Everything but the Bird
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Thanksgiving – hands down our favorite and most anticipated holiday of the year. We always spend it together, and almost always at home (once, we did a fun Thanksgiving in London; the English were a bit puzzled, but very accommodating).
Our daughter is in many ways a strict traditionalist, most emphatically when it comes to the Thanksgiving menu. There must be a turkey (or at least a roast bird of some size, if it’s only the three of us). There must be mashed potatoes and stuffing; furthermore the stuffing has to be done exactly the same way every year – no fooling around by adding fancy stuff like sausage, or fruit, or cornbread or anything like that.
That being said, we’re all for having as many people at the table as we can get. One of our best celebrations in recent memory was a couple of years ago; we still refer to it as our “orphan’s Thanksgiving”. Charlotte was still at school in Providence, and had a bunch of friends there who, not going home for the short break, shared the holiday with us instead. Mark’s cousin and her two daughters, both in school, travelled to see us as well; all-in-all, we had fourteen people – the overwhelming majority of whom were young ladies between the ages of 16 and 22. Oh, and don’t forget three dogs and the fireplace going non-stop. I.e., the perfect formula for a high-decibel, laughing chat-fest of a feast – just what we like most!
Mark’s cousin is a phenomenal cook; usually when we get together for a big meal, she and Mark plan a reasonably-sized menu and split things up, sharing the work. This time, however, two special circumstances intervened and caused us to abandon that approach. First, the sheer number of guests gave the term “reasonably-sized” a bit more room in the waist, so to speak. But more important was the presence of one very special guest.
One of Charlotte’s classmates (we’ll call her D) was from California, and second-generation Chinese. While her parents were excellent cooks (we’ll share a great short rib barbecue recipe from her Dad some day…), they had always celebrated Thanksgiving with a Chinese hotpot. We decided that this girl needed to be given the full-blown, no-limit U.S. of A. Thanksgiving experience, and that we were the people to do it.
So Mark and his cousin threw reason out the window, and prepared every conceivable Thanksgiving appetizer, bread, stuffing, pastry, soup, salad, vegetable, pickle, tart, crumble and pie in their repertoire. The turkey itself was a behemoth from our local farm, and (needless to say) Charlotte’s mashed potatoes and stuffing (plain) made their dutiful appearance alongside, as well.
We proclaimed D the guest of honor, saluted her with a toast, and let her know – in no uncertain terms – that this distinction required her to sample a little of everything, no exceptions. I don’t really remember whether she was able to complete that mission or not, but it was pure joy watching her reaction as she scanned the mountain of food on the sideboard!
My husband says: We were a bit baffled coming up with a menu this month. The basic problem is the fact that there are literally thousands of turkey recipes already out there clucking about – did the world really need another one? On the other hand, this is our first November blog entry; we couldn’t very well ignore Thanksgiving altogether. Finally the light bulb went off, illuminating the obvious solution: thus, “Everything but the Bird”. We’ve selected, from among our perennial favorites, a full set of before’s, with’s and after’s to fill out your Thanksgiving plate’s dance card – including a special bubbly cocktail to start the festivities, and our first ever “heirloom” recipe, inherited by me from my Mom’s Mom. So here’s our toast to your own feast: Joyous cooking, and a Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! (Bird shown on package is a serving suggestion, only).
