Last Saturday, we had our friends over to celebrate Thanksgiving (or what Roshan likes to call Tanggibbing), one of our favorite holidays. This is my third year hosting the dinner party and I have to say I’m getting the hang of things now. I’m usually stressed out up to the day of the party, but I think I’ve managed to work out most of the kinks and figure out what I need to get done in order to enjoy the dinner with my friends. By Saturday, I managed to be relaxed and all I had to worry about was making the food delicious. There’s a lot of photos I’d like to share so I’m probably going to split this post into two parts.

This year, instead of turkey, we opted for pork and beef, which I find is so much easier to prepare and cook. The beef is a simple salt and pepper rub and the pork is Martha Stewart recipe, slow-roasted with honeyed tangerines (in lieu of kumquats). The Phamily really came together to help. I heart them. For the decor, I decided to give into the recession and pick leaves and branches and only splurge on a bouquet of roses. We picked a few holly branches and sprigs for centerpieces and those velvety red leaves were so lovely against the pale mantle.