[Sca-cooks] Thanksgiving

[Pixel, Goddess and Queen]

On Mon, 25 Nov 2002, Phil Troy/ G. Tacitus Adamantius wrote:

> Also sprach lilinah at earthlink.net:

> >This year my mother has hired someone to cook, so i suppose it will
> >be as close to what she used to cook as possible. Another boring
> >typical Thanksgiving. My mom likes things *her* way, so whenever i
> >try to help or bring something that actually is interesting to eat, i
> >get yelled at or my food gets sneered at.
>
> Oh, gawrsh. This sounds like it could be trying. Interesting, though.
> I think there's some validity to the idea that people like things a
> certain way, and sometimes it has nothing to do with quality. (And
> sometimes quality is a huge issue.) A couple of years ago, my Mom,
> who is known in the family as The Tyrant of the Kitchen -- imagine my
> sense of honor upon the official pronouncement by the old lady that I
> was the Designated Tyrant this year -- experimented with the idea of
> having Thanksgiving dinner catered in a slightly industrialized
> fashion. I think it was the deli section of one of the local
> supermarkets, and they provided all the standard schtuff, and, well,
> none of it was awful, but none of it was really good, either. It
> wasn't hospital food or anything, it was just... well... kind of
> dull. Now I'm sure there were some very specific areas in which that
> meal could have been improved (and I could probably tick them off on
> my fingers, too), but I think for most of us, the real problem was
> that it was _different_.
>

When my grandfather was alive, one of the required "vegetables" was the
bowl of Le Sueur Tiny Peas, because he liked them (he also liked to get
the gravy first and pick out all the mushrooms, but that's another topic).
Nobody else liked them, really, just Grandpa, because they were mushy
and nasty and tasted like the can, so after he was gone, no more canned
peas. My grandmother wanted to have them, because "your grandfather liked
them", but we talked her out of it on the theory that nobody was going to
actually eat them, and they would go to waste. And, the bowl would take up
valuable table real estate.

What we used to have, once upon a time, for dinner:

Golden glow salad (yep, shredded carrots in orange jello)
green jello, with bits of canned pears (because Mom couldn't eat the
pineapple in the orange goo)
turkey
stuffing with raisins for Mom, Grandma, and Aunt S.
stuffing without raisins for the rest of the family
a relish tray with carrot and celery sticks, sweet and dill pickles, green
and black olives
canned cranberry sauce, with and without berries
rolls
butter
french-cut green beans, possibly with toasted almonds
corn
those nasty peas
mashed potatoes
gravy, with canned mushrooms
sweet potatoes, without marshmallows (yech)
OR
acorn or butternut squash
some variey of wine
sparkling grape juice or cider

For dessert, which was not nearly as elaborate as, say, Xmas, but still
considered a separate meal:

pumpkin pie
mincemeat pie (for Mom, mostly)
sometimes apple pie
fresh whipped cream
mixed nuts
mixed cookies
whatever else other people might bring

This year, my husband and I are planning to forgo the holiday entirely.
Instead, we're just going to do Chanukah (and if I'm really good on
Thursday, we might even be able to use the dining room).

I haven't a clue what I'm going to make for dinner on Friday, except that
it must include latkes. And since my husband doesn't particularly care for
turkey, we probably won't see any at all this weekend, unless we get
last-minute invites to someone else's place.

Margaret