remixing the mainstream
Sweetwater Brewery in Atlanta lets fans help affix labels to its beer one night a week, so you sometimes find it easier to read the particular brew name (in this case, Georgia Brown) when you’re tilting the neck back on November afternoons…
The Sweetwater “don’t float the mainstream” motto applies to most of my family holidays, and this Thanksgiving was no exception; my sister Kassandra and I drove to the airport singing Motown to pick up my sister Kat and her boyfriend Reid,
and we stopped off at Everybody’s Pizza in Decatur before returning to my parents’ house to admire turkey cupcakes,
and go through menu options for the Feast.
A significant trip to the grocery (only one, though) later the next day,
and we were all back at the house, battling it out on the Wii, confusing the poor dog by dressing him up in a bee costume, and deciding on costumes of our own for the annual Thanksgiving video:
After raiding the closet in my old room, we looked for more inspiration in the basement costume closets while Kat played the drums (note: Kassandra’s friend Amber is wearing Kat’s butterfly harness from the 1996 Atlanta Olympics Opening Ceremonies on her head here).
Costumes sorted, wigs on, Kat called out for a pick,
and we all took choreographic direction from Kassandra:
Dad donned a Waldo cap to film in the garage (and worked out the lighting logistics);
Amber and I solemnly took pictures of the scene while the others rehearsed.
Putting down our cameras, the Rolyat Five emerged, all smiles and ready for the big number,
and we amused the neighbors with our midnight performance; I am pleased and proud to present The (remixed) Rolyat Five with “I Want You Back”:
Thursday morning, we worked through the list of dishes,
Kat juggled the shallots (it’s a tradition that brings us kitchen luck),
Reid sliced the beautiful chanterelles they had brought from Portland (Kat and Reid forage mushrooms) to top the stuffing,
and I smashed the potatoes (leaving the Yukon Gold skins on gives more flavor) and stirred in the buttermilk.
Kassandra took this action shot as we finished pulling things out of ovens and the warming drawer;
this Pyrex series lined one side of the kitchen counter:
Clockwise from left (annotated image): purple Portland artichokes, green beans with balsamic-shallot butter, turkey, cranberry sauce with cava, smashed potatoes, stuffing with chanterelles, roasted brussel sprouts and fennel, roasted acorn squash and pearl onions with pepita pesto, and asparagus. (We started with a butternut squash soup with cinnamon-sugar croutons.)
Then, Kat surprised everyone with chocolate from the Cacao shop in Portland (and taught us the difference between direct trade and fair trade chocolate):
Much later, we discussed Motown, the anomalies of the Rock Band game, and outdoor art installations over apple turnovers;
from upside-down labels to turned-over pastry, I am very grateful for days with this merry band of rockers and counting down until next Thanksgiving, when the Rolyats roll again…
Full set of the Flickr images here.
Related posts:
- the great portland snowpocalypse
- kthread cooks: pepita pesto and roasted squash
- parading doughnuts and pies
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Posted Friday, November 28th, 2008, 8:27 pm * Filed in Dance, Entertaining, Food, Photography, Travel, Video. * Tags: 5, cooking, Food, garage, jackson, kassandra, katrina, kitchen, kristen, kthread, rolyat, taylor, thanksgiving. Follow responses through the RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
November 29th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
AMAZING. Y’all have outdone yourselves once again!
November 29th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
Thanks, Dana. I’m lucky to have sisters as silly as I am. Hope your holiday was full of fun and delicious food too–can’t wait to catch up in San Francisco right after Christmas–
November 30th, 2008 at 12:30 am
that’s it! i am sold! can i invite myself to A Very Taylor Thanksgiving next year???????? I’ll dance and chop and even bring local Miami goodies :)
Y’all are too much fun.
November 30th, 2008 at 7:25 am
Jessica, you’re in. And we’ll tap your baking expertise for Thanksgiving desserts. Welcome! And yes, dancing is required :)
December 1st, 2008 at 12:44 am
The more the merrier! Thanks for the always amazing cooking Kris, and convincing me to get my wig on. Reid and I are already working on some new moves…
December 1st, 2008 at 7:15 am
Of course, you owned that wig. And I have to say, I think you have plenty of moves in that video :) Reid really works the frestyling too; I can’t wait for next year…
December 1st, 2008 at 11:28 am
Man of man. I miss you guys.. sooooo much.. I want to be invited to the next garage party. I can bring my sidekick who has moves like you have never seen before.
Love you guys.
lesh.
December 1st, 2008 at 11:45 am
Alysia, we’d love to have you two in the next video–I hear Matt can almost keep up with you (no small feat!) Love you back–
December 8th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
You guys seem to have so much fun.
Takes me back to been a teenager, really does. Wish i had that much fun, i really really do =)
Think that beer place sounds a great place to go, would be wicked to stick labels to bottles, especially if you could drink all you want whilst doing it, sounds like heaven.
Keep having fun,