It feels pleasantly familiar to be sitting at my keyboard at last. Been awhile. Particularly, on this gorgeous fall morning in Northern California. The front yard is a crisp bed of fallen leaves, and the blue sky bright outside the window. Glorious. Another reason to feel thankful on a day created just for that purpose.
Today will once again find many of us gathering with families and friends to celebrate another Thanksgiving, or as my oldest granddaughter calls it, “Dead Bird Day”(She is vegan with a capital “V”, so views it as somewhat of a pagan holiday,).
Richard and I opened the door to the food fest by driving down to my son and his wife’s lovely house to have a pre-Thanksgiving and belated birthday for me dinner. The event was planned the weekend before Thanksgiving for several reasons. The first reason was I am scheduled to work Friday and Saturday this week making it next to impossible to get back from where they live after eating on Thanksgiving day without leaving either immediately after pie is served or in the middle of the night. As neither of those sounded like appealing options, we moved on to Plan B. Also, traffic along the three hour route we have to take to get to their house is notoriously a hot mess on holidays. Been there done that, and we did not want to get stuck in that snarl of humanity again this year. Yay.
As usual, they put out an amazing table. With five children in the house, there are lots of extra hands in the kitchen, which helps to both add to the controlled chaos associated with having that many offspring, as well as enhance the pleasure of it. It is a happy kitchen to my mind. Everyone is talking at once, dishes are clinking, people are laughing, it is like a joyous uplifting piece of holiday music filled with so many lovely notes.
The menu was prime rib, scalloped potatoes, candied yams, green beans, glazed carrots, sautéed mushrooms, and homemade yeast rolls. A five yum feast on a plate. I was handed an apron and a recipe to follow for the scalloped potatoes. My daughter-in-law and I took liberties with what the previous cook had suggested, and there wasn’t a morsel left in the bottom of the pan by the time the leftovers were put to bed. Richard contributed four pies, two pumpkin and two peach, his specialty, and his homemade fudge, which were all gobbled up after the meal along with an amazing carrot cake made by my daughter-in-law. Where they put the extra calories after that huge dinner I have no idea. I know the waistband on my pants was sending up urgent messages begging me to give it a break so I just sampled the cake, which was to die for.
Though it was only Tuesday when we got back on the road, traffic was already pretty thick. Thankfully, the cars were moving along at a nice clip so we made it home without too much slowing down and no incidents. Police and highway patrol vehicles could be seen at every turn. From. what I heard on the news this is a big week for them with lots of DUI’s in people’s futures with all the celebrating being engaged in.
Today we are going to Richard’s relatives for the big turkey gorge. My only contribution to the festivities is guacamole. I have made it so many times, it is definitely a no brainer for me. Avocados and a little love and you’ve got it going on. As a kid I hated avocados, getting the dry heaves if one even entered my line of vision. Now, I could eat them with every meal and not complain. Richard once again was tasked with baking. Brought up by his mother and grandmother it is obvious from the flaky crust he delivers, they taught him something about getting around a kitchen. We make a good team, because as much as I enjoy cooking, baking, as I’ve said before, is just not in my bailiwick. I didn’t inherit my grandmother’s white thumb in any shape or design, and defer to others to create delicious goodies around the holidays. Perhaps it’s because I don’t eat sweets, that I’m not good at preparing them? So many questions. It constantly amazes me how my lack of interest in sugary treats perks the interest in other people. “What, you don’t eat sweets?” “Nope”. “Are you saying no sweets?” “That would be a negatory, yes.” Then comes the incredulous stare like I’m some sort of new species of animal that just climbed out from under the lid of a petrie dish. Now, I am not completely averse to sugary tastes, they simply don’t call my name very often. As I said in the paragraph above, I enjoyed the carrot cake immensely. Salt, which I’ve often referred to, has my name in it’s speed dial directory, however. So, I am not a perfect being, simply very close. lol
On Sunday of this week, our last entertainment commitment for this holiday, we are cooking at Richard’s. Turkey is once again taking the lead on the menu, because it was requested by our guests. That being said, I may not eat turkey again until 2024, and even then it might be iffy. Looking around at the ingredients on the table, I asked Richard about the stuffing. Offhandedly, he said the most incredible thing to me, “oh, I usually don’t make stuffing”. Wha………? Stuffing is the only reason I show up on Thanksgiving. To me the bird is only a greasy vessel in which to contain the delicious buttery bread mixture, and not the star of the show. Had he told me he was dying his hair chartreuse and joining a punk rock bank I couldn’t have been more shocked. “No way”, I told him and grabbed my purse and headed to the store. No stuffing indeed. Never heard of such a thing.
At any rate it is all good. I try to immerse myself in the holidays as they come and go in the blink of Santa’s eye, so have all my decorations for Christmas at the ready waiting to be put up and enjoyed.
Hope your day is full of laughter, family, friends, good food, and gratefulness for all those blessings. I think of people less fortunate and wish for them a better 2024.
Happy Thanksgiving!!!!
I laughed out loud when I read, “Dead Bird Day”. At least you sort of honoured your grandchild by serving beef instead of poultry for your first feast. 😊
We did our best Gary. Was a great dinner today as well. I need an Alka Seltzer. lol