Thanksgiving

[pameladean]

After a great deal of negotiation and back-and-forthing, and the conclusion, which we come to every time this discussion raises its head, that we really cannot have Thanksgiving in our house, with our kitchens, we held it at David's mother's house in Northfield. It was the first Big Family Holiday without David's father, and we were all rather subdued. Part of the subduction -- what IS the noun of that verb? -- was also, I believe, caused by the fact that we let our mothers talk to one another, and they decided that appetizers were really not necessary because there is always so much food at dinner. This meant, since we ate about an hour later than usual, that there was a fair degree of low blood sugar on the part of people who keep odd schedules and don't like to eat right after they get up. At Christmas, there will be appetizers, if I have to bring them.

I made mince pie and real pumpkin pie, which are the Dyer-Bennet Requirements; I also made a vegan pumpkin pie for Raphael and me. David did steamed broccoli, Lydy did a lovely mashed squash with brown sugar and spices, David's sister and mother did the turkey and stuffing, my brother made cranberry sauce, and my mom brought a cranberry and orange relish and also leeks and celery braised in vegetable broth and vegan mashed potatoes. Everybody kept saying that nobody really wanted the vegetables but we'd better have some for Pamela, who can't eat the turkey, but in fact most of them were a hit. David's mother kept all the leftover squash, and there were hardly any mashed potatoes left to divide. (Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese isn't, but it works in mashed potatoes. I am astonished.)

It was a glorious sunny day with a tremendous sunset that started with the clouds on the horizon turning pink while the sky was still blue, and progressed to pink all around the horizon and finally went dull orange before fading.

Tuxedo, David's mother's cat, followed the sun around the living room carpet and played with the discarded wrappings of the birthday presents. Mary's birthday is right around Thanksgiving and we had failed to celebrate Matt's (my brother's) in October because first my mom had a cold and then he had to work weekends, so we just hauled all the presents to this dinner.

Topics of conversation included my mother's new car (she said she was having a late-life crisis: for her midlife crisis she got a Mitsubishi sports car, but for her late-life crisis she got a used Subaru Forester); the story of how my brother got caught in a tornado in western Minnesota while installing a wind machine; the new Uncle Hugo's website, which David helped work on; the dismal state of American politics; Barbara's (David's sister) new job, Barbara's dog, everybody's cats, knitting, other handwork, health insurance, difficulties in household networking; cooking stories; tales of life in western Minnesota from Mark (Barbara's sweetie) and Barbara; news of relatives; reminiscences of past Thanksgivings.

David and Lydy dropped me off at Eric's on the way home, and the two of us had a very nice date.

Now I'm supposed to go write my novel. I'm wondering if I can finish chapter 3 this weekend. It's behaving not so badly. When I needed four lines of not-necessarily brilliant blank verse, they were right there. This is not always the case.

I hope everybody else had a lovely holiday or lack of one, depending on preference.

P.

Comments

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

"Now I'm supposed to go write my novel."

At least you can take more than a month.

B

[porcinea.livejournal.com]

It was a glorious sunny day with a tremendous sunset that started with the clouds on the horizon turning pink while the sky was still blue, and progressed to pink all around the horizon and finally went dull orange before fading.

Oooooooo.

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

Thanksgiving's not a holiday that's part of my cultural context, but it is now ten years since I first celebrated it, with two very nice exchange students, one of whom was from somewhere in upstate New York, neither of whom I've heard from in years. I wonder where they are now ? [ Google becomes less useful when one is looking for names like Tom Rogers, owners of which occur rather more than one can easily sort. ] And Canadian Thanksgiving was a few weeks ago anyway.

I am most glad you all had what sounds like a very pleasant celebration. And also somewhat bouncy to discover, almost exactly a year after concluding my contract with the previous employer, that they have a Rewards to Inventors Scheme, and my two years' database development seems to have counted as being an Inventor, and hence a Reward will be coming my way in January. I like unexpected pleasant news.

If only I could persuade the current database to tell me why it thinks Hippopotamus amphibius belongs among the fungi. That may be a pretty image but it's deeply dubious taxonomy.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

I made mince pie and real pumpkin pie, which are the Dyer-Bennet Requirements

I do like family traditions. No one in our family ever ate the Once Required mince pie, so we dropped it a while back. We no longer carve at the table either; mostly because our table is just too small. Some traditions are more entrenched. Over dinner yesterday afternoon, all my blood relatives and no others agreed on the Canonical Leftover Turkey Sandwich: white bread, Miracle Whip, big schmear of jellied cranberry, slice of white meat, a little salt, a little pepper. As an adult of increasingly refined gastronomic acquaintance, I'm fully aware how revolting this sounds. But, oh: a couple of days a year it's so good!

K. [shudders at the people who put mustard on their Leftover Turkey sandwiches. Rest of the year, I have turkey sandwiches with mustard myself]

[laurel]

Our canonical leftover turkey sandwiches are like yours, but without the cranberry. Not surprising, given that my Dad is the only one in our family who eats the canberry stuff. I should've thought to suggest it to him tonight, he'd probably like cranberry on the sandwich.

It's goofy because the rest of the year I far prefer wheat bread or whole grain or Anything But White Bread. Never mustard on turkey (mustard goes on ham), but I'll use ranch dressing or mayo or something on it with tomatos and pepper. Except with Turkey Day leftovers, they've gotta be white white white sandwiches, for some reason. With smooshy white bread and miracle whip.

[sdn.livejournal.com]

that sounds like a perfect holiday. especially the vegetables.

what does a mince pie taste like?

[pameladean]

Well, it depends on the mince. We have never made our own, but relied on various jarred brands. Conveniently, a lot of those are actually vegan. I've used Crosse and Blackwell's the past few years. This version is a very aromatic, sweet, tart, spicy syrypy concoction composed primarily of finely-chopped apples. It packs a fairly serious olfactory kick. A mince pie has two crusts so you've got something blander to play the mince off of.

Pamela

[sdn.livejournal.com]

ah. i actually just looked up a really-from-scratch recipe online and saw that it features meat. as a jew, i've never encountered it at the holidays.

happy hanukkah. off to eat some latkes!

[bookworm1225.livejournal.com]

"Topics of conversation included...the new Uncle Hugo's website, which David helped work on..."

Tell him it's looking good! Now, if they can just get their inventory listed on there...

Actually, if and when they do that, I really hope they decide to list with one of the many Internet listing services, especially one that's connected with bookfinder.com (http://www.bookfinder.com), as I think that'd really help their sales. Bookfinder.com is my favorite way to find those less-than-common books I love. (Bookworm hugs her copies of Jane Yolen's Dragonfield and Other Stories and Gayley's The Classic Myths in English Literature and in Art. Well, spiritually hugs them, as they're at home and she's at work.)

[pameladean]

Yeah, I assume the vegetarian version is a recent perversion, though I guess it could be a poor person's version instead. Lots of the jarred versions contain suet but no actual meat, for example.

I don't know, though. A closer examination of the leftovers revealed raisins and candied citron as well as the apples. That can get pricy too.

I think mincemeat and its derivatives are a specifically British tradition -- David's father was born in England.

A very happy Hanukkah to you. If I had to choose between mince pie and latkes I'd take the latter.


Pamela