Thursday, November 27, 2014

Thanksgiving

Despite Ed's statements (that every day is a birthday, that Thanksgiving is just like yesterday and tomorrow, etc.), today, from the earliest minutes, feels different. Special.

Happy Thanksgiving, Ed! -- daylight is coming in, I wake up with it.
Mmm.
Aren't you going to wish me a happy Thanksgiving?
I said it yesterday.
(I know, I know, Thanksgiving is like yesterday, like tomorrow...)

I get up to let the cheepers out. This is a day when being out this early is just fine. Tending your chickens. Watching the light at the farmette grow bolder with each minute.

The day looks gray. I push shut the jacket I grabbed off the chair. It's Ed's and about thirty sizes too big. A geese formation passes over the farmhouse. For once I don't mind their noise. Thanksgiving is a very fowl-oriented holiday, no?


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I bake the cinnamon rolls, as much for the aroma of yeast and spices as for the sweetness they provide for our breakfast table.


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I practice what so many Americans practice on this day -- a lack of restraint, an indifference to nutrition, calories, fiber, etc etc -- whatever we eat today will stay with this day.


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We lose ourselves in computer work. The beautifully illustrated NYTimes piece requires follow up work. A thank you note to Spencer Wilson, who drew the picture for it. And, too, people send you their stories. I love that! I want to respond to them! For me, reading about someone's life, on FB, on the blog, or in an email in response to something you said is the grandest benefit of publishing anything at all.


The skies clear to a beautiful blue. It's cold, but as always, a sunny cold feels bright and beautiful. Or is it that it's Thanksgiving?


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I visit the cheepers in the barn. They've found the spot where the sun comes through in a lovely patch of gold.


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As you will have read, my daughters are in Chicago and so Ed and I go over to do some cat sitting. Here's one guy who honestly looks a bit like a rat here:


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And in the evening, there is, of course, dinner. For us, it's at the Japanese Edo's.  A small place and a short drive for us.
I ask Ed -- how many people will be eating there tonight, do you think?
There are maybe 12 - 15 tables total, right? I'll say eight will be occupied.
I'll say only five.

In fact, we are the only diners. We are there at 6. A sign announces they will close at 7 tonight. Two little girls, daughters of the proprietors perhaps, are sitting at the counter, coloring.

We order our foods. (Do we look like the sketch in the story?)


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We're eating the last of the sushi. The little girls at the counter are already in the jackets. We know the owners want to close shop. We're quick: we ask for the check and as we take care of the paper work, I ask -- anxious to get home?
No! We want to go shopping! To get the bargains!

We drive home in the darkness of a country night. Over the hills and through the woods.

And then we're home.

I hope you had a splendid day!

17 comments:

  1. I used to love it when the geese flew south. While my mother was still alive and I was in the area we used to watch them every year. Their honking and flapping always team work as they fly off each other's currents. Honk, honk, go faster, get the current up so I can fly more easily.

    The cinnamon rolls look delicious. Irene had posted her recipe and I am going to give it a shot. I can not resist baked goods made with buttermilk. I think I can smell your cinnamon rolls from here.

    That is a very nice photo of the cat/rat.

    You and Ed are probably the only people I have ever known of to go way out side of the box and eat sushi on Thanksgiving. Happy T-Day!

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    1. What about us Nora? We ate lobster-fish casserole!

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    2. I used to love geese... until thousands decided to call Madison home. They leave their mark. Everywhere! But in flight? Magnificent!

      On the cinnamon rolls: I took the best rated recipe on Epicurious.com here: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Our-Favorite-Cinnamon-Rolls-51251020 No buttermilk! In the future, I would use less brown sugar/butter filling. We don't like overly sweet stuff. And I think they're better if baked the same day (rather than refrigerated overnight). But they're easy and satisfying and the aroma is pure heaven.

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    3. Bex, Oh, yes, you're right up there! :)

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  2. Despite the pre-Thanksgiving kitchen glitches, and maybe a little bit because of them, this year was one of the most joyful family celebrations ever! Lots of laughter, hugs, a few happy tears shed by the ladies, or were those teardrops just an overflow of chardonnay?

    Son Eric drove 2hours with his wife Mary and her father - she made it! Queenly ensconced in pillows in the back seat. The baby is about two weeks from birth! We gave them some precious few things I have been saving in the cedar chest for thirty years - Eric's receiving blanket and my own receiving blanket, saved for 62 years! and a few special things made by Eric's two grandmothers and by me.

    Now, the kitchen is filled with soaking pots and pans, stacks of rinsed plates waiting for their turn in the dishwasher, 30 different glasses to be washed by hand. Cleanup is something I actually enjoy very much - just slow, meditative, thankful.

    I'm glad you enjoyed your day. I absolutely love the wrap you were wearing. It looks very Met Museum Store :) You really have an eye for color - holding those green chopsticks - or was that serendipity? Either way, great pic of two people undoubtedly so thankful for each other.

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    1. Serendipity. I wanted to imitate the art. (Shawl is from across the ocean -- a place where women are born knowing how to wear a scarf well!)

      Your Thanksgiving sounds perfect! What were your favorite foods? The reference to Chardonnay reminded me of my own wine last night: I refrigerated a special bottle and at the last minute, put it away. Drinking special wine alone is never fun.

