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I write novels, eat dark chocolate, raise three children, love my husband, scrub toilets, ignore the laundry, and love a good story, but hardly ever in that order.

OPERATION BONNET

STRETCH MARKS

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ACT TWO

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BALANCING ACT

Monday, November 19, 2012

Let's Talk Turkey


Do you think I'm shallow if my all-time favorite holiday is completely focused on food consumption? Thanksgiving makes me so happy. 

I look a lot like this when I say the word. "Thanksgiving," I say, and then I make my hands into a prayerful pose, tie on my checkered apron, and look over yon to the setting sun. I also lose 15 inches around my waistline.

Speaking of waistlines, don't you love Thanksgiving? Yes, you do, or you would be a bitter, unAmerican, frightfully thin person and those kinds of people hate my blog. So you do love Thanksgiving and if you're anything like me in a checkered apron, you love the food. Turkey, yes, but the side dishes. Joy in a serving dish, that's what they are. I'm talking mashed potatoes, cornbread stuffing with toasted pecans, homemade rolls, green beans with shallots and bacon, cranberry sauce...And the desserts? Pecan pie, loved ones. (Time to put hands in prayerful pose). Cinnamon apple crumble pie. Or one of my recent favorites, Brown Sugar and Chocolate Chip Pound Cake with Maple-Espresso Glaze.

I am feeling very, very thankful.

And can we just agree to eat happily this year? I have read multiple times this week in newspapers and mags that we should all be super careful (read: depressed) and not eat too much on Thanksgiving or we will either lose more jobs to China or perish by the winter solstice. I might be combining current issues here, but I still think we're overdramatizing. Sure, go for a walk if you must, or toss the football around in the backyard. But then re-assume prayerful hands and sit down for another round of side dishes. Do your part. The Pilgrims nearly croaked so you'd have this privilege.

So who's cooking at your house? What side dish makes you want to dance happy?
I'd love to know what and how you're eating. Happy Best Cooking Week of the Year!

5 comments:

  1. Hello. Yes, food. We can't let the Pilgrims work go in vain....EAT people. Ben is making a corn bread stuffing with sausage. It is sooooo good. I don't even like stuffing but I like this. I will be over Saturday morning for a piece of that apple pie you talked about. It has fruit so it is clearly a breakfast item. Right!?!?!

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  2. Our son and our future daughter-in-law will be with us for Thanksgiving, so this is a very special time. My favorite dessert is popcorn and banana bread. I make the popcorn, Sherry makes the banana bread.

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    1. STOP THE PRESSES! Your "son and future daughter-in-law?!" Woo hoo! Congratulations, dear John! Such joy in your home this holiday! I will call soon and give you my congrats in person.

      Happy Thanksgiving!

      p.s. The bread sounds delightful. ;)

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  3. Oh YES! The side dishes! The side dishes! I usually make a savory bread pudding (think brioche, onions, gruyere) instead of stuffing. And roasted brussels sprouts and also maple-glazed carrots. OM NOM NOM my family eats these things even though some of them are not the sort who LIKE brussels sprouts or cooked carrots because they finally trust that I will not serve them anything that isn't yummy. It's only taken 40 years. :) But... you eat cornbread stuffing, good Iowan that you are? I was raised by Midwesterners and have no toleration for cornbread (full stop), particularly not with turkey. But that's just me. :)

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    1. I forgive you of your cornbread aversion. I only like it if it tends toward corn CAKE, rather than the dry and salty, as it can tend to do.

      This year, though, I made a simple dressing (http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/-Simple-is-Best-Dressing-51124210) and it was delightful. Really very good. Plus, it had lots of fresh herbs so I could annoy my family for hours, singing "Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme," in various interpretations. Marc said I sounded a lot like Dylan by its fortieth incarnation. Sorry, Simon and Garfunkel.

      Bring on the brussels sprouts! Love 'em.

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