Thanksgiving review

Back from Enid, we’re now enjoying the remainder of this holiday weekend to relax, do some holiday decorating and catch up on a few chores. Reflecting on the Thanksgiving celebration that was, it was as good as we could have hoped it would be. The only thing that would have made it perfect was if my brother and his family could have joined us, but it didn’t work out this time. Fortunately, barring any unforeseen intervening circumstance, we’ll get to see them during Christmas week when the whole family will be able to gather together.

By all accounts, the Thanksgiving feast was a success. It was a lot of work, and that’s even with a couple of the items prepared in advance. Karla and I arrived in Enid a little after 8am Thursday morning and successfully met our self-imposed deadline for the main feast scheduled for 2pm. Now I know that Karla, my mom and others have done it many times, but that’s the first time I was in a kitchen, working non-stop for six hours. I just don’t think I’m cut out for “woman’s work,” as my mom calls it. Seriously, I certainly have a greater appreciation for the work of putting together such a grand meal and for those who’ve done it faithfully year-after-year.

Based on the comments made after the feast, the work was well worth it. There wasn’t a single complaint — other than my own self-criticism. (Frankly, I didn’t enjoy it as much as everyone else because my tastebuds were numb from all the taste-testing throughout the cooking process.) Being the perfectionist and worrywart than I am, I was fretting about how everything would turn out. According to the experts — my mother and Karla who’ve done this many more times than I have — the meal was a resounding success. Even the pumpkin soup, which was a never-before-tried addition to our family tradition.

“I didn’t think I would like it, but it’s really, really good,” said one.

“It’s something I’ve never had for Thanksgiving before, but I like it,” said another. “I’ve always had pumpkin as pie, so I expected it to be sweet. But this is really good.”

The painstakingly brined, roasted and basted turkey drew similar rave reviews.

“I think that’s the best turkey I’ve ever eaten.”

“I’ve never had such a juicy turkey. Even the white meat is really juicy.”

Ah, the magic of brining. I love it! There were other similar comments made in between lip-smacking bites punctuated by various “mmmm” and “mm-mmm” and “this is really good” mutterings. I took it as validation of a job well done!

The meal was topped off with my mom’s traditional (and very highly anticipated) pumpkin and chocolate pies. And then, after everything was cleaned up, we retired to the living room to watch the traditional Cowboys Thanksgiving Day game and recover from our delicious gluttony.

Friday morning, continue our anything-but-low-cal-and-fat-free weekend, Karla and I made quiche and cream biscuits. The quiche had leftover turkey meat, cooked turkey bacon, carmelized onions, portabello mushrooms, cheddar and colby cheese, and eggs. The cream biscuits had the basic ingredients of flour, baking powder, salt and sugar, plus heavy cream. Oh…my…gawd… they are incredible. The breakfast too was another resounding success with more “mmmm” and “mm-mmm” and “this is really good” mutterings in between more lip-smacking bites.

Two smashing successes in consecutive meals. That’s pretty satisfying. Karla and I make a really good chef team. Now it’s time to look forward to a Christmas feast. I’ll be trying to figure out what I can make that will continue to stretch the culinary horizons of my very traditional family. I’ll let you know what we come up with.

I hope your Thanksgiving was as wonderful as ours was. May you have a restful remainder of the holiday weekend and a happy holiday season.