Our Family Thanksgiving Note-By-Note

Our granddaughter Emma has become quite the chef, often taking on the task of making meals for her busy parents.  After school, she carefully chops vegetables and combines them with meats or tofu to create healthy dinners.

So, when I say that she helped host our family Thanksgiving this year, know that she was very much involved in preparation and cooking.

Her mother Gina works long hours, so she has become very organized, using lists and journals, successful habits adopted by Emma.

This year, Gina accepted responsibility for spearheading the preparation and hosting of our Thanksgiving feast along with Emma and our son-in-law Laszlo.  Somewhat like daughter Amy's autumn wedding in upstate New York, Gina had tasks for attendees, which we were all happy to do.  It splits what can feel like a heavy onus into smaller joys in a playful environment.

Nonetheless, Gina and Laszlo ended up buying most of the ingredients, scoring an enormous 22-pound turkey for free at Giant Groceries for being loyal customers throughout the year.  On a related front, Gina also bought a long list of expensive ingredients to make the annual batch of Grandma Mary's Fruit Cake (with variations), as she does every year.

Gina gave some credit for her organizational technique to an article she read about First Lady Jill Biden, whom Gina said uses Post-It Notes to designate tasks for people who want to help but might otherwise feel a bit lost about what to do.  Gina prepared large index cards that allowed enough space for full recipes, which she placed next to the ingredients and proper pan or dish to be used for creation.

On Wednesday, we prepared several items to be refrigerated overnight and warmed in the oven the next day while the turkey was resting (cooling enough to be moved to a cutting board and sliced).

A large batch of fresh, hot apple cider had been prepared before we arrived, and it was such a smash hit that we polished it off on Wednesday.  We also previewed baked apples with cinnamon as well as lentil salad to be served on the big day, along with a spread of deli salami wrapped cheese rolls, cheese cubes, fig and balsamic hummus with almond crackers, and wine, so none of us starved before Thanksgiving Day arrived.

The big task I took on was vegan mashed potatoes.  Rather than make two of everything, Gina wisely elected to have only two items --- stuffing (both based on Julie's late sister Cheryl's basic recipe featuring spinach) and gravy --- for which there would be vegan and traditional variations.  Julie assembled the traditional sweet side dish of cranberries combined with walnuts and mandarin orange slices, which I'm sure Laszlo's mother Ria made for their Thanksgiving dinner in Nanuet.

I had my doubts about vegan mashed potatoes.  I mean, do we really want to put those dairy cows thar provide milk and delicious butter out of business?  Nonetheless, I peeled approximately 6 2/3 pounds of a reasonable proximity of Yukon Potatoes, cut them into smaller pieces and boiled them.

Admittedly, the recipe called for the spuds to be dropped in boiling water, but I decided that would be like a series of cannonballs into Grandma Edde's pool, with the splash going all over the stove, so I called an audible, heating up the water with the potatoes submerged from the outset and doing my best guess at when the boiling actually started.  I frankly boiled them a extra few minutes, until they were very soft, because I wasn't sure if they would otherwise mash smoothly without milk.

The recipe would not allow simply substituting almond milk, which would have been my instinct.  Instead, we ladled out two cups of the water that the potatoes had boiled in to be and set them aside to be used later.

For supplemental fat and flavor, we would heat six tablespoons of olive oil and six tablespoons of coconut oil in a separate pan to cook six minced garlic cloves (the little pieces, not the whole garlic).  Unfortunately, I have scant experience cooking fresh garlic in my life, and assuming the same extra cooking beyond three minutes recommended couldn't hurt resulted in burning the garlic. We took a walk through lovely Merion Station to escape the garlic smell (and stretch our legs), and when we returned, Amy cooked a fresh mix of oil and garlic.

When I poured the oil and garlic mix over the mostly-drained potatoes, adding some more minced garlic per the recipe, I was surprised that just adding that water set aside actually resulted in a reasonable facsimile of garlic mashed potatoes that tasted delicious.  We put them in a huge casserole dish with a cover along with other casseroles for green beans and asparagus in some kind of coating that was vegan and gluten-free, parsnips in olive oil cut and seasoned like French fries, and other dishes that would be served.  Taking the huge turkey out for the final defrost step had cleared room in the refrigerator for all these covered dishes.

The next day, Gina had the turkey baking long before we arrived, and the plan went forward.  The turkey was still pretty hot by the time I carved it, so the slices weren't perfect but everything tasted delicious.

For dessert later in the afternoon --- we were all too stuffed immediately after the meal --- we had a pumpkin pie that Emma awakened early on Thanksgiving to make, pecan pie, pumpkin muffins, baked apples and fresh berries with homemade whipped cream, all so tasty that I ate way too much dessert, too.

