Thanks for the Memories

Thanksgiving is a time for people doing what they do best. For me that is eating, but I had a new challenge this year, that of COOKING for a large number of people. Don't get me wrong, I cook every day, and usually everything turns out fine and neither the emergency room nor poision control has to be consulted. But being the prime cook on Thanksgiving Day is a different kettle of pheasants. There are "side dishes" involved. And a bird that takes up most of the room in the kitchen, not to mention your oven. And everything needs to get done more or less at the "same time." (No you can't pop the rolls in the oven the next day and still have it count.) It was the first time I ever felt that our house almost needed to be bigger than it was -- one more guest and we would've been over the top with someone sleeping in a heavily trafficked play area. But we had more than enough Guest Towels so everything was cool. There was the added factor of a Potential Spectacle as my brother Geeto, the Chicago firefighter, had suggested we cook a fried turkey in addition to the traditional oven-based one. As if I could keep track of Two Birds with One Brain! Actually I didn't need to, since my brother took custody of the second turkey and was in charge of making sure it got fried without setting the house or children afire. Mission accomplished, although the frying actually occurred on the walkway in front of our house, so I have this sneaking suspicion we are going to show up in the next session of the homeowners group as a Banned Exhibit. And two thumbs up for the fried turkey, which was delicious. I was in the fortunate position of having my mother available to assist with pies and gravy, and also had access to my mother-in-law's special cache of side dish recipes, and those are guaranteed delicious as long as you don't screw up the recipe. We even used the china that we got for our wedding (thanks again to all of you who attended the wedding and contributed place settings!). Except the kids just got paper plates. Kidding! But they did not get china, either. My five-year-old even ate four servings of turkey. Okay, with ketchup, but still, it was a step beyond chicken. And of course the key to enjoying a Florida Thanksgiving is going for a swim while you're there, which my relatives did with great abandon. Now it is time to relax and contemplate my cellulite.