Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. was yesterday, a time for families and friends to get together, share a bountiful meal, and think about the things that they are most thankful for.
Whether or not thanks is expressed in a formal setting going from person to person around the table, or perhaps mentioned in conversations, or left to the minds and hearts of each individual, the opportunity to just slow down and ponder upon life's blessings while with one another is, for me, what Thanksgiving is all about.
Okay, yes, there's food. And yes, there usually is a lot of it.
Why that is, I'm not sure. At least not as far as our family is concerned. This year, and in times past, we've only had four adults to prepare for, but you'd think an army platoon had shown up by the amount of food there is.
I can't say that much gets wasted, though. No, we don't eat it all at one setting, but it does tend to last for a few more meals, anyway, along with plenty of ham or turkey sandwiches. I like turkey sandwiches with cranberry sauce and a little bit of salt myself.
There have been times where the turkey gets cooked in a separate roaster oven (I prefer it the time or two I've overseen Thanksgiving dinner), but this year my wife opted to put in the regular oven. I like to keep the oven free for other things that need to be baked, but when she's home on Thanksgiving, she's in charge.
Not everyone is a fan of turkey, so a ham is prepared, too. It's already cooked, it just needs to be thawed, heated up and the glaze added to it. We've been doing this kind of spiraled ham now for years, and it always turns out great.
This year, we had a couple of things that were given to us by someone else. The first was a rather extravagant looking stuffing, that had some kind of crunchy topping. I didn't take more than a taste (there was plenty of things on my plate), but I would need to have more to make a fair assessment of it. First impression however: I like my wife's better.
Mashed potatoes this year were made by youngest son, who was pressed into duty last minute. I don't think he knew he was going to be helping, but he's usually more than willing to help. He is a pretty cook when he does it.
He wasn't that happy with how it turned out, though. He thought there was too much garlic. My wife agreed, but his wife could hardly taste it and I thought it was great. I like garlic.
The second food item that we were given by a friend of my wife's were the rolls. They turned out really good. Homemade rolls usually are. Light and flaky toward the top, but a little doughy but still tasty toward the bottom. A little bit of butter and you're good to go.
It can't all be about the meat and the carbohydrates. Green beans and corn made their way unto the menu, along with olives.
Before dinner was even ready, there were various vegetables and crackers for dipping. There was even a bag of tortilla chips.
The dip this year was from a recipe my wife had found and decided to try. I asked what was in it, but couldn't get much of a definitive answer out of her. The most obvious ingredient was the bacon, which in and of itself was pretty tasty. I'll leave you to guess what else is in there, though I believe there was cream cheese and then some other kind of cheese.
What would Thanksgiving be without desserts? I don't know. I've never experienced one without at least one pie. This year, we had two pumpkin pies (even though I'm probably the only one who is really that enthusiastic about them) and an apple pie, which everyone else likes. I'm not so much a fan, but this one has a crunchy brown sugar topping which I like.
Last but not least, the daughter-in-law decided she would contribute with a cheesecake made from scratch. It was topped with apple pie filling, caramel, and crushed pecans. Very tasty, and also very sweet. It's going to take a while to get through it, I think.
The granddaughter got her first tastes of Thanksgiving dinner, and really enjoyed the ham, the turkey, and the apple part of the pie and cheesecake.
For me, it was another great experience. It would have been nice to have my oldest son and his wife there, but since she is due in a couple of weeks, and moving back to Oregon after that, it wasn't going to work out this time. That probably means we'll have next year to look forward to having everyone together.
About This Post
All photos by Glen Anthony Albrethsen on an Olympus E-3 DSLR camera with a Zwiko lens.
This edition of Grandpa Gotta Eat is posted in conjunction with Food Fight Friday. Want to participate? Make a post about food, on a Friday, with the tag #fff. Be sure to check out the other posts, too. Have fun. Repeat.