We had a great time on the holiday with seven of us in attendance (Gina, Laszlo, Emma, Amy, Lukas, Julie and me).  We played a game of Tripoli in which Laszlo emerged early as way ahead and then Amy made a comeback to finish with a lot of chips too, wiping out the rest of us.

We also watched an old "Gilmore Girls" episode, which is always fun for our family.  Lukas and Emma joined our watching party on Thanksgiving along with regulars Gina, Julie, Amy (when she's in town) and me.  I'm especially happy when Emma watches with us.  I think there's much to be garnered from watching a good TV show together beyond just entertainment.  

Thanksgiving Day turned out to be beautiful, with temperatures in the 50s or so.  The days leading up to that had gone from the 70s to dipping below 30 and then gradually warming again.

Jay and Sasha hosted Thanksgiving for Sasha's mother Libby and close friends in their new Santa Monica home, so of course we missed them, but they had a great time, as did other family members and friends around the country.  Thanksgiving is a joyous holiday, and I hope the tradition continues for generations to come.

We were very pleased that Amy came for a few days earlier in the month and then returned again for a few days at Thanksgiving.  She was working remotely much of the time, but we squeezed in some walks, meals, Cribbage and "House Hunters International." Lukas came to Gina's the night before Thanksgiving, and it was nice to see him, too.  I didn't exclude him from casual photos on purpose, though he doesn't seem to appreciate having his picture taken in any case.  I simply didn't take enough snapshots on Thanksgiving Day of people or the dishes served. 

Leaves had continued to fall, but the trees remain lovely in different ways year-round.  We took Amy to the Orange Trail at Ridley Creek State Park (which had shed a lot of leaves from one week earlier) and a few other favorite hikes, plus around our lovely neighborhood.

In out-of-the-ordinary happenings, Julie and I actually went out at night a few times.  Gina somehow convinced us to go to an Improv Club in Philadelphia, where one of her co-workers performed in a few skits.  I wouldn't call it exactly "Second City" or compare any performer to the late, great Robin Williams, but we enjoyed taking the train there, watching the show and then Ubering home like sophisticated urbanites.

Julie and I braved predicted "wintery conditions" another night to see an orchestral concert performing Haydn's "Drumroll Symphony" and selections from Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet" at nearby Haverford College, where we often take walks around their nature trail.

On another night, Gina met me at Philly's Suburban Station and brought me to her friend Kitt's Center City condo to substitute for a vacationing regular in their Bridge Club.  We played against the affable team of Kitt and Larry, more than holding our own.

That part of Philadelphia is gorgeous at night, and contrary to recent narratives on Fox News about seamier parts of the big city, we didn't feel threatened at all.

Getting back to Thanksgiving, Gina brought in a professional photographer named Todd Rothstein to take family photos at 10 AM, while the turkey was baking.  He was a nice guy who put us at ease and took wonderful photos.  

In the early evening after dinner and before Tripoli, we manufactured a new variation on Grandma Mary's Fruitcakes.  The batter was so tasty coming hot out of the pan on Amy's big spoon, we can safely assume that the finished product is another boffo hit!

Assembly was faster and easier this year.  Gina had four batches of the dry ingredients combined in their own separate containers in advance  A few days earlier, I had chopped up red and green candied cherries and put them as 50/50 combos back in their containers.

I just had to stir those ingredients together while Amy heated up marshmallows and Kerry Gold Butter (yes, that stops it from being purely vegan, but it does come from grass-fed cows enjoying the good life on rolling green hills of Ireland).

Obviously, stirring hot sludge is much more work than stirring dry ingredients, but Amy has taken on that task annually, including when she and Gina did this as a two person crew instead of our modern assembly line.

Gina had a new for '22 breakthrough for reimagining this beloved holiday treat once again.  This year, it was a time-saver: roll out large sheets of fruitcake batter, cool them in the refrigerator and then cut them into squares in the morning.  I wasn't there for the cutting or wrapping steps, but they look like they turned out perfect.

My year continues to unfold with "many bloggable and joyful memories." In fact, I would call it downright noteworthy, at least from my perspective.

Postcards from Santa Monica

By Jay and Sasha

Dolphins swim along the coast at end of their street.

Bread shaped like turkey

Tasty Appetizers

Exquisite place-settings on Sasha's late Grandmother's Antique Table.

Delicious, healthy serving
with Impossible Burger Meatloaf

Pecan Pie Symmetry

Editor's Note: Looking at the beautiful photos from Santa Monica reinforces my regret for failing to take photos of Gina's golden brown turkey when it came out of the oven and the lovely spread of food laid out for us to serve from.  It was a feast for the eyes as well as the tastebuds, as was the West Coast contingent's.