Thanksgiving Dinner
Here it comes again, Thanksgiving Dinner. I have always been into this holiday more as a celebration of harvest and abundance than as a historical Native American/Euro-colonial interchange. Must come from my non-American-born roots. I knocked myself out learning the traditional dishes, spending the whole day churning out as many sides as I can do while basting the turkey in the oven every 15 minutes until it is perfectly golden done. I saw Thanksgiving as a ritual to invite abundance into our home throughout the rest of the year.My mom raised me with an awareness of abundance rituals. She used to hang grapes at the windowsill on New Year's Eve to bring blessings in our home for the coming year. Chinese chotchkies, gifts from my mother, face my front door to invite good luck and prosperity. I don't think it's as much the chotchkies that brought me luck but the awareness of it.
This year, as it was for the past two Thanksgivings, I'm making dinner for three - my husband, my daughter and me. I try to buy the smallest turkey I can find, but even the smallest one is still too much for the three of us. Two years ago, I bought just the breasts and that suited us just fine. We'll see what I can come up with this year.
I've done this enough years now that I'm a little less ambitious with what I want to make, and more sane, I hope. It still feels like a cooking marathon, trying to make so many dishes in a day, but I think I'll take it a little easy this year.
Thanksgiving Dinner Menu
Thanksgiving Turkey
Mashed Sweet Potato with Marshmallow Topping
Mashed Potato
Steamed Broccoli
Maple Cranberry Sauce
Pumpkin Pie
Pumpkin Raisin Cookies, which I plan on making today already so we can snack on it all week.