Yesterday was a day of prep work: The (perfectly sized) turkey was brined and is now resting in the basement fridge. The cornbread was procured after making three trips to two grocery stores (but I had to go back to the first store, when they’d replenished their cornbread stock; yes I realize this is something I can make myself). I made the first step of the gravy with the turkey neck and giblets yesterday. The cranberry sauce (round 2, after the first one burned; I really should not be in charge of big complex meals like this) is chilling in the kitchen fridge, along with the beautiful, disaster-free fresh-pumpkin pie my mother and daughter made. Carla is itching to peel potatoes today, a job I will happily relegate to her.
But for now, I am having a quiet moment to sip tea and look over my recipes in hopes that I don’t forget anything. Thankfully, with four helpers on hand, I think we’ll be okay. (We are kind of smushing two turkey recipes together, because my mother thinks that we cannot cook a turkey at 400 degrees despite America’s Test Kitchen’s assurances; we will follow another of ATK’s recipes and start it at 425 for an hour, then turn it down to 325. WE’LL SEE HOW IT GOES.)
I am loving your guesses about yesterday’s kitchen mystery. I wondered, before I posted it, whether it would be a True Mystery or whether it would be easy to decode. The post explaining the full story is half-written but will have to wait until after Thanksgiving. (If you haven’t guessed yet, the Mystery Giveaway runs until tomorrow at midnight Eastern time.)
And thank you to Bibliomama for reminding me that a photo counts as a post.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone celebrating, and best wishes for a beautiful day to all those who aren’t. I am so grateful for our little blogging community.
It seems as though I am doing NaBloPoMothis month, which is 30 blog posts in 30 days. (Will I make it??? Only time will tell.) Details at San’s blog here.
I had a whole post all planned out for today, but then I got a call from someone at Whole Foods.
“Hello, I’m from the Whole Foods holiday table,” he said.
“Hello,” I said, trying to keep any suspicion or panic out of my greeting.
“We understand you ordered a turkey from Whole Foods,” he said, his voice already tinged with apology.
“Yes…” I said. “I did order a turkey.” In my mind, I was chanting, “Don’t say there are no turkeys, don’t say there are no turkeys.”
“And you’re supposed to pick it up today?”
“Yes, I am picking it up today.” (Notice my very positive and definitive phrasing.)
Don’t say there are no turkeys. Don’t say there are no turkeys.
“Well, due to forces beyond our control, including an avian flu…” he began.
Don’t say there are no turkeys! Don’t say there are no turkeys!
“Some of our farmers have been unable to meet the demand for turkeys around this time of year…”
Don’t say it. Don’t say it.
“And we weren’t able to get a turkey in the size you ordered.”
PHEW.
“Okay, what’s the biggest size you have available? I’ll take that.”
“All right, I’ll put you down for that one. Thank you for understanding.”
PHEW.
I am very glad that we will be getting A Turkey, even if it is not the (admittedly enormous) size that I’d ordered after consultation with my mother. But really, what can you do? (Perhaps I would not be so magnanimous if there were an issue with the potatoes.) After all, I am more than happy to allocate my share of turkey to someone who needs it more. But the slightly smaller turkey will be FINE and I will live to panic again another day.
* * *
Carla and I were watching an episode of The Dog Whisperer the other day. One of the subjects of the show we were watching is a beagle fanatic. She wears clothing that features images of beagles. She has stuffed beagles. Beagle figurines. Beagle-patterned blankets. Beagle dishes. And, of course, a real live pet beagle.
This beagle mania (not to be confused with Beatle Mania) stirred a vague memory of something I read or watched, or maybe even experienced in person… Someone in possession of a similar large collection whose explanation behind it was, “I said I liked X, and suddenly every time someone saw a thing with X on it, they bought it for me.” Was it my mother-in-law, who at one time had many things featuring cows? I can’t remember. I do think of her every time I see something with a cow pattern on it, though.
