Every fall, the students of the Urban and Environmental Planning program at UVA assemble for a special Thanksgiving meal the week before the actual holiday. The department provides money for the turkeys, but the rest of the menu, from vegetables & sides to dessert and drinks, is a potluck. Our collective cooking skills are put to the test by the request that most, if not all of the ingredients be sourced from a 100 mile radius from Charlottesville.
For example, our turkeys came from Polyface Farm in Swoope, VA. Pretty early on in the semester, I signed on to be part of the crew that went out to pick them up. Joel Salatin's farm is only about an hour's drive from C-ville, but feels like a different world entirely. The drive out was gorgeous, with a little bit of fall color still clinging to the trees. We parked near the sales office and wandered around a bit before claiming our birds.
We saw these handsome gals...
...and their mobile summer homes.
Then checked out the four legged animals--piggies...
... and cows.
We hiked up a small hill for the panoramic view, and then went inside the sales office to get the (frozen) turkeys and wrestle them into the coolers we had brought. The largest one was 18 lbs, and the other two were not much smaller!
The trip to the farm occurred last Saturday and since I hadn't volunteered to cook one of the birds, I also stopped at the Charlottesville City Market to pick up the ingredients for my contribution.
I ended up with a large bag full of carrots, raddishes, broccoli, red onion and local cheese, which I turned into broccoli salad Wednesday night. The dressing and raisins sprinkled on the top were not local, but overall I think I did a pretty good job!
Thursday finally rolled around, I packed up my food and headed to school around 9 AM. For once, I was glad it was cold outside. A natural refrigerator for my salad in a cooler in the back of my car! I brought the dressing & cheese in to keep in the fridge, just to be safe, but given that the ice pack in the cooler had barely melted by 6 PM, they probably would have been just fine.
My last class got out early (5:30!) so that everyone could make their way down the street to the church where the dinner was being held. Several second year grad students had turned the empty hall into a lovely dinning room.
I added my salad to the long buffet table in the front, and filled out a label for it.
Soon, it was time to eat! For being loosely organized as to who was bringing what, we had an astounding variety of food in every category. Lots of sweet potatoes and butternut squash based dishes, and I think my salad was one of only about two cold, green dishes. The three turkeys were all there, but no gravy.
It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without an overflowing plate (or two)!
There was dessert as well, apple pie being the most popular. I am very impressed with my classmates' culinary skills, and I can't wait for my second Thanksgiving this week!
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