Please wait while the following slideshow loads

It's 11 AM on Thursday. Here is our Thanksgiving repast, packed up and ready to go. I am thankful that the boys are with their grandparents and cousins and that we are the ones stranded on one of our favorite family holidays.

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

I am thankful that my wonderful butcher could sell to me half a turkey breast, and that cooking it in the clay pot turned out so well. I brined it, then cooked it Wednesday night with a few strips of cooked bacon over the skin of the turkey, carrots, celery and onion around it, and a "Scarborough Faire" bouquet garni (parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme) beneath it. I separately roasted a turkey neck to use in gravy.

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

After steaming these "Brusslies," as we call them, I tossed them with bacon, a dash of my own champagne vinegar, and a spoonful of good maple syrup. I am so thankful for this gorgeous, functional heavy skillet given to me by the boys one year when they were very little.

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

I am particularly thankful for the ever-growing library of interesting and imaginative recipes at food52. I adapted MrsWheelbarrow's cornbread dressing recipe for this.

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

Here are a few other items, which I'm thankful to have made last month. They are: Onion Relish (J. Choate recipe, adapted); and Gingered Cranberry Conserve and Pear and Apple Relish, both adapted from Deborah Madison recipes.

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

This is where we hiked - an "Open Space Preserve" on the San Francisco Peninsula. We were thankful for a splendid day, and this gorgeous place within a one-hour drive of our home.

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

A shy coyote crossed the trail ahead of us. We were thankful that it stopped long enough for us to turn the camera on to take this picture.

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

We initially planned to drive down to the coast after our hike, to eat our dinner overlooking the Pacific Ocean. We were thankful that we could tell during our hike that the fog had rolled in. The beach would be overcast and windy, so we decided to stay up here in the hills.

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

There were no tables at the summit, but these two benches served us well. We were thankful to be somewhat more protected from the wind. This place was more peaceful than the picnic table area below.

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

Here's our dinner! The menu items not mentioned elsewhere were: baked sweet potatoes with just a touch of freshly churned butter and a dash of finishing salt; braised fennel in champagne citrus vinaigrette with fines herbes; and Mrs. Rombauer's icebox potato rolls recipe (Joy of Cooking, 1943 edition) made into a small loaf; and dark chocolate truffles made with dried Montmorency cherries and kirsh. Pie and ice cream awaited us at home. We were thankful to be ravenous from our hike, and to be surrounded by such beauty.

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

Woke to a foggy Thanksgiving morning, a great misty view from our back porch.

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

Filled old mason jars with tea lights... so folks made it through the fog to the house. :)

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

Smoked two Vermont heritage birds in our old rickety smoker, fragrant smoke wafting across the entire block.

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

Basted the smoked bird in olive oil and... more olive oil.

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

Baked 4 no-knead loaves crusted in corn meal especially for Thanksgiving.

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

Chopped hazelnuts were sprinkled all over my caramelized brussels sprout & sweet-potato ravioli salad.

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

Sparsely-set long tables for our dear friends and family, topped with a homegrown-centerpiece made from recycled wine corks, wire, old gnarled wood & dried hydrangea from the garden.

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

Sparsely-set table setting, up close.

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

Warmed tomato pie from a Philadelphia-based cousin made for a quick appetizer as folks arrived.

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

Ruby, our sweet dog, took a break beside our huge photo of the Rockefeller Christmas tree, an ode to things to come.

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

The Irony Chef of this house. The acorn squash was stuck on Torkil's favorite knife, my bad.

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

The squash had beautiful color just sliced.

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

Carrots, potatoes, and celeriac roasting with thyme and winter savory from the fire escape.

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

The acorn squash roasting with garlic in the toaster oven.

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

Sage from the fire escape about to be chopped and going into the dressing.

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

My grandmother's dressing; corn bread and toast dressing with lots of celery, onion, and sage.

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

Squeezing the juice out of the vegetable scraps and herbs that we had cooked down to make stock for the vegetarian gravy.

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

Making roux for the vegetarian gravy.

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

We took the train from Brooklyn to the East Village with our sides to share a meal and a great evening with our friends. People getting together.

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

The buffet table is starting to take form.

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

Our husbands Ed Wyatt and John Busby grew up together in Houston, and our families make a point of going away together every few years. In April 2001, we rented a cabin in Yosemite and loved it. We decided this Thanksgiving we'd return to that same cabin in Wawona: Jennifer and Ed and their kids, Hannah, 10 and Sadie, 6; John and Debbie and their 15-year-old daughter Kendall; and ten bags of groceries dragged up 300 miles from Los Angeles to celebrate with the bears.

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without Martha Stewart to misguide us on pie crust, and everyone pitches in.

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

While pie crusts cooled and after each family stuffing was completed, we took hikes in Yosemite village, or went star gazing.

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

Here is chipotle-chili pumpkin pie set into something resembling a quiche. (It was, however, fantastic. Thanks, Martha.)

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

You have to improvise in a cabin kitchen. The peeler available to us was a double abomination – rudimentary and dull. No rolling pin in the house, but an empty Pinot Noir bottle -- of which we seemed to have plenty -- did just fine.

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

We salute you, Gourmet, six feet under though you may be, with these divine poppy seed yeast rolls.

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

Zesting a Meyer lemon from the Busbys' backyard tree, while potatoes waiting to meet mascarpone cheese and chives cooked in a roasting pan. (Improvise! Smile gamely!)

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

Green beans per food52, as were The Most Comforting Puree of Sweet Potatoes from Cordelia, which involved amaretti cookies, and koshercamembert’s Rosh Hashanah apple cake, because it is delicious and did not require a pie plate.

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

The table was set with the basics, mountain-rental mismatched silverware and dishes, but the pine trees were better than any centerpiece.

Please wait while the following slideshow loads

John cuts into John Muir, our turkey named after the famous Yosemite-loving naturalist, as succulent as any we’ve ever made in the city.