Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is a big deal for my family. Or at least my brother and I. It's the one day of the year where you get to sit down with family and stuff your face to oblivion with zero regrets. Well, not until the next day, at least. Whether you're catering Thanksgiving dinner, ordering a couple buckets of KFC or Popeye's, or trying out your latest experimental turkey tonight, it's all legit on Thanksgiving as long as you're eating a ton of it.

My brother and I love Thanksgiving because we both love to cook. Last year, I took on the bulk of all the responsibilities, only because he was flying into Seattle the night before Thanksgiving. But this year he's going to get back to playing a more active role and take care of the bread-related dishes. I've decided to take on the "Volataggio's Take On: Thanksgiving." At least a majority of it. And this Thanksgiving we're inviting eighteen other people, making our mouth count this year a whopping twenty-two. Yikes. Help me brothers Voltaggio.

I've never made anything by the Voltaggios, but it's no secret that I'm a huge fan of their approaches to food. And for some insane reason, when these recipes came out, I thought, why not? They seem mostly manageable, right? My food's going to turn out like that picture up there, right? We'll see how it all goes down.

Here's the skinny on what I'm making:

Traditional Roasted Turkey

Cranberry-Orange Compote

Caramelized Brussel Sprouts with Sherry-Dijon Vinaigrette

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Spicy Seeds (by Derek Clayton; gotta have some butternut squash soup)

Vanilla Scented Sweet Potato Puree

Traditional Mashed Potatoes

Classic Gravy

Caramelized White Chocolate and Pumpkin Cheesecake

Liquid Cheesecake (by Christina Tosi; I thought this might be a good backup to dollop onto any pumpkin pies that people decide to bring)

I don't know exactly what recipes my brother's using, but here's the gist of what my brother's making:

Delicious Biscuits

Awesome Stuffing

And this is what other people are bringing.

Ham

Sushi

Kimchi

Rice

Three Unknown Vegetable Sides (maybe some banchan?)

Some Other Stuff?

Oh, Korean Thanksgiving...Gotta love it.

An update on how everything turned out, next. In the meantime, have a safe, awesome, and coma-inducing Thanksgiving everyone!