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!