SC - Thanksgiving

[Peters, Rise J.]

Since everybody else has posted menus, here is ours.  We had only five
people this year - it was my turn to host as I have a new home, this is one
of our traditions, but I live far away from most of the family so only the
most immediate relatives came.  In the past, when I was growing up, 55-80
was the norm.  Three turkeys and a ham; about nine different pies; two
cakes; umpty-gazot side dishes (green beans with onions; Jell-o mold with
bananas and strawberries and sour cream, corn something, rolls, and on and
on), and since everybody likes to watch football, everybody takes a turn
with cleanup.  (All the better to get first dibs on the best leftovers,
too!)

This year's menu was:
	Turkey, smoked on the grill (method used by my uncle, which I prefer
	especially when the weather is too warm for indoor cooking)
	Sage dressing with celery and onions (we do not do stuffing;
		it gets too soggy and nasty in the bird for my family)
	Cranberry jelly from a can (TRADITION)  (sometimes we have
		have a fresh cran-orange relish, but that is in addition)
	Broccoli with garlic
	Cornmeal crescent rolls  (baked fresh, but of course)
	Green salad (including stuff from the garden)
	Roasted sweet potatoes
	Pumpkin pie (recipe handed down from four generations)

This is only half as many dishes as we'd have at one of the big spreads, but
was preceded by the traditional munching.  My handouts included jalapeno
cereal mix; wasabi peas; brie with crackers; and penguins.  Mom brought dark
chocolates with mint-truffle filling, which are available only where she
lives.  My family was duly impressed with our weather, and the fact that we
had the windows open and I kept adding things from the garden to our menus,
such as the salad additions, mint on morning fruit, and herbs in morning
omelets.

On Friday morning, the leftover (I deliberately make too many) sweet
potatoes were turned into fluffy rolls with a spiced-sugars filling for
breakfast.  Some dough was held aside to make plain rolls for supper, and
several of these were made too-big and are now filled with sliced turkey and
piled in the freezer for quick lunch packing.

When the family left and I had dissected the carcass, the dark meat went
into a pot of soup, which I have been eating with the leftover cornmeal
rolls, while the white meat was packaged up for stirring into things later
on.  Most of the rest of the food, if leftovers there were, has been eaten,
except that I froze slices of pie to be pulled out for future lunches.

My SIL brought soft pumpkin cookies with penuche frosting, and I traded the
leftovers for the peas and cereal mix.  Yum!

Nothing USA-traditional (except mid-20th-Century), nothing period.  We liked
it that way.  But now that my Tuesday classes are over, I'll be back to
fighter practice at which we often serve supper, and get back into the swing
of cooking meals for the masses.  I find that fighters are a great sampler
for recipes, because if they will not eat it, it's really inedible.


									---=
Morgan
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