Thanksgiving, again

Our Thanksgiving (TG) menu (and this post) has become a tradition and is essentially the same every year.  The menu was my family's tradition, but became my-inlaws tradition when my wife and I were 19 (we were dating then). Just before TG my mother-in-law had surgery that left her incapacitated. My GF and her 3 sisters panicked at the thought of cooking TG dinner. I told them not to worry, I would do it. We agreed they would buy the turkey and I would take care of everything else.

I had never cooked ANY dinner before.  The only cooking I'd ever done was flipping burgers at Hardee’s (and beating tomato soup out of a can). But I'd watched my mom and grandma in the kitchen. Plus, I'd changed the water for them when they soaked turkeys. How much harder could it be to cook one?

Speaking of soaking a turkey, I decided to spend the night at my in-laws house so I could do that and get an early start cooking the next morning. After dinner I went to the fridge for the turkey. It wasn’t there. I asked my wife where it was. “Oh, it’s downstairs in the freezer.” *cringe* I thought they knew the bird had to thaw before it could be cooked…they didn’t. That was my fault, I should have asked about it several days earlier. No problem! I stayed up all night, changing the water every 30 minutes, and the bird was ready to cook by 8:00am. (But what was that stuff hidden in the neck cavity??? LOL!)

I’ll spare you the details on all the prep work and skip to the results. The turkey was a little dry. The mashed potatoes were a little lumpy. The marshmallows on top of the yams were a little scorched (really, just a little). I used Minute Rice for the sausage stuffing (it was good anyway) and the green beans were canned. But the salad was okay, my brown ‘n serve rolls and canned cranberry sauce were great and the butternut squash pie was perfect (my mom made it).

As you can see, I didn't make a great meal. But it didn't matter. Somehow it was one of their favorites and the menu became their new family tradition. I guess because they were feeling especially thankful that year—that my mother-in-law survived brain surgery.

So why am I sharing this? Well, just to show that there’s no need to stress if you're faced with cooking your first meal or first for a new sweetie or his/her family. The real joy in sharing a meal is not about the food, it’s about the time spent together. If your family-friends don’t appreciate you cooking for them, then invite me over. I ALWAYS appreciate it when someone else is willing to cook!!! Call early if you’re more than a 2 hour drive from DC.  ;P

Happy Thanksgiving—whether you celebrate or not (or have celebrated it already in Canada)!

If you don't mind sharing, what are you thankful for this week?