Cooking Class & Friends Thanksgiving

This year for our friends Thanksgiving, we also had the pleasure of learning to make some new dishes and learning how to cook a bird up right.  That's definitely an area I had no clue on- trussing, carving, basting, etc? Those are foreign words to this girl. I usually leave all poultry stuff to my chicken man of a husband.  My friend Tyler's mom is an excellent cook and used to do food styling, and agreed to have us all over to her beautiful home.  Let's talk about that.

When we pulled up to the neighborhood, we were greeted by a guard.  This isn't out of the normal in Atlanta, but what was beyond the guard-stand blew. my. mind.  I felt like I was right back in good ol' South Carolina.  It's a GORGEOUS neighborhood.  To die for, really.  The stuff (my) dreams are made of.  I was reading about the neighborhood afterwards to find that it was modeled after Charleston, SC.  I knew I liked it.  Check it out for yourself.  Can you imagine growing up here?  That's about all I can do.  Ha ha.

Told ya! When do I move in?? 

The girls in our group always have fun together, and doing something new like a cooking class was great.  We learned how to properly set a table for different occasions, and how to plan ahead.  Everything from creating your menu and preparing your shopping list to cleaning the house and setting the table several days in advance can take the stress off of your gathering.  A happy host is best! 

Our menu consisted of: 

First course: 

Mixed greens salad with poppy seed vinaigrette 

Main course:

roast rock cornish hens with apricot glaze and gravy (yea, I learned how to make REAL gravy!)

sugar snap peas with red peppers and caramelized onions

rolls with butter

wild rice with mushrooms

Dessert:

flourless chocolate tort with caramel sauce and raspberries 

Drinks:

Mint tea and Coffee

the table is set 

Then came our crash course on Poultry 101.  It's such a small world I should add.  Tyler's mom and the hubs used to work together.  The chicken industry is amazingly small, and everyone knows everyone.  And here I am, years later, standing in her kitchen learning how to make a bird taste good.  Small world indeed! 

learning how to truss and butterfly a bird

We were so excited to see the finished product.  They were as delicious as they look! 

learning how to carve, present, and garnish

Ann, Bess, and me with our birds 

the first course is served

We invited over the men to taste our kitchen creations.  Here we all are, fat and happy after the meal. So much fun!

 the gang of Jimmy's Not Here- and Jimmy wasn't there.

And we got a parting gift from the teacher- the cookbook she put together for Gold Kist.  Of course we had her autograph our copies.

I'm glad Tyler put this together for us.  Everyone had such a great time, and we all ate waaaaaay too much.  That's what dinner parties are for, after all.