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" A few years ago, David Schleifer, a graduate student in sociology at New York University, and his cousins decided that they had become better cooks than their mothers. Enough of the traditional Thanksgiving dinner \u2014 it was time to add greens, whole grains, and shallots to the menu. They took over the meal&amp;#039;s preparation, relegating their moms to the roles of assistant cooks and shoppers. Now, Schleifer mostly takes over the kitchen by himself the day before Thanksgiving, and prepares a feast for about 25 that leaves the whole family happy and relaxed around the table. Here are a few tips to get you started on hosting your own holiday and to ensure that any take-out menus you have will remain safely tucked away in a drawer. 1. Hosting friends is a low-pressure way to start. They will likely be thankful to have a home-cooked meal at all, and can bring their own favorite dishes as a contribution to the meal. Alison Awerbuch, partner and chief culinary officer of Abigail Kirsch Catering in New York, says that what guests should bring depends on what type of host you are. If you like to control the whole flow of the meal, ask them to bring the items that are easy to find and carry over: olives or nuts as starters, or chocolates to nibble on with coffee. They can also bring wine. If you are happy to relinquish part of the cooking, ask for side dishes and desserts. If your friends don&amp;#039;t cook, they can pick up bread or pies at a local bakery. Provide some guidance, so that the table has a nice balance of dishes. That leaves the first course, all-important turkey, and a couple of side dishes for the host. 2. Awerbuch&amp;#039;s motto for Thanksgiving is less is more. A wide assortment of dishes means that you&amp;#039;ll spend days slaving away in the kitchen and that your guests will likely only eat a few bites of each dish, without truly appreciating your efforts. Better to serve a small selection that everyone can really enjoy, and to limit the pre-meal snacks to a few nibbles, so that your dishes are welcomed by roaring appetites. 3. Starting the meal with a soup, such as Curried Butternut-Squash Soup or Mushroom and Wild Rice Soup, is easy enough to do, because soups of all kinds can be prepared days in advance and refrigerated, or even frozen, until the big day, which frees up the stove until it&amp;#039;s time to re-heat. A large pot and a blender are all that&amp;#039;s needed. You can even buy a pre-made soup in a gourmet supermarket, and doctor it yourself with your favorite herbs. 4. Not every dish needs to be served piping hot, which helps with the organization of the work in the kitchen. Prepare Roasted Vegetables or Oven-Roasted Parsnips and Carrots in the morning and leave them on the counter, covered. They&amp;#039;ll be delicious at room temperature. When it is time to serve, warm them up with a combination of maple syrup, sherry vinegar, and herbs, and drizzle that over the vegetables. In addition to the pie you&amp;#039;ll have to serve so that Thanksgiving feels complete, roast fall fruits like apples and pears and dried fruits like apricots, raisins, and cranberries, and serve them with ice cream. Try these recipes: Roasted Apples with Ice Cream and Roasted Pears with Chocolate Sauce and Coffee Ice Cream Schleifer&amp;#039;s final word of advice: make sure to have plenty of wine around; everything will go down easy.  Anne E. McBride is a writer and editor for consumer, trade, and academic food media. She is the director of the Experimental Cuisine Collective at New York University and of the Center for Food Media at the Institute of Culinary Education. She wrote Chocolate Epiphany and Bite Size with Chef Fran\u00E7ois Payard, and is currently co-authoring a book about working in the food industry. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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