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    2. Because of the oven glitch, we did the fresh turkey on the grill with hickory chips. The flavor was so wonderful I wouldn't ever want to go back to oven roasted... BUT stuffing in the crockpot can never match stuffing in the bird. Also we made gravy from a starter, not as good as pan drippings.
      Crispy duck in a wine sauce was good. Sweet potato boats with maple syrup & pecans were a new and popular variation. Green beans with bacon and portobellos. No oven for baking rolls, so we sliced up baguettes that we had baked and frozen last week. We had to make do! It was fun, after my Sis reminded me that "it's just US! Family!" And I thought, right? So just let it roll.
      Our own potatoes and turnips in a buttery mash. A beautiful salad just harvested on Wednesday from our garden, AFTER a blanket of snow had covered the redleaf lettuce last week. Kind of a miracle salad...with our roasted carrots, avocado and a citrus vinaigrette.
      My pies, not so good in the little convection oven. :(
      Still, I had pie for breakfast today! And also for Second Breakfast. That's MY Black Friday tradition!

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    3. Ah, there was a sister too. How many total? Did you work together or are you in charge in your own kitchen?

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    4. My Sis is my brother's wife. She comes from a very small family, four women and that's ALL (and now only three) and they are VERY tight, Hungarian-tight! :) By that I mean, a closed circle. After they'd known my mother and me for about 20 years, they decided they loved us. :) When she began to call me Sister, I was honored.

      I appreciate your curiosity about other lives. I like that your interests are so open. Of course a writer wants to continually expand her experiences. Gather material. Though the book of my life would be so boring.
      So, answers are: Only 12 for dinner this year, but that is comfortable. I love being able to get all around the long table, Norman Rockwell style... But any future expansion to card tables ( and high chairs,) will be welcome!
      Husband is the Chief in the kitchen, and I'm his wingman. The kitchen is well laid out for two people to be busy... several people sit around the end counter talking and watching and enjoying their beverages. :) This is the main reason we redesigned the kitchen.

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  3. Happy belated Thanksgiving to you, Nina. We hit TWO houses yesterday with food at only one, and I still came home with a whole pie baked by someone else. The kids rebelled at switching houses meaning we may switch things up next year and combine two families into one Thanksgiving. Oh the challenges that may present…

    I'm curious about your cinnamon roll recipe-do you have one that makes just a few rolls at once? Mine makes enough to feed a small army, and while it's delicious, it's way too much to make just for my family. It's the kind of recipe that just doesn't work if cut in half. Anyway, any tips or recipe ideas, I'd love to hear them.

    Have a wonderful black Friday. We're getting set to enjoy the local library's Black Friday specials of half off fines, free coffee and that's about it!

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    1. I had to read your black Friday line to Ed! We laughed hard at your way to "save!"
      The recipe (see comment above) is good for 16 rolls. If you need less, go elsewhere. Contrary to recommenders, I don't think it refrigerates well. Bake them the same day or move on!

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  4. I also would love the recipe, but if buttermilk is part of it, no-can-do - but isn't there a way to use an alternative for buttermilk? I seem to think so.

    Sushi for you, lobster for us... I think we've started a new tradition! xxx

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    1. In addition to sushi, we had shared a shrimp teriyaki. I think if you're breaking from the big meal turkey thing, seafood is a superb way to make it special but not reminiscent of what the books and magazines would have you do on this day. xo from one seafood lover to the other!
      Recipe: see comment above.

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  5. I wanted to comment at the NYT - just to support you enthusiastically! No need, really, to comment there when we talk here. However, I've had four frustrating attempts with my iPad. If I want to correct a typo, which is often because I go too fast, the comment box begins to hop all around, and then suddenly I'm transported to another page (by hitting a moving link). So, no more patience for that today.

    Wonderful article, so wise and kindhearted and a bit rueful. It is hard for things to change, and it's hard to begin to share the precious family time with the in-laws, though my self-talk goes as follows: They love my boys! That's wonderful! We all intend to be fair, and we all agree that we want to make things easy on the kids. No hurrying from house to house. No guilting. Still, I miss them when it's not my turn.

    My mother says that when they start wanting to hold holidays celebrations in their own homes, it will be a relief! It is true I have worked a lot this week! Endless trips up and down stairs.

    It's Black Friday, and I'm going to be IN for the weekend! I won't participate in crowd madness.

    I'm getting excited for your travels again! Where are we going? Give a little hint!!

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    1. Oh, that's so sweet of you! Thank you for that wonderful thought!

      In addition to *your* frustrations with commenting there, I have my own -- which is that they take FOREVER to moderate on holidays and weekends. So that I actually wrote back to one (to the Ocean follower!) before dawn and I still am waiting to see it posted. Why would anyone sit all day and refresh an article's comments? But, I suppose everyone wants a break from their work -- even an editor at the NYT.

      I will secretly admit that it was a less frazzled last Thursday of November. Even as I missed my girls!

      Travel hint: in the winter, I have one big goal these days: in Europe, I look for the places that offer the greatest prospect of sunshine and decent temps. Only two countries qualify and I'm going to one of them. I get more adventurous in March and EVEN MORE adventurous in June and EVEN MORE adventurous next August. For now -- I need sensual relief from the landscape before me!

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    2. Oh, you have so much to look forward to! I know the planning and visualizing are fun for you!

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  6. a perfect thanksgiving for the two of you! and those cinnamon rolls look heavenly.

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