Thanksgiving Dinner

Laurel First Assembly of God will host its annual Thanksgiving "Feed the Hungry" event at 7 p.m. Wednesday at 1102 Montgomery St. A traditional turkey dinner will be served to those needing a meal. There will be door prizes. Transportation will be provided. Information, call 301-490-0100.

Thanksgiving Day 2011 dawned bright and beautiful as over 60 volunteers made their way to help serve the Loverde Family Community Fund's Thanksgiving Day feast for the homeless. Around 1 p.m., the first of 160 guests from the Westside Homeless Shelter, Mosaic Community Services, and Spring Grove Hospital Center were greeted and shown to their tables. For the fifth year in a row, a delicious home-style Thanksgiving dinner would be servedScittino's, in Catonsville Junction, had expertly prepared the tasty, loosen-your-belt holiday feast.

Avoid the stress, the mess, the "I don't know what happened, I followed the recipe!" dilemma and the cleanup, but still get your turkey fix at these Baltimore restaurants open on Thanksgiving Day. Alizee We're curious to find out what the chefs have in store for their buffet, served 3 p.m.-7 p.m. Usual fare is a mix of contemporary Asian and French cuisine, so the possibilities have our heads spinning. If you go: Alizee is at 4 W. University Parkway. Call 410-235-8200.

Each week, when Ravens cornerback Lardarius Webb shows up to do his radio show at the Al Packer Ford dealership in White Marsh, fans eagerly await, the majority of them hungry to get his autograph. During commercial breaks, they stand in line until it's their turn to shuffle forward and enthusiastically thrust a football, a picture, a jersey or a hat into his hands. The ritual of signing autographs still feels a tad surreal to Webb, even though this is his third year in the NFL. Even if you could get him to concede he has quietly become one of the best young cornerbacks in the NFL -- a statement that makes him smile, but one he's reluctant to make on his own -- there is a part of him that still feels like the skinny, shy kid who grew up in tiny Opelika, Ala., dreaming of big things.

Cynthia Brooks, executive director of the Bea Gaddy Family Center in East Baltimore, opened the mailbox Tuesday and found a stack of letters with donations. She said she has not seen so many checks in months, adding that many donors have dropped canned food at the center's doorstep as well. Just a few days ago, Brooks faced the possibility of turning needy people away because the center's supplies were dwindling, its phones were disconnected for lack of payment and donations had dropped significantly.

Thanksgiving Day 2011 dawned bright and beautiful as over 60 volunteers made their way to help serve the Loverde Family Community Fund's Thanksgiving Day feast for the homeless. Around 1 p.m., the first of 160 guests from the Westside Homeless Shelter, Mosaic Community Services, and Spring Grove Hospital Center were greeted and shown to their tables. For the fifth year in a row, a delicious home-style Thanksgiving dinner would be servedScittino's, in Catonsville Junction, had expertly prepared the tasty, loosen-your-belt holiday feast.

On Thanksgiving, one blessing for some of us is a large-group feast that we plan and prepare in stages for several days, if not weeks. Regardless of whether some of the guests are bringing a variety of side dishes, the head chef still has to wrestle with a turkey or two. Depending on the size this usually requires getting ol' Tom into the oven in the wee hours of Thanksgiving morning. Others of us are thankful for a smaller party. And it is to those November celebrants we proffer this petite menu of seasonal dishes that, while "lavish," can allow us to sleep in on Turkey Day, at least till it's light out. It may seem to flaunt tradition, but this somewhat free-form menu is designed for six (but there's plenty for eight)

Cynthia Brooks is not about to let a recession, dwindling donations or a disconnected phone stop her from helping the needy. The executive director of the Bea Gaddy Family Center in East Baltimore is keeping the doors open and moving forward with plans to serve Thanksgiving dinner to 50,000 people despite the center's financial woes. The center, founded by Brooks' mother, the late city councilwoman, is barely meeting the ever increasing demand for help. The floor-to-ceiling shelves for canned goods are often empty, and the leased refrigerated containers, which were mostly bare, are gone because the center couldn't afford them.

In Wednesday's food section an incorrect price was given for the Thanksgiving dinner specials at the Middleborough Inn. The correct price is $12.95.The Sun regrets the error.In a recent A La Carte story, incorrect operating hours were listed for Brightons. The restaurant will be open Thanksgiving Day noon to 8 p.m.+ The Sun regrets the errors.If you barely have enough time for everyday cooking, how will you find time to cook a Thanksgiving feast for family and friends?A few years ago, alternatives to cooking -- dining out -- were limited to the kind of chain restaurant that never closes and serves only warmed-over foods.

