Things I'm thankful for...and not
My mother always said that the hardest part of cooking was bringing a meal to a head.
I used to pride myself on doing so much in advance and being so organized that I could sit and have a glass of wine with my guests, then rise, spend ten minutes in the kitchen and then put a fabulous meal on the table no more than an hour after everyone arrived so no one would end up drinking too much before dinner.
I can see today isn't going to work out that way exactly. ...
First of all, my husband and daughter, sensing trouble, have disappeared, ostensibly to pick up Grandma in Washington and bring her back. That takes two people? I heard something about a stop at Starbucks on the way.
My brother is a super sous chef, and is downstairs right now washing the incredible amount of dishes I've already dirtied this morning, but I just have a feeling this is not going to be a meal that's going to come to a head.
Regret No. 1: Going to the gym early this morning instead of making the turkey stock, and then forgetting to make it when I got home, so that when the time came to add the turkey stock to moisten the stuffing, no turkey stock. It will be ready in time for the giblet gravy.
Regret No. 2: Not buying unseasoned bread cubes this year for the first time ever for the stuffing instead of making my own. Could anyone tell the difference?
Regret No. 3: Not checking to see if I had paprika for the stuffing before this morning.
Regret No. 4: Coming upon the paprika after the turkey was stuffed.
Regret No. 5: Not looking on the Internet to see how long a turkey takes when you're using a convection oven, or even if that's a good idea, before I put the turkey in. I'd better not look now, because what if I find out it's not a good idea?
Regret No. 6: Letting the others talk me out of making scalloped oysters, even though I'm probably the only one who would eat them.
Regret No. 7: Letting Gailor see the raw turkey, even though she immediately started chanting, "It's a tofurkey, it's a tofurkey" to convince herself it was never alive before she has to eat it.
What I Did Right No. 1: I controlled my impulse to make too much food for the first Thanksgiving ever. We will be six. I bought a 10-pound, not a 16-pound turkey. I did buy two bags of cranberries, but I only cooked one for the first time ever. I didn't double the recipe for braised onions or the carrot souffle. I made one pie, pumpkin chiffon, and skipped the chocolate pecan. And I bet you we will still have lots of leftovers.
What I Did Right No. 2: I did not make rice (a Southern tradition in place of mashed potatoes). Nor did I make mashed potatoes.
What I Did Right No. 3: I bought coleslaw (another Southern tradition) instead of making my own.
What I Did Right No. 4: We are having a four-veggie dinner, so there will be at least a pretense of healthfulness: carrot souffle, braised onions, le sueur peas (for color) and coleslaw.
What I Did Right No. 5: I managed to corner my husband before he escaped and got him to beat the egg whites for the pumpkin chiffon pie in a copper bowl with a balloon whip instead of using a mixer. (I can't do it anymore because it's too hard on my shoulder.) The egg whites took on enormous volume and the chiffon pumpkin pie is a work of art.
What I Did Right No. 6: I haven't started drinking yet so the meal may actually get on the table after all. My menu is virtually the same as the Virtual Thanksgiving Menu I posted last year, with the exceptions I've noted.
Owl Meat has sent me a lovely Funtastic Thursday for dessert, but it's going to take me some time to post it -- something I don't have right now, so check back later.
One of the things I'm thankful for is all of you making work fun again for me with this blog. Many thanks, and have an excellent Thanksgiving.
(Photo of somebody else's turkey by Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times photographer)
Comments
Don't have regrets: you are the only one who will notice what was missed, and you will only stress yourself out. Always chant "it is what it is" and move on.
I was at the store last night, and was amazed at the number of people who were buying "Stove Top Stuffing". I may not make my own turkey stock or my own breadcubes, but at least I don't buy Stove Top. However, the important thing is not how the food got there, just that it's there :-)
Talking about making too much food: I bought a 22 pound turkey for 6 people. What can I say, we like turkey!
To the Queen and all the Sandboxers: have a wonderful RELAXING AND STRESS FREE Thanksgiving.
Posted by: Cosmo Girl | November 27, 2008 11:47 AM
EL wrote: I haven't started drinking yet...
..but she put it under "What I Did Right" instead of "Regrets".
Must be a Maryland thing...oh, so much for me to learn.
Happy Thanksgiving to all of my D@L friends. And, Elizabeth, thank you for the work you do every day in facilitating this little corner of our world. It is, I know, a lot of work and I appreciate that you do it as well as you do. And even on Thanksgiving.
Posted by: Bucky | November 27, 2008 12:21 PM
I'm grateful for my wonderful neighbours, who are sending me over a plate later (they worry about their weird yuppie being alone all the time and all). Not only did the kids help me unload my moving truck when the guys I hired never showed, not only do they walk my dog when I'm out of town or trapped downtown, not only do they sit on the stoop with me on summer evenings, but they are sharing their holiday with me.
