Thanksgiving

What is the best part of Thanksgiving?

Right now, I vote: THE PUMPKIN PIE FOR BREAKFAST THE NEXT DAY. With a little dollop of whipped cream.....now that's the way to start a day.

I think John is voting: THE STUFFING. I'm hoping there will be some leftover come dinner tonight....

We had just four of us for dinner this year, a little unusual for us, but we cooked for 14 just in case.

We brined a turkey overnight, and stuffed it with a cornbread/challah stuffing fragrant with fresh sage, thyme, parsley, marjoram, lots of onions and celery, and a lifetime's ration of butter. I might have baked it just a tich too long, but it was fine.

Garlic mashed Yukon Gold potatoes, and my brother likes sweet potatoes, so a little side of those with bourbon brown sugar butter glaze.

A vat of gravy, I forgot that Ren, the gravy hound, is still in France. There should still be some left when she gets back in June.

Green beans, just steamed and topped with thin sizzled onion rings, a nod to "company green beans."

Waldorf Salad, with raisins plumped in bourbon. A tangerine and lettuce salad in an orange juice vinaigrette. At my sister's house apparently they have dispensed with any menu item that does not go with gravy, and in fact the Waldorf Salad is looking like a good alternative for lunch today, but I find the greens and crispness balances the palette and the palate at the meal, even if they are not at their best smothered in gravy.

Cranberry orange sauce.

Sharffenberger brut, Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc, and Maker's Mark for the non-wine drinker.

A delumpshious velvety pumpkin pie made by Lynn, with whipped cream.

Conversation ranged from updates on work from all, book reviews (John just read the latest Christopher Buckley, Lynn is reading a Barbara Kingsolver, and Thad and I are reading murder mysteries), to the problems of the world, all the more vivid in contrast to the lace and luxury and over-filled plates over which we considered them.

At 7:30 it felt like 9, so we all toddled off to bed and slept soundly.