Thanksgiving
I feel like a proper grown-up now. Doing a big dinner with no help is a little like raising a difficult teenager; you have to pick your battles. Make a good turkey, do a good gravy. Stuffing can be from a box and so can potatoes; they're just vehicles for gravy anyway. Steamed veggies from a bag; also acceptable. Good rolls are important thought.
Charlotte is home this week for the holiday. I did my best to cater to her sort-of-vegetarian needs. She had deviled eggs (which she loves) and I made a pan of candied sweet potatoes just for her, which came out perfectly in spite of the fact that I had no recipe and never made them before (it wasn't that hard; yams, butter, brown sugar...all baked until bubbly). The turkey was so awesome though that she even had a piece of that (very small...just a taste really).
My version of Thanksgiving is so much more relaxed than the Thanksgivings Greg and I grew up with. Everything was made from scratch and cooking started the day before Thanksgiving. The whole family was on edge because Mom and Dad were stressed out (in my family it was my Dad who got all worked up about everything being perfect, in Greg's it was his Mom). It was a noisy, boisterous affair with mayhem and stress, and mostly it was a relief when it was finally over and everyone went the heck home.
In my house, for my Thanksgiving, we all wore our pajamas all day. Since it was just me and Greg eating turkey, I only made parts instead of an entire bird (SO much easier and quicker) but I did them in the style of my Dad's recipe roasted with butter and cabernet, so it still tasted awesome. I used disposable pans, because who the heck wants to scrub pans? I purchased those cheap tupperware-like storage containers and leftovers went right in 'em as soon as we were done. Dishwasher loaded right away, everything cleaned up in five minutes. Instead of the good china, we used my pretty stoneware and there were no worries about anything breaking. After dinner we watched MST3K (just like the old days, when they used to do MST3K "Turkey Day" marathons on Comedy Central) and we ate pumpkin pie (from the store) with whipped cream (from a can) and everyone was happy.
I might not be Martha Stewart, but I do know how to have a quiet, relaxing Thanksgiving.
Having Charlotte home for the week has been strange. It's funny. I miss her more when she's here because I know that soon she'll be leaving again. I've been handling her absence just fine until now...but now suddenly I'm sad and that's so weird because she's here. It's because she feels like a guest. It's suddenly clear to me that she's visiting, and her home is really at college. So, now I get that, and now I'm sad.
I really am an odd duck I guess.
Charlotte is home this week for the holiday. I did my best to cater to her sort-of-vegetarian needs. She had deviled eggs (which she loves) and I made a pan of candied sweet potatoes just for her, which came out perfectly in spite of the fact that I had no recipe and never made them before (it wasn't that hard; yams, butter, brown sugar...all baked until bubbly). The turkey was so awesome though that she even had a piece of that (very small...just a taste really).
My version of Thanksgiving is so much more relaxed than the Thanksgivings Greg and I grew up with. Everything was made from scratch and cooking started the day before Thanksgiving. The whole family was on edge because Mom and Dad were stressed out (in my family it was my Dad who got all worked up about everything being perfect, in Greg's it was his Mom). It was a noisy, boisterous affair with mayhem and stress, and mostly it was a relief when it was finally over and everyone went the heck home.
In my house, for my Thanksgiving, we all wore our pajamas all day. Since it was just me and Greg eating turkey, I only made parts instead of an entire bird (SO much easier and quicker) but I did them in the style of my Dad's recipe roasted with butter and cabernet, so it still tasted awesome. I used disposable pans, because who the heck wants to scrub pans? I purchased those cheap tupperware-like storage containers and leftovers went right in 'em as soon as we were done. Dishwasher loaded right away, everything cleaned up in five minutes. Instead of the good china, we used my pretty stoneware and there were no worries about anything breaking. After dinner we watched MST3K (just like the old days, when they used to do MST3K "Turkey Day" marathons on Comedy Central) and we ate pumpkin pie (from the store) with whipped cream (from a can) and everyone was happy.
I might not be Martha Stewart, but I do know how to have a quiet, relaxing Thanksgiving.
Having Charlotte home for the week has been strange. It's funny. I miss her more when she's here because I know that soon she'll be leaving again. I've been handling her absence just fine until now...but now suddenly I'm sad and that's so weird because she's here. It's because she feels like a guest. It's suddenly clear to me that she's visiting, and her home is really at college. So, now I get that, and now I'm sad.
I really am an odd duck I guess.