Despite the panic I felt upon realizing the 20 lbs turkey hogged up all the available room in the oven, and the sinking feeling that toaster ovens do not serve as alternate ovens in a pinch (everything cooks too quickly) – I somehow managed to get Thanksgiving dinner on the table in a civilized, coordinated manner with only one fire (with flame) incident where runaway marshmallows (courtesy of my sister-in-law) oozed, rose out of their mashed sweet potato bed and dropped to their blackening deaths on the heated oven coils. In the past, Thanksgivings were spent at a beloved friend’s house who adopted my brother and I as their own – but for some reason, every holiday would be punctuated by a (in no particular order, and sometimes these events coincided in one holiday): broken oven, flaming votive candle (and singed eyebrows), flaming oven, flaming roast, and various exciting events that marked these meals with humourous laughter after the flames literally died down. I heard I missed a hair-“singe”-er this past holiday as my dear friend celebrated her birthday with cake and candles. (Candles and cake?) Thankfully, no serious injuries or property damage ever arose from these events.
Thanksgiving came and went – and our house was filled with the warm and hearty smell of cooking, and the sounds of family and friends. I had some harrowing moments of “I can’t believe my oven is smoking, the turkey sizzling, but the instructions say keep the oven at 450 degrees…” followed by peaceful food coma with the kids in bed, the husband and I curled up at our respective ends of the couch with a feline baker kneading away at our feet.
I did not bombard my family with turkey leftovers – so I decided today was my daughter’s day to celebrate Thanksgiving just one more time.
Today’s lunch:
Organic roast turkey – from Makinajian’s Poultry Farm
Organic cranberry sauce (pink sauce!) – a small amount of turbinado sugar was added when I cooked the entire batch
Twice-cooked organic potatoes – potatoes were cut into quarters and boiled until barely tender, then sautéed on low-medium heat on a cast-iron pan with a little butter until the surfaces brown. Sea salt added at the very end.
Organic sweet peas with a little sea salt
Organic stuffing with celery and onions
I had grand ideas at the beginning – but the turkey domination of heating resources threw a wrench into my planning. I had hemmed and hawed about trying a quinoa pilaf – but never found adequate time or space to challenge the dish. Perhaps next year.
Eating Battlezone 
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