THANKSGIVING SHABBAT IN EFRAT

We had Thanksgiving/Shabbat dinner at the home of Nate and Amy in Efrat. Amy used to be a caterer, so dinners there are always an adventure of the most wonderful sort!

We began with the traditional Shabbat blessings and rituals, but Nate added one new (to me) one: We each blessed b’samim (spices) and passed and sniffed some lavendar branches to enhance the sabbath.

Soon enough it was time to get to some serious Thanksgiving dinner:

Potato Leek soup with fried leeks floating on the top was a great opener! Amy cooked a turkey that must have been at least 25 pounds, yet it was tender and juicy. Along with the turkey there was an Asian salad, stuffing, sweet potatoe souffle, cranberry chutney, Brussel Sprouts and gravy. The challahs were whole wheat and tasty.

The Brussel Sprouts were made with garlic so they were quite tasty. The chutney was a perfect side dish to add to the taste of the turkey. The stuffing was a subtle mix of flavors and textures, and hard to resist pigging out on it!

Amy’s daughter made a pareve chocolate cookie crunch ice cream that was the perfect end to the meal.

There were a lot of us at the table and we had a wonderful shabbat/Thanksgiving dinner. Had you been there, you would have loved it, too!

Thank you Nate and thank you Amy.