Happy Thanksgiving to all! I am always impressed by this holiday. Unlike Christmas, it is always on a Thursday and it comes with little chance to get set for it. So, many people scramble to drive or fly to a place for family gathering. So, the weather and the crowds and the roads and airports get a special sort of hit from the day.
Of course, there is usually turkey and I think that is a good thing. It is good meat and fun to cook. It is one holiday I have prepared for myself, when Lynn was a doctoral student and had that apartment in Madison. I found out then and have kept in mind the value of oven turkey bags. They take lots of the chance and sensitivity out of the procedure and make it reliable. I am very glad I don’t have to use the wood-burning stove that Lynn’s Finnish grandmother used to cook a turkey for a large, hungry group depending on that bird. I am nervous enough just using the bag and electric oven.
Personally, I like pumpkin pie and pumpkin ice cream. I have had pumpkin cheese cake that I thought was outstanding. I note that Mma Ramotswe of the “No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency” series serves pumpkin in Botswana and it seems to be a popular food with her and her husband. I am confident that I am also used to the seasonings used with the pumpkin like cinnamon and ginger.
Cranberry (jellied) sauce was always present on the Thanksgiving table during my childhood. It took me years to notice that it was not a sauce in the usual sense of the word since it wasn't a flowing liquid. I hale the use of craisins and like the acidic, fairly sharp taste.
No mention of this special holiday is complete without a nod to what is now being referred to in many places as “Black Friday”, the special Friday when stores everywhere in the country try to outdo each other in offering special deals on what might be a great gift for Christmas at oddly early hours. I guess Thanksgiving is somewhat like John, the Baptist, coming ahead and heralding the approach of something much bigger and more important.
There are other regular add-ons and associations with Thanksgiving such as the Army-Navy football game and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.
