My family and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving once again. The weather was sunny and gorgeous, and the food was extra delicious (our Thanksgiving dinner is always good but, somehow, this year, it seemed better than ever.) Here is the menu:

• Juniper and Herb Roast Turkey
• Gravy
• Stuffing
• Mashed Potatoes with Red Chili
• Baked Sweet Dumpling Squash
• Sauteed Brussels Sprout Leaves with Ginger, Lemon & Chili Flakes
• Mixed Greens Salad
• Cranberry Sauce
• Ice Cream Pumpkin Pie

Most of these dishes are standbys that we serve every year, or old favorites that we haven’t had in a few years (such as my mom’s famous ice cream pumpkin pie - glad to see that one make a return!) However, there are always some changes to the menu each year. This year, the big change was with the turkey. My mom always feels guilty because she refuses to brine the turkey even though all the recipes out there claim that you have to brine the turkey for best results. Her problem with brining is that it takes up so much valuable refrigerator space; you are required to get a container large enough to be able to completely submerge the turkey in it, and then somehow fit that into an already crowded fridge? That’s not so easy for anyone with a normal sized kitchen.

This year, my mom came across a recipe from chef Maria Hines, of Tilth restaurant here in Seattle, for Juniper and Herb Roast Turkey. Instead of brining, this recipe calls for salting the turkey a day or two in advance, claiming that this helps the turkey stay moist during roasting. Oh, and the turkey is also wrapped in bacon! Who needs brining when you’ve got bacon? The result was a delicious and moist turkey, and the pan drippings made the world’s most flavorful gravy. Mmmm…bacon gravy.

The other big change this year is that I was in charge of choosing the wines. This task usually falls to my sister but, since she is pregnant and can’t enjoy the wines herself, it hardly seems fair to make her pick them out. Plus, now that I’m known as “Miss Winesday” among my family members, I have a feeling the wine might be my responsibility from now on (as if I’m some sort of expert or something - far from it!) I bought a bottle of Maryhill Winery Pinot Gris and a bottle of Walnut City Wineworks Pinot Noir. The Pinot Gris was good but not particularly memorable; the Pinot Noir was excellent!

A note about Thanksgiving wines: People make a big fuss over which wines you can and can’t serve with Thanksgiving dinner but, if you do a little bit of research online, you will notice that a very broad range of wine types have been recommended by various wine experts. It’s as though each wine expert wants to be the more daring or creative one by recommending a wine that nobody has suggested before. The only wines you really want to avoid serving at Thanksgiving are wines that are too sweet, too oaky or too high in tannins. Other than that, I say pretty much anything goes!