They are great neighbours.
Posted by: Lissa | November 27, 2008 12:42 PM
I can def top the too much food....we have a whole turkey AND a turkey breast for 3 people. 3. yes 3.
I can totally sympathize EL. I always go all out, yet in the end I'm the only one who knows and appreciates the time and effort that went into it. Especially the little details. But, hey, the process is fun, right?
I would like to end by saying I am thankful for my dog. He's always there for me no matter what. And he turns into a big, live teddy bear at night to cuddle with. And for meeting my current SO this year who is awesome (and doesn't care that the dog sleeps in the bed lol). And of course, my family...even tho they are slightly insane and it will take many gallons of wine to get me through today and the rest of this holiday season :)
To Bucky, Owl Meat, Lissa, Joyce W., PCB Rob (have fun today!), Cosmo Girl, Hal Laurent VoR (what is the VoR anyway?), Bourbon Girl, Voodoopork, RTSO, Eve, Dahlink, Robert of Cross Keys, and our queen of blogging, EL, and anyone else I'm forgetting..........HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Posted by: Carey | November 27, 2008 1:45 PM
Carey: Hal VoR stands for the "Voice of Reason".
And now you know the rest of the story!
Posted by: Cosmo Girl | November 27, 2008 2:38 PM
Lissa, your post made me sad as I had in the past some lonely holiday times but having good friends make all the difference; this blog also. Thanks EL. I have given up on the Sun Paper other than online but EAL is still the best of the best.
Earl
Many thanks. EL
Posted by: earl | November 27, 2008 4:25 PM
Earl, I prefer to be alone on holidays. I'm a very shy introvert. My original plan was to watch movies, eat chocolate and run down to Michael's if I felt turkey deprived.
Instead, I played on the net, walked my dog with one of the kids next door, ate a lovely dinner and baked chocolate cookies for them and for me.
Both my plans and how it turned out were just fine.
And I have an awesome set of neighbours. Folks like them is why I like living in cities.
I hope everyone, regardless of plans, enjoyed their day as much as I did.
Posted by: Lissa | November 27, 2008 6:30 PM
Bucky,
You are funny. Down here, the drink seems to take precedence over the food, but only slightly. I was careful today since I was driving. Now that I'm home, I'm enjoying some Maker's.
Thank you Carey! I did have fun, at both the boss' party and my old roommate's place. I took a bottle of wine to both parties and was a big hit.
When you are far from home, its good to be able to gather with the friends you have locally and celebrate. And the weather today was gorgeous, 73 and sunshine.
To EL, and all the regulars (too many to name, I've tried) and visitors to this blog that make it such a special place, Happy Thanksgiving!
Posted by: PCB Rob | November 27, 2008 6:37 PM
I'm thankful for the good friends who have welcomed me into their family every Thanksgiving for years now. I don't have any family in the area and find that Thanksgiving weekend isn't long enough for me to get over the bad case of crankies I get if I try to travel, so I'm grateful to have good friends who make me feel at home. And I'm thankful, too, that they gave me a special turkey care package for my dogs, which made them SO happy to see me when I got home tonight!
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Posted by: KristinB | November 27, 2008 9:02 PM
Hope y'all had a lovely Thanksgiving...I know I did. There were seven of us, and for a change I didn't cook so much that we'll still be eating leftovers at Christmas. Who's going shopping tomorrow? Not I! Today was a lot of work--totally worth it, but still--so tomorrow I'm sitting with my feet up and watching DVDs. Happy weekend, y'all!
Posted by: Dottie | November 27, 2008 11:40 PM
Elizabeth, don't feel so bad about making your own bread cubes. I made my own French bread to use in the oyster and sausage dressing. Would anyone be able to tell the difference? Probably not, but I couldn't help myself.
Posted by: Hal Laurent, VoR | November 28, 2008 8:02 AM
I spent yesterday in Columbia, where the-son-who-was-destined-to-live-on-ramen-noodles-for-his-entire-life cooked the turkey, his wife made pies and the rest of us filled in the gaps. There were about a dozen of us, including two Small Boy cousins who showed up at the table wearing their pirate hats and eye patches (our hostess ordered swords off the table!), managed to stay in their seats until their plates were in front of them and then pulled the old "slide under the table and slip off".
Posted by: Eve | November 28, 2008 10:22 AM
For several years now I have visited friends in Pennsylvania. From the year we decided a couple of turkey breasts were more practical than a whole bird, each year seems to have more and more simplification. This year boneless, skinless breast halves were bought. We had thoughts of stuffing and rolling them. In the end we threw them on the grill and they came off wonderfully. Excluding the time to brine the dinner was 4 hours from the point we started to washing the dishes at the end. No roasting pan to wash, or a lot of other pots and pans. Dinner was great and 47 veg and 83 starch dishes were not missed.
