truly a chef!

The kids enjoyed pizza and milk while the adults feasted upon our gourmet meal. I love how they are toasting with their milk in this photo.

Of course, no meal is complete without dessert! I prepared a dark chocolate mousse. I was a bit nervous as the recipe sort of had a lot of steps and I was kind of doubting my ability to pull it off. But I did it! I made it on Friday night and the Barrister was there to offer moral support... and to lick the beaters! He gave it 2 thumbs up so I felt confident serving it to the masses.

All in all, it was a very successful evening! It was so fun to plan this with my aunt - we exchanged quite a few emails; she was definitely the master mind behind this and I was the sous chef. I love that we have made this an annual event and can't wait to plan our 3rd Annual Julia Child night! Hopefully I will return from my trip to France with some inspiration for our next meal!

19 comments:

Becky said...

Yum! Okay now I'm craving cheese and salad and Julia Child type-food at 7:30 in the morning!

Abby said...

Yum! That food looks incredible!Amazing!!! :)

Looks like you guys had such a great time! What a blessing to be able to be so close to family and have those get-togethers!

Charbelle said...

LOVE this post!!! Such a wonderfully fun night!!! So glad you shared with us!!!

Nora said...

It all looks delicious! Love that the kids got to partake too in their own special way. Too adorable :)

Glad you had such a great time. Love the aprons on you gals!

Marlys said...

That picture of Paul & Matthew says so much! I also loved the one of the boys toasting with thier milk glasses! Great family evening!

Leigh said...

Looks like such a fun and yummy night!

Emily Jane said...

I love your photos and now I am HUNGRY, everything looked so delicious! Oh and I also thought of you this weekend - I was at a craft sale and they had this charm bracelet with little Paris-themed things on, a little wine bottle, a little Eiffel tower... it was gorgeous and I totally thought of you! :)

Unknown said...

Great post, Lisa! It was such a fun evening. I am going to use your picture of your chocolate mousse and add it to my recipe site. It was fantastic!
Great pictures. I am so glad you shared them. I love the one of Paul and Matthew.

Have a great week.

Kyla Roma said...

That looks like such a fun evening! I love the idea of a big themed cooking night, I would love to have some of these myself :)

Stephany said...

How fun! The food looks so amazing and it must've been such a great evening!

Amber said...

Looks SO delicious! ESPECIALLY the mousse! I love that you guys do this every year :)

Cute aprons too ;)

Lauren @ Sassy Molassy said...

Aw that looks like everyone had SO MUCH FUN! The kids are adorable. Last night the manfriend and I had an appetizer dinner, which consisted of some good smoked sharp cheddar, bread w/ olive oil and vinegar, sliced salami and pear. And a side salad. I love the combo of just stacking things together. And that chocolate mousse looks yummy!

qwerkyqook said...

Yum! Great post Lisa! I'm excited to see...eat... what you guys plan for next year. I made that salad again last night! I'm obsessed.

The Many Thoughts of a Reader said...

i want some of that dessert!

Kelly (She Wears a Red Sox Cap) said...

Wow that looks AMAZING!!!! You are an impressive cook. Also, could you send me some of that dessert? It looks like I need it in my mouth right now :)

Erin said...

#1 Your aprons are adorable!!!
#2 The food looks DELISH!
#3 I'm so happy that you have a great relationship with your Aunt. I REALLY miss mine :(
#4 Yeah for the Barrister coming to a family event!!!!

Shoshanah said...

That sounds like such a fun tradition!

Jolene - EverydayFoodie said...

A Julia Child night sounds like such a fun idea!

Nicole said...

All the pictures of food are making me so hungry. It looks like you all had a great time.