Thanksgiving Past: 2012

From 2012:

Having our dear friends Boo and Doug with us for Thanksgiving made the day so very special. I thought about my mother and father and sister....but it wasn't with too much sadness. Instead it was just with love, and thanks for things like the beautiful Spode that was my mother's wedding china, then went to my sister Judi, and now is ours. And thanks for the Victorian silver turkey cover that my father bought from Marshall Field's back when they had an antiques department on one of the upper floors of their State Street store. He was in Chicago for court and he bought it and had it shipped to his office in Lisle where my mother worked as a legal secretary. Man was she ever pissed. You can imagine what a Victorian silver turkey cover from Marshall Field's cost. Ahem. My father was wont to do things like that and yet my mother never got used to is. I can just here her sighing, "Joseph EDWARD...." And of course many thanks for the family memories...like the year my father made the gravy and it turned out green. We never let him forget that and told the story again last night... Oh, and thanks to friends and family that put up with my holiday meals always being a good hour and a half later than they're supposed to be... Many thanks for my family, my beloved boys---all three of them---and my beloved friends who are now part of our family.

In more prosaic news: worst turkey and gravy I've ever made. Eh. Oh well. It was fun to try to new recipe even though I certainly won't use it again. The turkey was o.k. but I ended up with pale and watery drippings so the gravy, uh....not so great. It didn't matter at all though. And I loved my stuffing....cooked on a cookie sheet so lots of crunch to it....the grated sweet potatoes with sage and brown butter were good....and my brussels sprouts DELICIOUS! Boo's pies were outrageously good.....OUTRAGEOUSLY good....and the conversation and laughter was even better.