Like a walk in the Park
This year Ross and I decided to have our Thanksgiving dinner catered by one of our local restaurants, The Vincentown Diner.
They claim on their website's homepage "We are not your average diner".
"The Vincentown Diner is NOT just another Diner! We strive to bring you the highest quality food and service at very reasonable prices. Our chef inspired menu incorporates premium products, the freshest ingredients and generous portions. We use Organic Eggs, all local, grass-fed beef or Certified Angus Beef, premium cheeses, and cooking oils that contain no trans fats. Our house coffee is roasted locally and ground fresh every time we brew.
Local food and products such as produce, fruits, wine, honey, bread and blueberry iced tea confirm that "Local Tastes Better". Loyalty Club rewards provide another reason to stop by and don't forget to visit Jersey Jim's country store."
We have eaten at the Vtown Diner many times. That's why we were fairly confident about ordering a complete Thanksgiving dinner from them.
But, still, it was the first time we have ever done that. By that I mean, having Thanksgiving dinner, which is supposed to be all about homemade cooking, done by, well not us.
Ross picked up our dinner at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday. Everything was packed up in a large cardboard box. Included in the box was a 20 pound fully cooked, still on the frame, turkey - all nice and perfectly browned; four large trays containing mashed potatoes, candied yams, string beans and stuffing; two large containers of gravy; a large container of homemade cranberry sauce; a large loaf of ciabatta bread and a pumpkin pie.
There was enough food to feed at least 15-20 people.
The price for all of that was $129.00
All of the food was fully cooked but cold. There were explicit instructions on how to re-heat everything. First the turkey went into the oven at a preheated temperature of 300 degrees for 2-1/2 hours.
The four side dishes were stored in aluminum, oven ready, trays. When the turkey came out, we put all four trays into the oven, poured the gravy into a saucepan to simmer on the stove.
We planned on serving dinner at 3:00 p.m. By 1:00 we had everything organized, the table was set, the bread sliced, serving utensils and platters set out.
And Ross and I? We were relaxing. He was watching TV and I was listening to a book and knitting.
We celebrated Thanksgiving dinner with my daughter, son-in-law and three grandchildren. Jen brought delicious macaroni and cheese, a pumpkin cheesecake and her famous chocolate chip cookies.
Did I mention there was a lot of food? Once it was all set out on the table, I thought, Boy am I glad I didn't have to do all of that!
And then we dug in!
So the moment of truth. Our review of the Vincentown "We are not your average" Diner's complete "Give mom a rest. Let us do the cooking for you" Thanksgiving Day dinner.
It Was EXCELLENT!
Yes, everything was delicious. We couldn't have done better ourselves. The turkey was cooked to perfection. Moist and tender. The mashed potatoes were real potatoes, creamy and tasty. The candied yams were apparently good. I don't do yams. But everyone else said they were good. The stuffing was very good. Ryan even went for seconds. The string beans were fresh, not canned.
The whole berry cranberry sauce had just the right mixture of sweet and tang. Derek said the pumpkin pie was the best he has ever had.
There was enough food leftover to feed us all again and again and then perhaps if we are not too tired of turkey dinner, once again.
I would highly recommend it. And I would definitely do it again next year.
By the way, Jen, thanks for the cookies. After you left, and everything was cleaned up and put away, I was ready for one of those cookies. They were nowhere to be found. I asked Ross, "Where are Jen's cookies?"
He said, "I put them in the freezer."
He put them in the freezer, tray and all, covered in plastic wrap.
"No, no," I said.
I took them out of the freezer and had one. They are even better half frozen :).
