Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving 2014 was awesome!  Although I didn't hit up 3 dinners like I did last year, SMS was here which made for a perfect Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for and it was really a perfect day. 

Fuji-san wants in on the party!

I started off with a 5 mile run, which felt pretty good. I'm trying to be a little more consistent with my working out and a little bit of pre-Thanksgiving cardio never hurts. Plus, SMS and I are traveling Friday and Saturday and we're packing light (aka, no workout clothes!).

Go SMS!

So, the main event of the day was Turkey Time, hosted by our good friends Zac and Emily. I think I've mentioned before on this blog but we have found such a wonderful group of friends here in Japan. It seemed that all of us were in town for this holiday (not always the case for long weekends), so we converged on Z&E's house for an epic Thanksgiving dinner. 

Sides and apps, just waiting for the bird!

SMS and I brought cranberry sauce, Kentucky bourbon sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts in hazelnut butter, a chocolate mousse in phyllo crust (thanks Martha!) and very dense but tasty pretzel Parker House rolls. The spread is above and it was awesome!  Rolls, stuffing (2), green bean casserole (2), mashed potatoes, more cranberry sauce and buffalo chicken meatballs. 

The Turkeys were fried and delicious!  There was also a ham but I didn't have any. There were about 20 people and so much food. We went around the room and we all said things we were grateful, which was pretty sweet but not overly sappy. 

Desserts featuring the 2014 Pie-Off!

Speaking of very sweet though, the amount of desserts was insane. I had a brief few minutes of being overly full after I drank a big glass of water but I recovered. While I was inside hanging out, SMS was outside totally dominating bocce ball. What a ringer and hidden talent!

The desserts included pies (pumpkin, cherry, chocolate phyllo, apple, pecan), pumpkin cheesecake, banana-peanut butter pudding and bread pudding. My favorites were the cherry pie by Emily and the Martha dessert I made. It was delicious but hard to serve so it won't be a go-to for me, but it was tasty and different so it was a winner for me. 

The night ended with a totally early 20s move by Carl convincing Adam that 6 people plus a dog could fit into Adam & Jen's little Japanese car. While we may have taken 5 years off the life of the car, it worked!  SMS and I got a ride home and it was a great end to the night.