Last night I found myself generating our family's Thanksgiving dinner menu: turkey, stuffing, pie; the usual. And, this year, it will only by my small family celebrating the holiday. My husband, daughter and myself will gather on Thanksgiving to eat the much anticipated meal in celebration of gratefulness.
Originally I was a little disappointed that this Thanksgiving would be small. I'm most accustomed to traveling from one Thanksgiving dinner to another as my parents are divorced and therefore the holiday has been defined by large family gatherings. The thought that this year there would only be two adults and a toddler to feed, disheartened me.
Well, my 'bummed out' feelings have subsided as I've come to realize that this small gathering is the perfect opportunity for me to practice and familiarize myself with traditional turkey dinner home-made style as well as further define traditions I would like to set forth for my own family.
In all my anticipation for this down-home turkey dinner, I've begun researching. I've opened my cookbooks, scoured the internet, returned to the texts that originally set me on this journey (see list of texts under the 'Finding My Truth' column) and have discovered many of the dishes I plan to serve my family on this holiday can be created from scratch with little to know effort and prep - all that is required is curiosity and desire.
My current Thanksgiving menu includes dishes such as homemade pumpkin-pie with homemade whipped cream, hand-made rolls as well as traditional candied yams and mashed potatoes. Most importantly, I will be brining our family's turkey for two days prior to our meal. Knowing that I'm getting back to my roots and acknowledging the holiday cooking traditions of my fore mothers excites me beyond belief. It is with this small gathering that I can practice these early cooking traditions only to perfect and use every Thanksgiving from here on out, fore as I've come to learn, once I create 'down home', it is down home I stay and quickly lose all desire for pre-made.
I loved watching my mother-in-law prepare Thanksgiving dinner in her no-hurry, done-this-a-million-times way. Everything came out at the right time and perfectly, even when they lived in a trailer in Phoenix with an oven she had to keep shut with a broom stick. My own mother accomplished this many years, but my favorite is when she bought a Butterball with thermostat to impress my soon-to-be fiance, Lee. The thermostat didn't work and the turkey cooked 7 hours. Oh, well, it makes the best story!
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