Thanksgiving 2023
It was a long week to Thanksgiving even though it was a short one if you know what I mean. We were emotionally worn coming off of Jeff's memorial, then Ernie pulled a muscle or something like that. Normally I'd send him to convenient care to get a muscle relaxant but hell, the man's already on a shitload of pain killers. On top of that the Keytruda (as well as the years of other poisons being poured into him---almost decades at this point) has insidious side effects that sometimes gang up on him so he had a rough couple of days. It wears on both of us I must admit. Leo was a trooper, picking up groceries and prescriptions when Ernie couldn't go to the store.
We did it though. We kept to our spreadsheet pretty well, only bumping one thing (my gluten free apple pie bars). It was't perfect. I noticed yesterday that we'd never dusted the coffee table the appetizers were on. Oh well. My food was hit or miss but overall it was just lovely. I am so grateful that Dennis, Boo, and Doug joined Ernie, Leo, Owen, Trinity and me.
I think I'm pretty good at talking about what I'm thankful for so I won't repeat that here except to say I love my family, and my family of friends, so damn much. I only wish Tal was here to have made it complete.
One of my regrets last year was that I didn't make my tourtière or meat pie at Thanksgiving or Christmas. So there was no way I was missing it this year. Given that I never conquered regular piecrust I was using frozen gluten-free crust (so far the best gluten free pie crust I've ever had was the one V'ron made when she brought a pie some years ago). The packaging on my crust said to go online to see how to use the second crust to make a two crust pie. I obediently watched said video and found their recommendation was to scrape the dough out of the second pie shell with a spoon, ball it up and roll it out. I mean I don't know what else I thought they'd suggest but...noooo. When Ernie got out of the shower I recounted this to him and he said, "Oh, is that why I heard you say, "No fucking way?" Heh. I didn't even realize I'd said that out loud. Yes. I just popped the second pie shell upside down on the filled pie and waiting for it to release from the pie tin.
Presto. It eventually collapsed enough to work.
My pie was a bit dry and crumbly but I've made enough of them and read enough cooking forums to know I am not alone in this problem with tourtière and the flavor was great. I didn't have my traditional sides, just stole some cranberry sauce and carrots from what we'd made for the next day but that's ok, I was just so damn proud that I got the pie made!
I prepped the stuffing the day before. Flavors were good but I still haven't managed to make a really good gluten-free stuffing.
Can you make biscuit stuffing????
I post the picture below only so you can tell I dressed up for the occasion. As you may know, I always look the same. Sometimes heavier, sometimes thinner, sometimes hair down, sometimes tied back, but basically it's me in a long black dress with a white shirt. Some minor variations but that's pretty much it. As my former colleague Nancy knew, the main way to tell if I'm dressed up or not is when I wear this necklace. It's cheap and rather worn but I'm fond of it. It went missing for a few years but we found it buried in a chair when we went to get rid of the chair. I was happy to welcome it back.
Ernie had some kind of visitation before folks got there.
I didn't take too many pictures on the day itself. I mostly sat in my chair and let people wait on me. Boo fed me cheese and crackers (they brought heavenly cheese from Art Mart) and Leo filled my wineglass on request. Owen and Trinity were way late because Daisy (their dog) was sick. I'd only been anxious about getting dinner ready on time because of their schedule so I didn't care at all. Gave me more time to chat and have said cheese and crackers and eventually they showed up looking gorgeous with wonderful deviled eggs and mashed potatoes. Daisy came too and was as sweet as pie.
I know nobody looks that happy in the picture below but I think they were. And I didn't manage to get both Leo and Dennis in a picture so you just get bits of them. If I'm not mistaken they both sat next to me for that very reason.
It was a wonderful day but it is my last year hosting Thanksgiving. I just can't do it anymore. I think the first year I cooked Thanksgiving was in 1986 while in grad school and have pretty much done it every year since...in Chicago, in Champaign, in South Carolina when Judi was sick. and then back in Champaign since then. I've had a cooking disaster here or there but mostly they were ok and I was so happy to have family and friends with us every single year. Every single year. I'm done though. I told everyone that next year Ernie and I would just be curled up in the media room together.
Ok, I did tell Boo, after eating her extraordinary pumpkin and mince pies (top photo) that she could join us in the media room. She is amazing and I fell in love with the mince pie.
It did make me a little sad not to have the nice china and sterling out but it was for the best given resources and nobody cared but me. And we did have nice non-flint goblets.
The next day is always the best in some ways, isn't it? Well, at least for those of us that get to stay home. Our traditional breakfast of leftover meat pie and cranberry sauce and then a nap.
The view from the couch. First official nap on the new couch.
Friday lunch: stuffing with gravy and cranberry sauce.
Friday dinner: classic Thanksgiving leftover turkey-stuffing-cranberry sandwich with a side of disappointing Brussels sprouts (I'm really better off when I don't follow recipes sometimes).
Saturday morning breakfast: turkey and stuffing quesadilla
Saturday dinner? Hmmm. Gonna have to think about that one.
Happy Thanksgiving to all.
Onward.