Thanks, indeed for a beautiful, crisp and clear fall day for the first Thanksgiving at Kate’s first home. This year’s gathering of international and food-obsessed guests was reflected in the menu that blended traditional elements with the tastes of Mexico and the British Isles.

Here’s the menu:

• Squash on Toast.  Amelia took this a step higher by making her own baguettes.
• Crab and Artichoke Dip
• Roast Turkey with Chipotle and Apple
• Chestnut and Tart Apple Dressing
• Potato-Tomatillo Gratin. A cooking class two days before Thanksgiving, taught by the charming Eliza Gonzalez, inspired this dish. We took the potato filling from stuffed jalapenos—combining potatoes, garlic, tomatillos and ricotta cheese—and turned it into a gratin for the table (and potato pancakes the next day).
• Braised Cabbage, with apples and clove.
• Roasted Beets with Garlic and Cream.
• Bread Sauce, another British Christmas favorite that was new to the table, a simple sauce heady with clove.
• Cranberry Salsa with Chilies and Cilantro.
• Green Bean Casserole. Yup, the delicious, old-school dish we know from childhood, complete with crispy canned onions on top.
• Little Balls of Happiness (Julia Child’s Oignons Glacés a Blanc).
• Mocha-Pecan Pie, now our gang’s traditional dessert.
• Apple Tart. Listening to an NPR special on Julia Child gave us the idea to make an apple tart with souped-up apple flavor. She put fresh apples on homemade applesauce. We laid them over apple butter and brushed them with apple jelly. A tasting of the Genepi liqueur brought from a friend’s home region in France provide the inspiration for a glaze touched with that herbal Alpine liqueur.
• Cranberry and Pear Hand Pies with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream.

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