Thanksgiving this year was at my brother’s in-law’s place. They were away on vacation but we decided to use their house anyway because it was convenient for all and big enough to accomodate all of our food. As usual everyone brought a couple of dishes. My bro bought a giant deep fryer to attempt a deep-fried turkey. The results were remarkable. The 14lb. bird cooked perfectly in about 45 minutes. It was the moistest white meat I’ve ever had from a turkey. In the summer, that cooker can be used to boil liquid as well, so it is totally perfect for doing crab/crawfish boils or clam bakes. Very cool. I made two of my old stand-by’s this year, my Jap chicken wings and my mini crab cakes which I think I’ve finally perfected. I also gave in and started serving my crab cakes with sauces on the side because everybody always asks if I have sauce to go with them even though I season ’em so heavily that they really don’t need it. In any event, I made a white chipotle cream sauce and a red sauce of ketchup, mayo, and chives. Both were actually pretty good; good enough that even I used sauce on my own crab cakes despite being the purist that I usually am. I also made stuffed chicken legs (the Jap market had boned chicken legs, so all I had to do was come up with a stuffing). I stuffed ’em with sauteed baby spinach and mushrooms, enriched with mascarpone. It was a subtle flavor, but you can’t really go wrong with chicken legs! Jones made his insanely rich mac and cheese, always a crowd favorite but was too filling for us to eat much of considering all the other food on the table. We finished with his als0-famous pumkin pie. In between, we had some killer brisket, a zuccini casserole, mashed potatoes, roasted potatoes and a bunch of other stuff I can’t even remember. All of it was really excellent by any standards. My family has really become pretty damn skilled at cooking! I’m actually looking forward to getting out of work so I can go home and eat some leftovers, and that’s really saying something because I usually abhor leftovers!