Ewe just add mint jelly...

White Lamb
Originally uploaded by Mountain Mike.

I can't even remember if I have mentioned that I have decided to give American Thanksgiving traditions the heave-ho this year, in favour of hosting something with Australian 'flavour' for the expat orphans I've befriended in my time here. Given that none of them are US-born anyway, I didn't think anyone would really mind if I vetoed roast turkey and the sweet-tasting accoutrements that Americans devour at this time of year.

I've sourced a wonderful, boneless, Aussie lamb roast (courtesy of an expat guardian angel here in Chicago) and I plan on cooking it up with all the usual roast trimmings. I'm going to serve garlic & rosemary potatoes (is it wrong that I'm most excited about THAT part of the meal?) plus roast carrots, maybe pumpkin, definitely broccoli and other steamed greens, and delicious meat gravy. I will of course also include hearty farm bread slathered with butter with which to mop up all the goodness.

And will there be pumpkin pie? Well of course not. I am either going to try again with my signature tiramisu recipe (tried for the first time in the US last Thanksgiving, and I recall it did not fare so well owing to mass confusion on the naming of American baking products), or else I'll do....erm....a Plan B that I haven't thought of yet.

I will actually be in LA in the week leading up to Thanksgiving hence the scramble to get things organised now. I have issued my oven an ultimatum (complete with fist-shaking and angry glare) that it had better behave otherwise I will have it consigned to the scrap heap. I will have a similar conversation with every other appliance in the apartment that may be called into operation to pull off this gastronomic miracle.

And you know what else? I don't have a big enough kitchen table, or enough chairs, to accommodate my expected guests. Or enough plates, glasses, and cutlery to go around. In my excitement about the menu, I guess I just didn't think about any of that.

To be continued.