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2024 Thanksgiving Menu and Meal Prep Timeline

* image These past few months have been busy for our family, especially since our oldest joined a local swim team. Between juggling our work schedules and balancing school with practices... we're all pretty wiped out. Although it's a lot of work, I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving. Preparing the holiday meal for our family fills my heart with joy, and I can't wait to get started. To make things easier for me, I don't deviate much from  our first Thanksgiving  as a family. The dishes I make are familiar ones, and the recipes for them live at my fingertips. Keeping the same menu year after year means I don't have to spend time researching recipes or planning a new one. Here are my tried-and-true Thanksgiving recipes, as well as my prep timeline for the big day!

Looking Back at the Tap and Table Gastropub

Beer Flight at Tap and Table Gastropub in Emmaus, PA - Photo by Taste As You Go

As I was editing some photos on my Netbook, it occurred to me that I never wrote about the restaurants I visited back in June as part of my boyfriend's birthday celebrations. I hating wasting opportunities to share my eating adventures with my readers, so I'm going to post the pictures I took even though so much time has passed. Let's hope I'm better about writing about the food and restaurants I encounter on my upcoming trip to Austin after I get back!

Beer at Tap and Table Gastropub in Emmaus, PA - Photo by Taste As You Go

Stephen and I headed to Tap and Table Gastopub in Emmaus, PA to check out their massive beer list, which features 3 hand-pumped cask beers, 6 draft beers, and over 150 bottles of ales and lagers. We didn't have a reservation and were faced with a 45-minute wait for a table upon our arrival. Before we could weigh the pros and cons of waiting, the host told us that we were in luck. Some spots at the bar just opened up -- did we want them? Hell yes!

Giant Pickle at Tap and Table in Emmaus, PA - Photo by Taste As You Go

Giant Pickle at Tap and Table in Emmaus, PA - Photo by Taste As You Go

One of benefits of sitting at the bar was our proximity to the giant jar of pickles, sitting atop the bar like a trophy or other major showpiece. Of course I ordered one to nibble on while we waited for the rest of our food to come out. I was given a knife in case I wanted to demonstrate my impeccable restaurant etiquette, but I couldn't bring myself to eat a pickle with a knife and fork, so I just picked the thing up and chomped away happily.

Pommes Frites at Tap and Table in Emmaus, PA - Photo by Taste As You Go

Stephen ordered the Kobe Beef Burger with Caramelized Onions, Applewood Bacon, and Cheddar (the picture of which did not come out in focus -- I blame the alcohol content of the beer I was drinking), while I kept it simple and ordered the Pommes Frites. The plate that was put in front of me hardly resembled a side, and I wondered whether the folks at Tap and Table intended for the sides to be shared. Regardless, the Pommes Frites were delicious, fried to crispy perfection, lightly salted, and accompanied by three dipping sauces -- an aioli, a slightly sweet homemade ketchup (that was a far from Heinz as you could get), and a spicy mustard. I would have loved to drizzle some malt vinegar over the Pommes Frites, but they didn't carry it.

We truly enjoyed ourselves that night, from the vibe in the room to the decor to the live music, and I hope Stephen and I will return to Tap and Table soon. We have a lot of beers to work through!

Tap and Table Gastropub
4226 Chestnut Street
Emmaus, PA 18049
(610) 965-1009 | Map

Tap & Table on Urbanspoon

Tap and Table Gastropub has closed and is no longer in business in Emmaus, PA. Updated February 3, 2016.

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