thanksgiving

i hosted my very first thanksgiving this year. there were 12 of us...me, eman, our friend john, my sister michelle, our parents, my aunt and uncle, my cousin, my gramma, and a couple of distant relatives. nick made time to drop by too, but couldn't stay. my aunt was kind enough to bring a couple of her specialty dishes...green bean casserole and yams...and john brought the honeybaked ham. the rest of it...turkey, stuffing, sides...were the responsibility of michelle and i. i was really nervous...i'm a culinary disaster you see. but thanks be to God [and that's not an exaggeration] all the dishes turned out to be delicious! our turkey was moist and flavorful, and the stuffing complemented it nicely. if anyone's interested, i'll email you the recipes...they're pretty simple. and did i mention yummy? the creamed corn au gratin was my personal favorite though. it was my baby too...i got the recipe from my sisinlaw and made sure i followed it precisely. it's seriously the BEST creamed corn i've EVER had...better than lawry's in my opinion! then we had mashed potatos [mashed to perfection by john, who turned out to be the most creative in the kitchen...who knew?] and cranberries and gravy and garlic butter rice [another recipe i obsessed over] and my mom's mouth-watering japchae noodles [korean veggie noodles]. so much food...yet hardly any leftovers! i was so happy. =) even though i was in the kitchen stressin' for most of the day, i realized one thing: i really enjoy cooking for people. and i love dressing the table and observing ppl eating and chatting, relaxed. i hope i get to practice cooking more in the future. so if any of you are brave enough to try my meals, let me know and i'll prepare a table for you. =)