TURKEY RECAP

TURKEY RECAP & A LOOK AHEAD



In the blog entry [1]
preceding this one I mentioned that getting into the Thanksgiving
spirit was a tough go this year.  Even the initiative to do the
basic shopping for the meal came pretty late.  It would be safe to
say that until just about completing that blog post, I'd had almost no
sense of Thanksgiving spirit this year.



On Wednesday evening things began to change.



Susan was shucking the chestnuts, I cut up what seemed like pound after
pound of onions, celery, carrots and mushrooms.  We stayed up
until all hours of the morning doing the prep work.  And then the
next day when we got to Bob's place, there were (oops) about 4 more
hours of prep left to do before we could get the bird in the oven!


The mood over at Bob's place (well, it isn't really
his place, but that's another story, a long one, and not one to
be recounted here or now) was relaxed, casual, no hurry, no problem, no
stress.  So we continued the prep work, which included peeling and
chopping up 6 lbs of Granny Smith apples.  Also the crust removal and then shredding of
the numerous loaves of sourdough bread we'd accumulated.  Susan
got two or three loaves at Orwasher's [2] in the City, and I had bought a few loaves from Meredith's Bread [3]. 
Meredith's is located in Kingston, NY, but they have a stand at the
local Farmers Market [4].  The last of the Saturday Farmers Market
days was in October, but the local civic association [5] always schedules
one more Saturday [6] market, in November on the weekend preceding Thanksgiving.



I also loaded up on all sorts of only-at-the-Farmers-Market
goodies that Saturday.  There are local (well, hereabouts as well
as a few counties away, that's local enough for me) farmers and
provisioners with all sorts of fresh vegetables, produce, cheeses,
fruits, you name it.  The quality is always excellent, and the
vendors [7], at least here at the local Farmers Market, are the nicest
group of folks.  I mentioned this to one woman, a vendor we always
see and buy  from (Susan loves the "fingerling" potatoes she
grows), and she agreed that the group assembled here was pretty
special.  None of the infighting, none of the snippiness or
competition that can be found in other places.  A great group of vendors, wonderful people, all of them.



We are lucky that it is both small enough and intimate enough to
capture such a special ambience.  And then there's the caliber of
what they sell . . . wow!


So we had all sorts of prep work ahead of us.  We'd bought a great
deal of fresh herbs for the cooking.  Rosemary, Thyme, Sage,
Parsely (do not start singing that Simon & Garfunkel song [8]),
and a whole bunch of garlic.  At Susan's suggestion we also
decided to get some small white onions.  Larger than Pearl onions,
but smaller than the generic yellow or white cooking onions. 
These turned out to be tasty as could be, and a great addition to the
stuffing.



Our almost 13 lb bird (Empire Kosher, fresh not frozen) was cooked to perfection.  The stuffing (we
make enough to feed an army . . . never mind, scratch that -- makes us
sound too much like those warmongers at that company associated with
the veepmonster) came out great. 
This year we modified the stuffing recipe, throwing in mushrooms, those
white onions, and upping the carrot content while lowering the celery
content.  Next year, despite Susan's misgivings, I think we will
add water chestnuts to go along with the regular chestnuts.  It
needs a little crunch to add a little something to the
consistency.  And I hope we remember to buy enough parsley, as we
were way under in our purchase this year. 



Susan is very good
about making note of what and how we can improve on the process each
year.  Notes for next year:  more prep work, earlier, more
parsely, more celery, keep the white onions in the stuffing, remember
how much prep time the herbs require.  And start earlier in the
day!  Well, yeah, we note that last one each year, but no matter what, it goes onthe next year's agenda.



The cranberry sauce, slow-cooked to perfection by Susan, was
incredible.  Funny thing: Bob, our host, wouldn't eat any of the
cranberries that were still whole.  He ate the mushed or exploded
(coooked down) ones, and all the other parts of the concoction
(oranges, pineapple, zest of oranges).  But he let the whole ones
sit on his plate.  He had also expressed concerns over the
inclusion of muchrooms in the stuffing.  But when that was served,
he ate the entirety of what was on his plate,and he had more than
seconds on the stuffing.



Final carving of the remainder of the turkey, and washing the dishes, proved to be pretty time consuming.  Consuming,
it seems, the word of the day.  We had leftovers that seemed to
weigh as much as, if not more than, the ingredients and cookware we'd
brought over.  It appears that we will be eating leftovers until
March of 2005.



It is true that I have very little holiday spirit as it relates to the
season that began at the end of the Macy's Parade and continues until
December 26th.  I stay inside on Black Friday, and I try to avoid
all shopping except for the basics between the day before Thanksgiving
and December 26th.  My kids are past the age where we do the
kiddie aspect of Hanukkah. No more hunting down eight  gifts to
spread out over the days (yikes, what a challenge: find eight gifts,
spread out the small ones and the big ones evenly, attempt to follow a
theme with the gifts, keep them hidden, blah, blah . . . it was fun for
those years, but man, what an endeavor!!). 



I don't put up holiday decorations.  I don't send out cards. 
Years ago my media consuting business used to send out specially made
high quality chocolate radios with the company name on them.  This
ended up being more popular among my relatives than among the
clients!  I gave that up as the consulting business morphed into
additional areas.



Thanksgiving has been the one and only part of the holiday season that
I've felt connected to over the past ten or so years.  Some of
that has to do with the kids moving away after the divorce, plus they
are older now, so the hoohah is no longer such a major thing. 
Thanksgiving as a celebration to share with others, a feast of a meal,
and a moment to stop and consider just what there is to feel good about
. . . I like that.


The spirit took until almost the last possible moment to hit me
this
year.  But it did get here.  As we sat at Bob's place I spoke
about some things for which I am thankful.  Mostly it has to do
with family, love, friendship, support, and relationships.  And
every year on Thanksgiving I think of my friend Curmy.  He was the
host on the first Thanksgiving after the kids moved away. 
Curmudgeon though he may be, he has a heart of gold.  He's also
sorta kinda responsible for Susan and me getting together, so Curmy is
held in extreme high regard.  These days we send powerful vibes to
Curmy who has since moved far away to one of those red states, for his
health and his happiness.



Of course, now I go into an understated bah humbug mode for a
month.  Understated, in that I have no desire to rain on anyone
else's parade.  Lots of people love the holidays: the shopping
(egad), the whole seasonal showcase and the parites and the gift-giving
and the lights, the store windows, the Santa Clauses all over the
place, that sappy music (oops, there I go being judgmental), the whole
deal.



We do like to drive over to Franklin Lakes, NJ (where former NY Yankee player and coach -- and now NY Mets Manager Willie Randolph has a house!)
and drive through this one development of McMansions where the locals
do up an unbelievable and festive better-than-the-next-house job of
decorating their property. One guy, apparently with an avocation of
being an Elvis impersonator, outdoes all the others, year after
year.  It has become such a draw that the local cops are there to
guide the traffic, and it can take up to an hour to finally get to the
houses, and then drive by at about 5 mph.



If we get there this year, and I can snap some pictures, you can be sure I will post them here.  I wonder if Debra Galant [9] will have such a posting over at Barista [10].  Seems like a natural for that blog!



Now I go back to working, looking forward to the annual New Year's Eve
party, and planning various activities for the last month of this year
and the coming twelve of 2005.