Thanksgiving
Thursday, November 24, 2005 at 10:05AM 
Flock of wild turkeys near my home in Central Texas (bbmoe, 2004)
Today we'll have a small gathering of the local clan. Brother and wife will bring Mother to my house for the big meal entirely cooked by moi. On the menu today is turkey with stuffing, vegetable casserole, green salad, mashed potatoes, gravy, molded salad and pies for dessert. Sounds ordinary enough...
To start
Romaine and tomato salad with simple homemade vinaigrette
Main Course
Roast Turkey (brined, then roasted in the traditional way) stuffed with American Spoon Dressing (bread, pecans, celery, onions, shallots, apples, madeira-soaked cranberries, and madeira and an obscene amount of butter)
Sides
Butternut Squash and Bean Casserole (squash, cooked white beans, red and green bell peppers, red onions, thyme, sage and turkey broth)
Pineapple cheese Molded Salad (crushed pineapple, cheddar cheese, gelatin made from pineapple and orange juices, whipped cream, orange peel) with mayonnaise dressing (onion, celery, bell pepper, mayo.)
Baked dressing (same as above but made in sort of a bread pudding way outside of the turkey)
Mashed Potatoes with homemade gravy with meat, no giblets (I like 'em, no one else seems to)
Flemish Carrots (maybe: I can make this so quickly, I leave it to see how I feel about life at 3:00)
Dessert
Sweet Potato Pie with whipped cream
Chocolate-Bourbon-Walnut Pie with Bourbon Vanilla Gelato
Coffee and Tea
Drinks
Sparkling water, wine, beer, Lillet (aperitif), sparkling cider.
The only part of the meal I'm not making with my own two little hands are the mashed potatoes. Right about the time I perfected the art of making my own (a ricer is key), I discovered refrigerated "Simply Potatoes" that are fabulous, so I will transfer them to a nice casserole and no one will be the wiser.
The most controversial item on my menu by far is the Molded Pineapple Cheese Salad. It's an old fashioned dish, part Depression Era, part Victorian Era, part '50's. I was first introduced to this dish conceptually in college where the cooks would take enormous institutional-sized cans and tubs of ingredients and put them together, but it was made with vats of lemon gelatin and Cool Whip. I still loved it. Then I discovered the authentic version, or the "from scratch" version in Marcia Adams' Heartland cookbook. This version is more complex and is a wonderful combination of textures (cheese, whipped cream, pineapple) and tastes (sweet, sour, savory) and the very savory, slightly piquant mayonnaise dressing that goes with it is perfect. Very cholesterol-laden, of course. The controversy comes from the Midwestern element within the nuclear family. For him, the idea that anything gelatinous or containing whipped cream can be savory is just more than his taste buds and psyche can bear. He often waxes nostalgic for his mother's jello salad, which was basically raspberry jello with raspberries in it. No comment.
Marcia Adams' Heartland is a real treasure. This cookbook was given to me by my mother-in-law the very first Christmas she was my mother-in-law, and to this day, is the best gift she ever gave me. It is ironic that it is a record of "adventurous" Midwestern cooking when she who gave it to me is perhaps the least adventurous of cooks. Nevertheless, I am indebted to her and to Marcia for this book and for three others by Mrs. Adams, of which my favorite is Cooking from Quilt Country. In fact, this year's Thanksgiving feast has a record number of recipes from her books: the walnut pie, the vegetable casserole and the stuffing, in addition to the Pineapple-Cheese Surprise.
The sweet potato pie is a favorite of mine but only recently discovered in a desperate attempt to ward off clamoring for pumpkin pie. On this point I agree with Garrison Keillor: the best pumpkin pie I've ever eaten just isn't that much better than the worst pumpkin pie I've ever eaten. I detest it but that doesn't prevent, and probably encourages, The M.E to nag about including it on the menu. Once he even went so far as to buy a store-bought one, which I consigned to a lonely corner of the kitchen and refused to serve. It was disgusting, but he ended up eating it all himself over the course of several days. Waste not, want not!
Ah, I see that it is an hour until the guests are due to arrive. You may well wonder: "How does she do it: cook this fabulous meal and still have time to blog?" Well, I have help, for whom I am very, very thankful, in the form of family who do most of the house work, a most excellent cook's helper in the form a 13 year-old girl child who is an excellent baker already, and I haven't changed out of my pajamas.
Quid 3 forwarded this from Simone Ledeen, daughter of Michael and Barbara. Very lovely:
Subject: Thanksgiving Prayer (adapted from Michelle Malkin)
As we gather for this Thanksgiving dinner, we count our blessings, one
by one, and as the list of good things which You have given us grows
longer and longer, we realize how little appreciation we have
expressed:
For redwoods, white plains, and the wild blue yonder, for Yellowstone
and brownstones, for evergreen trees and orange groves, for little
pink houses and purple mountain majesties, for every divinely painted
acre of this sweet land of liberty, we praise You.
For Idaho potatoes and Texas toast, for Washington apples and Hawaiian
pineapples, for Iowa corn and Maryland crab cakes, for Ohio cherries
and Florida strawberries, for Philly cheese steaks and New York
cheesecakes, for Maine lobster and Mississippi mud pie, for every
home-cooked meal and home-grown harvest, we praise You.
O G-d, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come, we thank You
this day for Northern Lights and Southern hospitality, for weekends in
New England, for moonlight over Miami, for California dreaming, for a
New York state of mind, for Okies and Aggies, for Motown and O-town,
for Silicon Valley and the Shenandoah Valley, for the San Fernando
Valley and Valley Forge, for Bunker Hill and the Black Hills, for the
Grand Canyon and the Rio Grande, for Pebble Beach and the Jersey
shore.
For American ingenuity and American enterprise, for American-made and
American-born, for Americans abroad and Americans at heart, we praise
You.
For the NYPD and the NYFD, for the MDs and EMTs, for Army rangers, for
Navy Seals, for Air Force cadets, for Marine Corps reserves, and for
all who serve, we thank them, and we thank You, O G-d, our creator and
redeemer.
For "Let's roll," for "We're going up," for "What should I tell the
captain?" for "You're going to be alright, brother," for "Take care of
the kids," for "I love you, honey," for "We will not fail," for
"United we stand," and for "Never forget," we offer eternal thanks.
For "E Pluribus Unum" and "Semper Fidelis," for "G-d Bless America"
and "In G-d We Trust," for "We the people" and "Of the people, by the
people, for the people," for "Don't tread on me," for "Give me liberty
or give me death," for "These are the times that try men's souls," for
"the land of the free and the home of the brave," we praise You.
For iron will, for steely resolve, for mettle tested and time-worn,
for uncommon valor that never sleeps, for steady hands, sturdy legs,
broad shoulders, and level heads, for stiff upper lips, for blood,
sweat, and tears, for conquering our fears, and for unbending courage
in the face of the unknown, we praise You.
We come to You on this national day to join with heart and voice all
the people of our blessed land to honor and thank You. We ask You, as
our forefathers did in times of strife, "to inspire our commanders
both by land and sea, and all under them, with that wisdom and
fortitude which may render them fit instruments, under the providence
of Almighty G-d, to secure for these United States the greatest of all
blessings: peace."
For precious life itself in this great nation -- under G-d,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all -- we thank You.
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