Happy Thanksgiving week-end to all and now its turkey sandwich time. Mmmmmm.
Posted by: Robert (the Single One) | November 28, 2008 11:44 AM
Who's going shopping tomorrow?
Well, I went shopping today, but just locally. I spent a lot of time in Daedalus Books and left with 4 shopping bags of gifts (and a few books for me).
I went through Tuesday Morning, but didn't buy anything. I am never really "wowed" there.
I picked up a few more things at some of the other Belvedere Square shops and then decided to treat myself to lunch at Crush. I usually just have lunch at Atwater's but felt like a change from the usual.
And what a treat it was! And what a change. The decor might be the same as Taste, but, from the moment I walked through the door, I felt welcome. The hostess was really sweet and my server was excellent. She was warm and friendly with just the right degree of attentiveness. Everyone else working there was smiling and pleasant. No attitude at all!
I was, however, rather dismayed that I was the only one there at right about noon. My server said that it is usually crowed during the lunch hours (11:00 am – 3:00 pm) but she figured everyone was shopping today.
I had sweet potato soup - really good garnished with diced apple and pecans - and a lovely light fluffy omelet with asparagus, Gruyère (I think) cheese, and crab. I will be going back there very soon!
Posted by: Rosebud | November 28, 2008 3:04 PM
I packed the wife and dog up and headed up to the parents' house. The day didn't go quite to form.
The wife dropped her laptop off the kitchen table early on in the day.
I, for what seems like an annual Thanksgiving tradition, duped myself into taking the Detroit Lions and the points.
Now, the dog, as always, had a good time. And after my wife and I finished off a bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau, we were able to shake off our earlier losses and enjoy the day.
When my brother-in-law arrived for Thanksgiving dinner, he parked his truck in the driveway behind my car and locked his keys in it. That was an "...and not." EL
Posted by: Robert of Cross Keys | November 28, 2008 9:30 PM
What I Did Right
Getting the turkey to NVa for Thanksgiving. We bring a fresh all natural Amish raised turkey when we travel east for TG. One year, we packed it in our checked baggage only to be informed upon arrival at BWI, and not finding the critical bag, that it was continuing on to Orlando. We drive now.
Going to a “doc in the box” in Bel Air, MD last Monday and getting a strong antibiotic that had me almost free of my “flu-like” symptoms by Thursday.
Having an extra gallon of cider. I brine our turkey. I made a flavoring kit of kosher salt, sugar, juniper berries, allspice berries, tangerines, lemons, sage, rosemary, thyme, etc. Hydrating it and boiling to bring out the flavors on Wednesday, I was ready to proceed with the brining process. As I had an 18 pound turkey, I needed a larger cooling container than normal so I decided on a soft cooler on wheels. I placed the brining bag in the cooler, added the hot liquid, about 8 pounds of ice and a gallon of cold cider. I then moved on to wash off the turkey before placing it in the brine. Having done that, I turned to place the bird in the bag and I stepped on an ice cube. The soft cooler had collapsed and half the aromatic liquid was now spreading across my brother-in-law’s kitchen floor. The floor was not level! It was going in every direction. After cleaning the mess up, there was enough brine left that I could add my extra gallon of cider and continue the process. The process produced an excellent bird.
Finding out how to post to D@L when traveling. I have never been able to post to D@L when traveling. On my last night I discovered how!
Leaving NVa at 0630 yesterday to go home to KY . Even at that time, the traffic was getting heavy near Tyson’s Corner, a shopping area.
Posted by: LEC | November 30, 2008 8:56 PM
My family and I had Thanksgiving at the new retirement home of my neice. Now, they are at least fifteen years from retirement but think it is never to early to get started. The house is on the eastern shore of Virginia in a town called Nassawadox. Thirty one of us were there either for the weekend or overnight. You talk about a zoo, but it was a lot of fun. One roasted twelve pound turkey that was totally devoured at dinner. Two twelve pound fried turkeys; one totally consumed and another only the dark meat devoured on Thanksgiving day. There were two hams, one was eaten; many pounds of baby back ribs, I never got a taste. Elizabeth's scalloped oysters. I stole your recipe and it was a hit. One quart gone before the seconds round. Anyway, we got home safely Sunday night and for that I am thankful.
I am also so thankful for this wonderful blog and what feels like the friendship of all you wonderful folks. A special thank you to Elizabeth for working far harder on this than I am sure the Sunpaper requires. We feel your love.
Posted by: Regina | December 2, 2008 7:59 AM