Thanksgiving Day Rewind!

Hey there! So, hopefully by now you are out of your tryptophan coma. I spent all of yesterday working on a cook book proposal. I just sat and typed, the next thing I knew it was midnight. Because of all that work, I have some time to put up some pictures today. A special thanks to Clark Vincent for working on Thanksgiving. Sure, I was on the float in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, but he got up and arrived at my house at 530AM on Thanksgiving to give me a face and do my hair. I can't say thanks enough because I as told you, I found out just 2 days before that I would participate in the parade. Short notice to change holiday plans. Thanks Clark.

Ok, so after he got me camera ready and helped me figure out "red hat or black hat", I left the house and to my surprise just like the itinerary said, a Macy's employee was waiting on my curb to escort me to the parade. His name was Alex and together he and the driver tried to figure out why I was so happy that early in the morning. I just was and always seem to be, I made it through the night and get to take place in some Americana ... what's not to smile about? Well, that and in a few hours I'd be enjoying Thanksgiving dinner!

When we got to the beginning of the parade route there were rows of buses and I was shuttled onto a bus and offered a danish. I took a mini muffin and declined on the coffee, I was already awake. Two seconds later Katherine McPhee hopped on the bus, she was in the parade and looked great with her new blond hair. I'd have a picture, but as soon as she arrived, she had to leave for an interview with US Weekly. There were two soap stars on the bus (one very handsome man from across the pond) and another that worked with him on their show. I'm not into stories too much, so unfortunately I forgot the names and everything. Then Anne Burrell and Claire Robinson arrived on the bus. Finally, some one to chat with that I knew! Here we are at the table chillin' ...

Two seconds after we took this, Gloria Gaynor (I will Survive) stepped on the bus and from behind thought Anne was Cyndi Lauper. That was hilarious. Minutes later we were hustled off the bus and taken to our float.
That's my point of view as we walked the short distance to Tom Turkey, our float.

That's about 20 minutes before the parade began. Everyone else was outfitted like pilgrims and many were family members, so it was nice that they could spend the holiday together.

This is a look ahead of us before we got moving and the balloons fell into line. If you look close off to the right you can see Kermit the Frog waiting to file into place from a perpendicular street.
There he is! I have to admit, I turned into a big kid when I saw him start to move. My heart started beating fast and I thought of all the times I sat and sang songs from my Kermit the Frog CD growing up. He was such a friend in my head. I know, a frog. Too funny.
Below is a look at Tom Turkey's backside. I was taking a tiny tour of the float and saw the door open. Elizabeth and Tracey popped their heads out to say hi and I discovered they are the ones that flap his wings throughout the parade. Cool job ladies!
Take a look down one of the side streets. It was packed and everyone was waving and yelling "Happy Thanksgiving!" or "Happy Holidays!"
Then, something cool happened ... we turned the corner at Columbus Circle and headed down to Times Square.

I was just telling you how neat it felt to move to NYC and host my first event in Times Square, on some level at the age of 25, working at the country's top Hip Hop station, I just really felt accomplished in my goals. Here I was again, in Times Square marveling at how goals can come true if you only work towards them. No, my goal wasn't to be in the parade, but to work hard enough to be invited, just made me feel like I was 25 again. We made it down to the end of the parade and if you caught it, that's when you saw us for about 30 seconds just waving and smiling. The funny thing is, not two seconds after we passed the television cameras, the parade was over. We got off the float and the same guy that picked me up that morning was waiting to take me to my car to go home. I got in my car and got to Brooklyn so fast, the parade was still on television. I was telling everyone that if they saw me texting on television it was me telling my guy to take the pork roast out of the fridge so it could lose the chill. Happily he did and took this flick of me just as I walked in to inspect the kitchen.

That's my pork on the left there.
That's a top view. A lil orange juice and some of those sausage links I showed you the other day. I'll feature the easy recipe on a future show. After the overnight rest and little rest on the counter, it takes just 4 hours to turn into some yummy pernil ... oooohhhhweeee I love some crunchy skin!!!
And I know you are thinking it, yes ... I decided there would be as little to clean as possible on this day, so I made the roast in an aluminum pan. Look at the chopped garlic on the meat!

Here's the teeny mac and cheese I prepped the day before.
A lil 8X8 for two and then I also made another one for Clark along with some yams ...

In all I made, pernil, mac and cheese, yams, mofongo, seasoned rice, red bean gravy for the rice and mofongo, pumpkin cheesecake pie, tiramisu and salad. Yes, salad was the only green thing lol. He took pictures of everything, but many are fuzzy, and actually we thought about taking a picture of the mofongo only after we inhaled it. It was a good laugh. We ate it as an appetizer because we couldn't wait for the pork to get to temperature and eat it all together. We were so full by the end of the day. I think we fell asleep at 7ish. Before you wonder about the menu, it was mostly suggestions from my guy, so no turkey. Instead he requested the pernil, rice, mofongo and gravy. Then I said what about dessert? He said pie or tiramisu. Specifically the spiked tiramisu I made for Pat and Gina on Down Home with The Neely's. I said why not both because I knew I had everything in the pantry. As for my requests ... all I really wanted was the mac and the yams, without those it just isn't a holiday to me. Hope you had your definition of holiday fun and food. Thanks to everyone that caught us in the parade!! What fun!!!