Stop pretending. All you really want is–
One of the benefits of being a grown up is you don’t actually have to eat your peas if you don’t want to. Or “try it–just a bite!” if it looks disgusting, even if one of your relatives is forcing it on you.
I’m thinking about this, of course, because Thanksgiving is a mere three days away (I know–let’s not go into it. Let’s all just try to breathe). I am fortunate in many ways, including the fact that all of my family live in town so none of us has to travel or stress each other out by having to stay at someone’s house. Maybe some of you love having house guests (Diana, is this you? We know you love to throw parties–even once a month–but do you also like having people stay over? If so, what’s in the water up there?), but for me it’s a little rough. For one thing, it means I actually have to clean out that back bedroom, and that’s a horror best left to the professionals.
I’m also fortunate in the fact that my mother does all the grown up part of the Thanksgiving cooking, which means she is resposible for the turkey. I tried to cook one once for my parents-in-law, and . . . no. It may be the reason why ever after my mother-in-law was convinced I couldn’t cook, even though I cook for her son EVERY BLOODY NIGHT. And he LOVES IT. But I’m not sensitive about this or anything.
A few years ago my family had a little pow-wow about the Thanksgiving menu. Because there’s only so long you can pretend you like certain “traditional” foods, when really you’re just scooting them around on your plate for show. So my blessed mother, in response to our honesty, dispensed with the regular hors d’oeuvres and desserts, and just gave us what we wanted: her homemade cinnamon rolls at every single course.
You come in, there’s a pan of rolls ready to go. Another pan is timed to come out just as we sit down to dinner. You load your plate with what you really want–stuffing, mashed potatoes, maybe that green bean casserole (oh, yes), and three more cinnamon rolls. If you feel the need to pretend to want turkey, that’s up to you, but no one is forcing it on you. We all know it’s really the sweets and carbs that define the day.
Then you loosen your pants, maybe go lie down in the living room on your stomach for a while to let everything reposition itself, then you have your final pan of popping hots to round out (ha! Get it? Round out–like your stomach. Right) the evening.
So I ask you, my forthright friends and neighbors out there, if you were really going to be honest with yourself and your family this year, what are the only things you want to pile on your plate?
Technorati Tags: Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Dinner, Thanksgiving Cooking, Holiday Meals
November 20th, 2006 at 8:22 am
How about sweet potatoes, black beans, and brown rice all rolled up into a tortilla? Simple, not a lot of dishes to clean up, and you can eat with your hands (for those barbarians out there). But then who cares, I just want to sleep in! Oh and to comment on an earlier post…get a massage! Now that’s how to celebrate a holiday.
November 20th, 2006 at 9:38 am
My Thanksgiving plate is pretty basic-turkey,mashed potatoes and corn. My mom likes stuffing(she even puts it in mushroom caps)turnips,brussel spouts and white onions,all of which I hate but don’t have to eat(which makes me very thankful).
My sis has even less than me,turkey and mashed potatoes(girl despises veggies,I swear). She doesn’t like apple or pumpkin pie,so we bought a Jello pudding pie mix to make just for her. Pays to be the youngest sometimes:)
November 20th, 2006 at 9:56 am
I grew up in Florida. People staying over was not an option. Perhaps you know that all houses within 15 miles of Florida coastline are designated also as “free hotels?”
I’m pretty much a traditionalist, though I suppose I now want your mom’s cinnamon roll recipe. Turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, and green beans. Crudite. The big problem in our house was that mom never made enough mashed potatoes.
November 20th, 2006 at 10:35 am
i love thanksgiving sooooo much. i want to celebrate thanksgiving ten times a year and do away with christmas altogether (but that’s another post).
i think about my beloved, now departed mother-in-law, who was (it is true) the best cook ever. her only culinary failing, if you will, was her insistence on making sweet potatoe casserole for thanksgiving. although it was universally reviled, at some distant point in the past one of the grandchildren told grandma (prior to ever having tasted the gooey, orange concoction) that he loved it, based only on rumor from older cousins that it was topped with marshmallows. now as we all know any three year old would profess to loving raw chicken livers if they came with the promise of marshmallows.
so year afer year we put a huge corning ware dish of this glop on the table, from which, at meal’s end, there would be two to three polite, albeit tiny, spoonfuls removed. i started my own rumor that it was actually the same casserole, recycled, year after year, frozen for twelve months with a couple more marshmallows added here and there for fill-in. (hmmm, come to think about it, my mother-in-law never denied it.)
what i wouldn’t give to have that casserole and its good-natured maker at my table now.
so pile your plate high with love and sweet memories and let all the you-know-what slide, if just for this one day.
November 20th, 2006 at 10:45 am
Annette, how uncommonly mushy of you! What a sweet sentiment!
November 20th, 2006 at 12:09 pm
My sweet potato casserole recipe.
(I never liked Sweet potatoes until I made them this way.)
7 sweet potatoes
1/4 C butter
1/2 C sugar
1/4 C brown sugar
1/2 Tsp vanilla
1/4 C evaporated milk
2 eggs
cinnamon or nutmeg to taste
Boil sweet potatoes in skins until done; cool, peel, mash & mix with remaining ingredients.
Place in 3 qt casserole & cover with marshmallows. Bake 15 minutes at 450.
November 20th, 2006 at 12:32 pm
Mmmmm . . . . Certainly meets the sweets and carbs requirement.
November 20th, 2006 at 1:47 pm
heather, you’re invited! along with hubby, kids, pets, relatives and neighbors–the more, the merrier.
November 20th, 2006 at 3:03 pm
A family tradition is to put kielbasa in around the turkey when the turkey is almost done. Because, more grease is always good.
November 20th, 2006 at 3:19 pm
And is anyone else disappointed that Annette failed to mention her favorite RMO?
November 20th, 2006 at 3:36 pm
Patrick, thanks for reminding me of the third crucial ingredient: carbs, sugar, and FAT. Ahhh.
And sorry to have to ask, but what’s “RMO”?
November 20th, 2006 at 3:39 pm
Never mind–now I remember. Rocky Mountain Oysters.