I had to cancel my Thanksgiving Day plans this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. I had planned things for today and tomorrow two months ago, and then the country went into lockdown for the second time this year. With my plans up in the air, I decided to work through Thanksgiving and the day after (known as Black Friday), but I did manage to find a place that was cooking a Thanksgiving Meal that could be picked up and heated at home from Woodland Parks Hotel near Cobham in Surrey. All restaurants are shut for indoor dining due to the lockdown.
It's been nearly three weeks since I got out of the house now, so I had a quick wander around Claremont Landscape Gardens. I'd wanted to get to a couple of National Trust places in mid-November to see the autumn colour, but the lockdown prevented this as well. The gardens were open here, and I booked in advance, but it was busy. I was amazed at how busy it was here on a dreary day on a Thursday afternoon. I had a walk around the lake and up the hill overlooking the ampitheatre before heading to pick up the Thanksgiving Day meal to cook from home.
Unfortunately, the colour has nearly gone now.
It's a pity that we could not eat at the hotel because it does look good, but they do serve afternoon tea and Thanksgiving meals in the restaurant on normal years. Instead, they offered a collection, and I thought this was a good idea because the meals would be prepared. But, we did end up having to cook the turkey and we couldn't enjoy the starter first because everything needed to cook and be ready at different times. It was chaotic. I ended up with a lot of leftover food, and the soup ended up getting too cold, so I will have to have that tomorrow. It is a lot of food for two people anyway.
So, the soup was a squash soup served with a bread roll and butter. There was a turkey wrapped in bacon.
And the sides included roast potatoes, marshmallow sweet potato, creamed corn, macaroni and cheese, stuffed pumpkins, bacon wrapped in sausage (pigs and blankets), carrots, green beans with marshmallows and carmelised onions, mashed potatoes, and sprouts with bacon.
For dessert, there was a miniature pumpkin and ginger pie with whipped cream and a key lime pie.
So, it's not the Thanksgiving Day that I wanted to have, and the cooking was stressful. It's not been a very good day. I am just over this year already. So, I'll post about my previous Thanksgiving Days:
Thanksgiving Dinner at Riding House Cafe
Thanksgiving Day with Benjamin Franklin House @ Clothworker's Hall (London)
Thanksgiving Lunch @ Jackson + Rye, Chiswick
Thanksgiving at The Jones Family Project
Thanksgiving at Balthazar (Covent Garden)
Thanksgiving at Christopher's Restaurant in London (Covent Garden)
Leave a comment