My First Thanksgiving

Because of a series of unfortunate events that occurred over the last week and a half, it was decided a few days ago that my family would celebrate our Thanksgiving holiday here, at our house, instead of at my in-laws' place. While I've always wanted to be in charge of cooking the Thanksgiving feast, I never wanted to have to do it under the circumstances surrounding our last-minute change-in-plans. And, when I say "my family," I mean, my husband, my daughter, and me....just the three of us. You see, we've been, what you'd call "quarantined" from the rest of the Fox brood because of the rampant spread of illness throughout our home: My daughter, currently recovering from pneumonia and double ear-infections, my husband, currently suffering from a terrible cough, high fever, and God knows what else (he hasn't visited a doctor in 18 years), and my cat (oh, yes, my cat!), diagnosed with feline lower urinary tract disease just this morning. In the best interest of my father-in-law, who suffered a freak accident last week and is now without the use of his legs for the next three months, we all figured it was a good idea not to expose him to "the germs" (it's the last thing he needs right now!)

So, in preparation, I scoured my many cookbooks and my favorite websites for Thanksgiving recipes. Specifically, a turkey recipe and how to go about cooking one. You see, while I can go on and on about how much I love to cook, I've never once roasted a turkey! I promptly went to the Williams Sonoma website and downloaded their 15-page pamphlet, "A Well-Planned Thanksgiving," in search of some sort of guidance. Since there will only be two of us actually eating turkey (my daughter does not eat meat...except hotdogs...if you call that meat), I needed to know how big a turkey I actually had to buy. According to the pamphlet, I needed to allow approximately 1 1/4 lbs of turkey per person. I was left wondering "where does one find a 2 1/2 lb turkey?"

Once I had finalized my menu (last night), I was off to the grocery store (last night). I had been to the store briefly on Sunday to fetch more Motrin, Kleenex, kitty litter, and wine, for my daughter, my husband, my cat, and me, respectively, and much to my dismay, the lines (even the express lane) were ten persons deep, and the aisles were as clogged as I imagined my arteries were going to be after I eat a hearty helping of pecan pie and brandied cranberry and orange sauce over Breyer's Vanilla Ice Cream. Needless to say, I was fearing the worst for last night's trip. To my surprise, the store was fairly quiet, no lines, and as the automatic doors slid open, I exclaimed to the grocery-store worker walking in beside me, "wow, I should have waited until today to do my Thanksgiving shopping! It's so much less chaotic than it was on Sunday!"(Not wanting to look as if I was some sort of naive Thanksgiving newbie, who would wait until a day before Thanksgiving to buy all her ingredients, which is exactly what I was.) He chuckled and said, "Good thing you were here on Sunday, you'd be lucky if there were anything left on the shelves today!"

Great.


So I figured, I should start preparing some of the side dishes today, as well as begin to brine my turkey:

Lesson Number Two (Lesson Number One was to always do your Thanksgiving day shopping the weekend before, in case you missed that): always keep your eye on the boiling cranberry sauce! Trying to scrape the burnt sauce off a glass cooktop is a real bitch.

Lesson Number Three: Read the label before purchasing....as in, read the label on the turkey BREAST you just purchased (you idiot) before you buy it, mistaking it for a whole five pound turkey and not realizing it until you get home, take it out of the packaging, and start rummaging through its innards for the giblets you need for your Savory Herb Gravy, which are not there because you bought a turkey BREAST, you idiot!

Lesson Number Four: Don't Panic!

Lesson Number Five: Breathe.

However, I must say, my pecan pie tart looks spectacular and smells amazing! (I just have to keep my husband from snaking a piece of it in the middle of the night.) My green beans have been boiled and my turkey is currently brining away in apple cider in my refrigerator. I must admit I do not remember sitting down today, between all the cooking, shopping, bringing my cat back to the vet for her sub-Q fluid injections, and supervising my daughter's nebulizer treatments! You readers must feel pretty special right now knowing that the first time I sit down today is to write to you all!

Okay, then, that said, good night to you and have a very happy Thanksgiving!