I like both the idea that a person can be so in love with a thing that they want to surround themselves with that thing… and the idea that a person can unwittingly – nay, unwantingly – become the owner of a massive collection simply by expressing interest in a thing, or owning one example of a thing. The fact that one’s house – one’s life! – can be overtaken by a specific theme, purposefully or by accident, and that the theme itself can become emblematic of that person… well, I really like that as a concept. (In practice, it could be… tiresome, I admit.)
When I look around my house, I don’t really see anything that would make something think, “Oh! She’s an X person!” and then become reminded of me every time they see X in the wild. I mean, books, perhaps. (And I would be delighted to get a book for every present, from now until the end of time!)
Once, a friend gave me a very odd present. It is a… figurine, I suppose is the best word for it. It looks like a potato, but it has the features and appendages of a pig. Why did she give it to me? Did I strike her as the kind of person who needed a potato pig figurine in my life? (I am that person, but I didn’t know it at the time.)
The other day, I was admiring my very modest fall décor, and my eyes fell on one of my favorite things. It’s… also a figurine, I guess. It’s shaped like a gourd. But it has eyes and the beak of a bird. Maybe it is a squash swan, although that is exceedingly difficult to say. I apparently saw this gourd bird at some point and thought that I had to have it. And, indeed, I do.
Am I a person who likes vegetables that are also animals??? Is this My Thing?
I do not know. When my cupboards are filled with vegetable-animal mugs and my drawers are stuffed with vegetable-animal pajamas, I’ll let you know.
Are you An X Person? If so, what is your thing? Do you like being An X Person or have you grown weary of always being synonymous with X?
It seems as though I am doing NaBloPoMothis month, which is 30 blog posts in 30 days. (Will I make it??? Only time will tell.) Details at San’s blog here.
Do you realize that THIS WEEK is Thanksgiving? This week! This coming Thursday! If you are not residing in the U.S. at this time, may I move in with you and skip over this extremely wonderful and yet High Stress holiday please and thank you.
My parents are visiting, which is WONDERFUL. They stay in a hotel, which is mutually beneficial. My mother will be making a pumpkin pie – from scratch, using a real pumpkin – with Carla, per Carla’s request. My father will make the Caesar salad. I will make the mashed potatoes. Perhaps I can outsource the dressing to my husband. I don’t know.
Wait a second. Now I am wondering whether we typically HAVE Caesar salad at Thanksgiving, or if this is a my-family-of-origin Christmas tradition only? I really WANT Caesar salad. But maybe it’s overkill.
I suppose I will make a turkey. I mean, I ordered a turkey already, so I am kind of locked in to making it. This is the only time all year that I eat turkey, because I hate turkey. Is hate too strong a word? How about, I strongly dislike it. It seems kind of silly to put so much work into a thing I really only eat because It’s The Thing You Do At Thanksgiving… (in my family, that is). But everyone else likes it. Maybe even Carla will eat it. And it’s essential to making the gravy I like. Well. I suppose I will ask my mother to help me. She is very good about helping – the giblets don’t squick her out and she is masterful with timing things so they are all ready at once. Why those genes did not express in my DNA, I don’t know, but here we are.
I feel kind of giddy, like I’ve had too much caffeine. Combination of pre-Thanksgiving excitement/anxiety, I suppose. That’ll get your blood buzzing!
Plus, as per usual, the end of the year just snowballs out of control. I don’t yet have holiday cards! I haven’t purchased a single Christmas present! I have only one single idea what to get Carla for Hanukkah! My mother-in-law arrives two weeks from today!
Please tell me something calming. I originally typed “clamming.” You could tell me something clamming too, if you like. But something calming would be MOST WELCOME.
In the meantime, we all need to eat in the days leading up to Thanksgiving. Perhaps we shall go for easy and warming. And then we’ll wing it, afterwards, with leftovers and charcuterie boards.
Where are you spending Thanksgiving, US friends? And what are you most looking forward to stuffing into your pie hole eating? What are you having for non-Thanksgiving dinner, non-US friends?
It seems as though I am doing NaBloPoMothis month, which is 30 blog posts in 30 days. (Will I make it??? Only time will tell.) Details at San’s blog here.
