The Un-Thanksgiving

Happy day after Thanksgiving!  I hope everyone had a wonderful day of food and family yesterday.  I'm pretty sure I told everyone that our Thanksgiving plans were going to take a detour this year.  So I figured I'd show you.

First of all, my parents couldn't get down here for Thanksgiving.  If I have four hungry adults that love most foods, I will cook.  I love to cook.  But two hungry adults and two very picky teenagers don't seem to warrant the effort of two days of cooking.  In addition, we had a gift certificate (something we won at a raffle somewhere) to two nights at the Marriott World Resort in South Orlando that expired at the end of 2012.  My husband and I looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders, and thought why not?

The first order of business was getting an upgrade from one room to two.  Four of us sharing a room used to be standard, but not anymore.  Everyone's happier if there is more space.  We were going to eat Thanksgiving buffet at the hotel, but apparently it was "rape the tourists" day, because the buffet was $65 per person.  Ha!  I think not.  I couldn't eat $65 worth of turkey if I starved myself for two days.  

So we made reservations at a nearby restaurant called "Hemingways".  Nestled on a perch over the pool and golf course at the Grand Cypress Hyatt, this place has wonderful seafood with a Floridian flair.  We've been here a number of times before.  We knew we wouldn't be disappointed.

Our reservation was at 2:15pm so we were starved.  I ordered a Key Lime Ceasar Salad (sans anchovies).  I dug in and decimated the beautiful presentation before I remembered I was supposed to take a picture.  The salad came with romaine, caramelized pecans, shaved asiago cheese, and fresh Key Lime juice with the dressing.  

Oh yeah, and we ordered a bottle of Cava.

After that we all ordered our main entrees.  I like turkey and mashed potatoes, but I have a hard time passing up a grilled Mahi Mahi with white shrimp and creamy antebellum sweet corn grits.

My son the carnivore, ordered the cast iron Ribeye with black garlic butter and fried onion rings.  He requested the kitchen keep the asparagus to themselves.

My husband and daughter went traditional, ordering the Thanksgiving plate, which included roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, dressing, cranberry salad, asparagus and sweet potatoes.  Everything was homemade and tasted incredible, according to the two of them.  $29 all you can eat.  Much better deal than the $65.

I was the only one who opted for dessert.  I HAVE to have pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving.  I will never have a pie quite like my late grandmother's but I still must partake.  In a pathetic move of gluttony, I scarfed it down before I remembered to take the picture.  Here is what was left. 

True to the legacy of Hemingway, there were cats all over the resort, some that were peeking through the screen while we were eating.  (They were not Hemingway cats, though, with the extra toe.) Sweet little babies DID get a little turkey.  

We left our lunch and promptly went to the movies, because there are only about 5 incredible things to see this weekend.  (Wednesday night we saw "Skyfall"...stay tuned on a little chat about that one.)  Yesterday though, my hubby and I saw "Life of Pi" and the kids went to see the last installment of "Twilight".  (My son only went to appease the daughter, but was grumbling by the time he came out of the theater.)

So.  That is what an Un-Thanksgiving looks like.  Not bad if I say so myself.