Hi - since promising to get back to you w/ some details of the menu, glad to firstly report it was a success… pheww!! :-) - This is for 15 people.
We ended up cooking these: Roast turkey & stuffing w/ various herb sprigs, onions, lemon & orange, and gravy – mashed chipotle sweet potatoes - rocket & roast pumpkin salad - roast cauliflower w/ caramelized figs & pine nuts (the standard recipe uses dates, but I had power of veto in this case & decided caramelized figs taste better!) – barbecue bread/herb crumbed prawns (giant shrimps) w/ lime & mayo dip on the side - grilled (with butter & garlic) morten bay bugs (type of lobster you find here mostly around Queensland state) – ocean trout w/ cherry tomatoes, fresh sweet basil & fresh mozzarella. For dessert: Pavlova (it’s very Australian & usually very popular for Christmas, but my mother-in-law wanted to taste it again) - a type of berry misu, and lastly chocolate & cherry cheesecake (my husband loves this).
It may sound like a lot, but mostly they are fairly light dishes since it’s almost summer here. Also, not very difficult to cook, only, in parts, time consuming. — The other good news is that some of us will have to go on a diet & exercise a lot for the next 2 weeks, at least!
Thanks so much for getting back to me - your dinner sounds unbelievably good. Oooooh, to have prawns at Thanksgiving! And Pavlova! I love old-fashioned desserts like that. (Peach Melba, Floating Island, etc.)
How I wish I could visit your beautiful country.