Bonnie’s Thanksgiving Feast Challenge 2020!

I had a fabulous time on Thanksgiving 2020 – despite eating with my kids over Zoom – thanks to Chef Bonnie’s extraordinary culinary and planning skills.

My family and friends were almost afraid to ask about my Thanksgiving since they knew I would be eating alone. But the thing is, I didn’t feel alone at all! It was actually fun! I had plenty of company… starting with our traditional “Let’s Get Stuffed” family mascot… who was soon replaced as you can see here…

You might be wondering why the chairs say Flat Bonnie and Flat Laura. This was inspired by the Flat Stanley series of books, which Teacher-Chef Bonnie told me about, and Flat Stanley’s worldwide traveling adventures. The concept fit Bonnie’s 2020 Thanksgiving Feast very well since it was a traveling event. FYI. Here’s the official Flat Stanley 50th Anniversary template, if the spirit moves you to make your version.

Bonnie was determined to cook her usual feast, without any compromises – especially when it came to her signature popovers. She willingly undertook the challenge of cooking in her Manhattan galley kitchen and bringing the entire meal to me, with Laura’s help.

There were 4 basic phases to this traveling Thanksgiving event, both in Manhattan and Ardsley, N.Y. 30 minutes north of Manhattan.

1. Baking on Pie Night
2. Cooking the feast in Manhattan, which actually started 2 weeks earlier with a few side dishes (soup, cranberry sauce) that were frozen in advance.
3. Delivering the entire dinner to me in Ardsley, and sampling the desserts (yes, this is backwards, but it’s 2020 and the chef needed her sugar fix)
4. Driving back to Manhattan, baking more popovers, warming up dinner, and zooming with me. And taking lots of photos along the way!

Now for the details, and the devil is in the details.

Beginning with Phase 1, Bonnie baked the pies on Pie Night, her traditional night before Thanksgiving event, which I told you was happening – but I didn’t have 2020 photos of yet.

Here’s Bonnie in 2020 rolling out one of the pie crusts on the big folding table that functioned as Bonnie’s living room work station, on loan from sister Laura for the big event. And then we can see the fruits of her labor.

Plus she made a Lattice Apple Pie. Bonnie always did like weaving loop potholders as a kid. Now she’s moved on to bigger and better things!

Phase 2 began on Thanksgiving Day, when Bonnie moved into high gear to cook her signature side dishes like Stuffin Muffins (3 versions this year!), which she had started prepping the night before. It’s a good thing Laura brought over such a big table!

Bonnie made the popovers in 2 shifts, which didn’t hit me until I saw these photos, the first round below being the GF popovers for me in Ardsley. I had just assumed the cooking was finished before they left. Wrong!

Then she got to work on the Stuffed Pears with Goat Cheese and Cranberries..

For the main course, Bonnie made her Lemon Herbed Turkey Breasts, which are amazing leftovers that seems to get more flavorful with age – if that’s even possible!

I’m always impressed by Bonnie’s ability to stuff all these herbs under the skin without ripping it. I don’t know how she does it! I tried it… once….

Usually I’m in the kitchen cleaning up after the chef, but this time I was home watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade (surprisingly good for a pandemic event without spectators!) and reading a book, far removed from all the action.

All day I was salivating at the prospect of getting a home-cooked Thanksgiving Day Feast delivery from Bonnie and Laura.

Finally, after a whole day of cooking, Bonnie shifted into Phase 3 and loaded up her cart full of food, and drove the 30 minutes to Ardsley. Where did all this energy come from? Ah, to be young again!

Finally, they arrived with food in hand!

I introduced the girls to their dinner stand-ins for the first time. Laura conveniently dressed in teal to match Flat Laura and make it feel more real.

Bonnie started unloading all my Pyrex containers that she picked up two weeks ago. This time they were full of delectable food! I don’t know how I stopped myself from doing a tasting right then and there.

She arranged everything on my kitchen counter, with the side dishes appearing one by one.

Then Bonnie surprised me by unexpectedly announcing we were sampling the desserts before she and Laura drove back to the city. The chef said she was hungry and couldn’t wait any longer to sample her wares. Besides, it was already 7pm.

Bonnie served all 3 desserts to each of us, and we ate in different corners of the apartment – with the windows and the patio door completely open, fans on to get the air flowing, and the diffuser running with powerful anti-viral essential oils. I am proud to say we were CDC compliant.

While Bonnie was serving, I greedily gobbled my plate up. How’s this for a future painting?

They left me my one-third share of each dessert, which I used as a reward after walking every day the following week.

Of course, I had to take photos of the partially eaten desserts for future paintings.

Then the kids packed up the remainder of the desserts for the trek back into the city.

And I waited patiently… sort of…

We’re now into Phase 4, where the kids did a repeat set-up in Bonnie’s apartment. Little did I realize how Bonnie had so thoughtfully choreographed the entire evening. I was given permission to eat the soup while waiting for the formal dinner festivities to start.

The kids set their table with soup at the same time.

Then silliness began.

After the soup course, Bonnie made two more rounds of popovers, one GF for Laura and a gluten pan for herself. FYI. My popovers were GF and dairy free.

Admittedly I was a bit sad that I was missing the real life big reveal, the moment when Bonnie pulled her signature popovers out of the oven – until I saw these epic photos around midnight. Even now looking at this photos, Bonnie’s unbridled popover joy shines through, and I get my warm fuzzies.

At the time, I wouldn’t figure out why I was being asked to wave.

Finally, dinner is served! We were all instructed to load up our dinner plates with each dish.

We sampled many of the dishes together, from the pecan sweet potato casserole, to the moist turkey breast with cranberry sauce with just the right amount of tartness (Bonnie has it down to an art), to the second round of desserts.

Bonnie’s Instagram story at @bonniesloo told it all. Here is her summary of the 2020 Thanksgiving Challenge in a nutshell:

And eat together we did – joyfully and gratefully. I am so lucky the girls are both close by.

What I’ll always remember about 2020 is that Bonnie took the Thanksgiving Challenge and excelled on so many levels – the initial idea, the planning, the execution, the humor and the love. So much thoughtfulness and love went into this 2020 Thanksgiving that I felt like we were together the entire time – even though we spent less than 30 minutes in my apartment!

It was the most unique, creative, clever Thanksgiving ever, while maintaining so many of our family traditions. As the same time, we were CDC compliant! I will always remember how happy we were despite the health challenges of the times.

Of course, I’ll end this blog with our Official 2020 Thanksgiving Day Photo.

Beyond a shadow of a doubt, this was the best day of 2020.

Thank you, Bonnie, for willingly, lovingly, and so skillfully taking up the 2020 Thanksgiving Challenge!