TVS had its annual Thanksgiving feast and generous raffle with 71 prizes at one of Dilip's favorite Triangle restaurants, Cafe Parizäde in Durham. Parizäde is one of the Triangle's finest restaurants with a gourmet flair for fresh ingredients with Mediterranean influences.

Diners began their feast with a Fall Antipasto Buffet Table. This featured quinoa salad with olives, shallots, pine nuts, sundried tomatoes, and garlic in a base of the lovely crunchy grain quinoa; arugula and rosemary-carmelized pear salad; fall lettuces with pumpkin seed-cider dressing; warm spinach orzo with pesto; roasted red pepper salad; garlicky greens and garbanzo beans; citrus couscous with dried fruits; roasted exotic mushrooms with fennel and garlic; grilled asparagus; roasted fall vegetables; grilled corn with herbs; breads, crustinis, and pita with walnut and red lentil hummuses; marinated olives; and spiced pecans.

Main courses included savory phyllo with roasted fall vegetables and fruit; French braised winter vegetables with a touch of fruit; and basil-roasted garlic whipped potatoes. Look for roasted tofu with apple- walnut stuffing, mushroom gravy, and fresh raspberry-cranberry relish, along with braised wheat gluten sauteed with yellow squash and sweet onions. Semolina penne pasta with fresh roasted tomato-pepper-basil sauce, baked lima beans, and country cornbread are also planned. In addition, we had a sweet potato-leek-potato velouté (thickened soup) and a trio mixture of Basmati, brown, and deep-purple "Emperors' Forbidden Black" rices. Dessert included fresh seasonal fruits, phyllo cookies, pumpkin pie, rhubarb-berry crisp, and cherry crisp. All the food was strictly vegan with no animal, egg or dairy products. No honey or white sugar was used.

We again had a generous raffle with prizes ranging from gift certificates from area businesses to cases of whole food products, fine chocolates, non-animal gardening fertilizers, and much more. Check out the complete list of raffle prizes!

This was a big success again this year, with a big crowd and the food again an outstanding big hit! We had 56 members, 93 nonmembers, 7 children ages 5-10, and 10 children under age 5, for a total of 166 attendees - up from just over 100 last year. We sold 435 raffle tickets for our 71 prizes, and had coverage by WTVD channel 11 and the Durham Herald-Sun.