There's still time to arrange a Thanksgiving dinner out. Two 11th-hour additions have been added. Jad's (137 Back River Neck Road, 410-686-2816, jadscaddyshack.com): The Essex restaurant, also known as Jade's Restaurant and Caddy Shack Lounge, is serving a Thanksgiving buffet. More details to come, but a reader called in to make sure that people knew about this affordable option, which she said was under $20. La Fontaine Bleue (7514 S. Ritchie Highway,  410-760-4115)

He has frequent lapses of memory, the result of a brain aneurysm he suffered as a teen in 1972. He struggled for years to keep jobs at BWI, at a discount store and in an industrial park. And finally, after his mother died in a Baltimore County nursing home, Fred Schaefle of Glen Burnie lost the condo in which he'd been living and ended up in a tent. "There's so much you don't appreciate until you don't have it," says the rangy, bearded 58-year-old with a shake of the head. "For example, indoor plumbing or a place to warm your food.

Thanksgiving in Baltimore falls on a Ravens home game night. So, how will this play out? If the usual hosts of traditional Thanksgiving dinners are off tailgating, will their abandoned guests have to fend for themselves in restaurants? Here's a sampling of area restaurants that plan to offer Thanksgiving dinner. Seats will probably fill quickly, so we suggest reservations. (And to the nice reader who called and asked whether we'd be running a similar list of Christmas openings: Yes.)

On Thanksgiving, one blessing for some of us is a large-group feast that we plan and prepare in stages for several days, if not weeks. Regardless of whether some of the guests are bringing a variety of side dishes, the head chef still has to wrestle with a turkey or two. Depending on the size this usually requires getting ol' Tom into the oven in the wee hours of Thanksgiving morning. Others of us are thankful for a smaller party. And it is to those November celebrants we proffer this petite menu of seasonal dishes that, while "lavish," can allow us to sleep in on Turkey Day, at least till it's light out. It may seem to flaunt tradition, but this somewhat free-form menu is designed for six (but there's plenty for eight)

Highly polished 15-foot-long tables are most often found in swanky boardrooms where top executives sit in upholstered chairs, their gazes fixed on the CEO who's running the meeting. In some ways, the scene is not all that different on Thanksgiving Day for the 59 family members who gather at the Hunt Valley residence of Mary Mangione, matriarch of five daughters and five sons, including Pete Mangione, Turf Valley Resort's longtime general manager.    Pocket doors glide open to reveal Mary's domain, a 15-by-25-foot dining room in which she joyfully presides over a gleaming expanse of mahogany that seats 14 quite comfortably.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, so we asked our staff about which nontraditional foods should be served on the Thanksgiving table along with the turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes. •••• Buffalo chicken dip. It gives meaning to my life.  Luke Broadwater, reporter, The Baltimore Sun •••• My Aunt Josie always serves pasta in marinara sauce at her Thanksgiving dinner. As far as I know, there were no Italians on the Mayflower, but they would have improved the holiday cuisine for everybody.  Anne Tallent, editor,  b •••• There's always room at the table for Reese's Cups.  Wesley Case, reporter,  b •••• I'd like to go back to the original Thanksgiving and see some “water foule” and “five deere.” Yum!

At the end of Thanksgiving dinner, I listened to a conversation between a 96-year-old woman and her 20-year-old grandson. There's nothing extraordinary about such a thing at a family gathering — except that the grandson was 3,500 miles away. A granddaughter had cleared away a dessert dish and replaced it with a laptop computer, and now the grandmother was able to see, hear and speak to her grandson in Europe. It was her first Skype Thanksgiving. Everyone in the house gathered around the table to watch, in a way reminiscent of the scene in Barry Levinson's "Avalon," in which the late-1940s living room fills with people who've come to see television for the first time.

Karen Brown came to the Thanksgiving dinner organized by the city of Baltimore and the American Red Cross full of gratitude. For each hug she gave out, she seemed to have two thank-yous for the help she's received since a tornado swept through her townhome last week. The storm came through Northeast Baltimore and Parkville on Nov. 17, causing extensive damage to homes, trees and utilities. "I have new friends and additional family," Brown said. "That's the police, the Red Cross, the SWAT team, the city … you name it. Everybody who had something to do with putting us back together and helping us to get our life back together, I send much praise to every one of them.