Thursday, December 06, 2007

The Turkey Routine

By the time it finally rolled around, I was beyond impatient for that long holiday weekend. Hell, by now, with it not even visible in rear-view, I’m desperate for a reprise. As these things go, we did not succeed in having everyone present, but you do what you can and dance with those who show up (so to speak).

As is our routine, some family members assembled in the AM on Thanksgiving Day for a pre-feast conscience-sopping walk. I’ve lost track as to how long we have been doing this, but certainly more than a decade. Out of a theoretical attendance of perhaps fifteen we had only eight, so it was not a great year in that sense. Well, that is eight bipeds. Also in attendance were two dogs (standard) and one cat (playing role of car alarm in this case). We were lucky this time on sunshine, although not so much so on wind and air temp. We did our standard route, along the Seattle waterfront park, but added a side-trip to gorgeous new outdoor art park.

And then there is the Main Event, Thanksgiving dinner. In our family (yours, too?), this is a major affair, second only to Christmas. In some ways maybe better than Christmas, a bit less stress, fewer complexities, not the over-the-top mercantile/commercialism flavor. But the logistics of Thanksgiving for a family of even our modest size and complexity can be daunting. We do what we can, flexing to accommodate the circumstances.

Typically we don’t get too wild and exotic, although this year we did relish a new carrot soufflé. And we skipped the standard greenbean casserole. Under other circumstances freelancing is popular, but we don’t mess much with tradition.

Otherwise though, familiar favorite fare: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and yams, creamed onions, Brussels sprouts, cranberries, etc. The prep is certainly a lot more enjoyable when, as this year, eyes can feast on the Olympic Mountains while the cooking goes on.

And gravy. Oh my (can I get an "oy vey" - or at least a witness?). We could probably do multiple posts on that topic alone. We'll just see. Am I alone in suspecting our forebears may not have had anything resembling the modern gravy-fetish? Somehow this has become one of the centerpieces or even critical path items. Beloved by all, but there often seem to be "issues" in terms of quantity and character. (I will not say "quality" as we've in my experience never had a bad gravy - but there was that one year when the master critic recalls we really hit paydirt, with abundant gritty pan-bottom turkey-bits. Research continues there, one of the things that makes shared food-enthusiasm so fun.) We’re delighted that Eric has assumed lead management of that somewhat ticklish chore, with meddling tolerated by a couple of other key sous-chefs.