Thanksgiving feast

I had an unusual Thanksgiving dinner this year -- grilled Alaskan red salmon and venison tenderloins. The salmon came from my trip to Alaska in July to do a feature story on Archbishop Roger Schwietz, the archbishop of Anchorage who is a St. Paul native. He was generous enough to give me some salmon to take home.

The venison came from a doe my son Joe shot Nov. 10. Actually, our family was supposed to eat out on Thanksgiving, but the restaurant we had planned to go to was closed. Normally, we prepare a big Thanksgiving dinner, but our plans changed because we were celebrating my parents' 50th wedding anniversary the day after Thanksgiving.

Because of all the prep work for that, I wanted to keep my wife out of the kitchen. We ended up scrambling to find something to eat at home when the restaurant plan fell through.

It ended up being one of the best Thanksgiving dinners I have ever had. The salmon was outstanding and the venision tenderloins melted in our mouths. We feasted on grilled venison again on Sunday, courtesy of the buck my brother Paul shot. I also prepared my specialty -- beer-battered walleye. Both were delicious.

This begins the season of cooking and eating the bountiful fall harvest of fish and game. I like eating what I harvest about as much as the harvest itself. Let the feast begin!