Fast forwarding through the holidays
Irecall kids knocking at the door chanting, Trick or Treat. There was even a family of The Incredibles. I love Halloween. It’s simple. People dress up in costumes to amuse or scare. We buy large bags of candy. Kids of all ages hold out their Trick or Treat bags. We give them candy and are sure to save enough for ourselves for the coming weeks. It’s elegant like some mathematical formula.
Thanksgiving is more complicated. Whom to invite? Are there any variations to the Norman Rockwell-like menu? The vegetarians bring delicious grilled vegetables and corn casseroles so they add a lot to the dinner. We don’t have to deal with trendy, big city dietary taboos. That’s a plus. For those who are not fans of turkey, we heat a bit of ham. Everyone’s happy. To a point. Some people come to dinner with no intention of talking. It baffles me. A social dinner is, of course, to eat well, and to catch up with one’s friends and family, too. There are monasteries for people who take the vow of silence. They bake bread or make brandy with the nod of the head.
Well, the food was good and there are leftovers for weeks to come. Unfortunately, Thanksgiving leftovers don’t keep as long as does Halloween candy. I saw a headline about a Lakers game, “Few Jump up to Do Dishes,” which describes the men in our crowd. Two of the women did, well, yeowoman’s work. Clearing and washing dishes. My dear wife and I finished up the rest, but what a help our friends were. I think the males were meditating. Thinking of what not to say next.
We have been doing Thanksgiving dinner for years, and we seem to have solved the planning. We begin Tuesday night preparing veggies: peeling potatoes, snapping green beans, cutting carrots. Wednesday night we cooked mashed potatoes, green beans in tomato sauce, caramelized carrots and lots of cranberry sauce. I prepped the turkey and watched some videos about brining and other means of keeping the turkey moist. That’s the trick and why lots of kitchen commandos give up on cooking Thanksgiving dinner.
A friend complained of pulling a beautiful browned turkey out of the oven only to discover that the inside was still frozen. Her in-laws came to the rescue and found them all an alternative Thanksgiving dinner. I’ve used roasting bags and different turkey bastings, but so far the salt rub works the best.
Next year we are powering down. We haven’t worked out the details. While we still plan to host the dinner, we hope to order good quality precooked food. I’m fussy about my turkey so this is a challenge. Most Americans overcook poultry, and that is one thing I do well. But we will find some alternatives. For all my grumbling, it is my favorite holiday.
Christmas comes barging in earlier and earlier. I have good friends who just love Christmas and could skip Thanksgiving. However, I suspect that too much of the love of Christmas is commercially driven. It’s difficult to make money on Thanksgiving unless you raise or sell turkeys, and if you do, you must have to sell truckloads to make a profit.
When we should be stocking up on gardening supplies, one box store loads up on artificial Xmas trees. Another sells life-size nativity figures that only the Vatican can afford purchasing. There appears, unfortunately, little that is sacred that can’t be commercialized. But people see the pretty lights and go with the commercial flow. I’d like to declare a ceasefire on gift exchanges, new electronics, all those things for which there is no more closet space. Set up soup kitchens on every major roadway. Build free health clinics and low cost housing. Ho, ho, ho. That’d be a Merry Christmas.