I have mixed emotions about Thanksgiving. When I was little, there were a few years when it was somehow magical. My aunts would spend the day cooking and laughing, excited to be together; excited to enjoy a big meal. I would be with my favorite cousin not enduring the long hours of my only-child childhood. My grandmother would make pistachio pudding, my aunt, Susy, would make homemade stuffing with her homemade bread, and the mashed potatoes, so creamy and delicious would lump in my throat causing pain in my back from eating them too fast. I'd end up with the hiccups!
My parents all come from large families, so not yet understanding the who's-mad-at-who details of adult life, I could just enjoy the mass of attention and love bestowed upon me by my older aunts and uncles. We celebrated this way most years until my adulthood. Then things began to change.
My cousin got married and started celebrating Thanksgiving with his wife's family taking my favorite aunt with him. They invited me, but it wasn't the same. Another aunt and uncle began hosting in their huge river home and we each brought a dish to share. Lovely to see everyone, but not the magic of my childhood with my cousin missing from the equation. I'm not sure if this is the case in all families, but it seems that as we get older, we lose family. They go their separate ways, their own families grow and start their own traditions, or in some cases, relationships fall apart and we become privy to the who's-mad-at-who details of adult life.
Now this year we have COVID to deal with. We can't even get together if we want to!
While it makes me sad to think about the loss of my childhood traditions, I am grateful to have those memories. And, while I may be feeling sorry for myself for a moment, I also appreciate my place in the world and the new traditions I am beginning to forge.
THANKSGIVING MENU IN THE FARM STORE
Because so many of us will be celebrating in small pods of maybe only two or three people, and my own family decided to cancel a large gathering for the day, I decided to cook anyway and put the meal in the farm store for my "virtual" guests.
Cooking here for all of you, I imagine William's Grandma Florence (aka 'Lil Flow) preparing a Thanksgiving meal for her family of five, that would grow over the years, barely fitting in that little farmhouse by the time they all had married and had children of their own. The nostalgia of farmhouse cooking, of families gathering, of stuffing ourselves with all the once-a-year treats brings me joy. Images of these better times function like a beacon of light and hope.
THE DETAILS
I have prepared 20 servings of a traditional Thanksgiving Dinner packaged in servings for two. If you are celebrating with four people, you would want to purchase TWO containers of each menu item to serve four people. If you are celebrating with only one other person, one container of each menu item will make a meal enough for two.
Menu items will be for sale until they sell out on Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 26th. I will post to our Facebook page when/if we sell out.
THE MENU (Most items in servings for 2, $3 each)
Oven Roasted Turkey (packages of white meat or dark meat)
Loaded Smashed Yukon Golds with sour cream, cream, butter and scallions
Sage Stuffing with homemade bread
Garlic Gravy made from scratch with turkey juices and roasted garlic
Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad with Dates and Lemon
Cranberry Salad (Tastes like Cheesecake!)
Gingered Butter Carrots (Carrots from Good Turn Farm)
Cabernet Cranberry & Fig Jam (So good on turkey or turkey sandwiches!)
Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits
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