Tradition takes a back seat to nothing
– except cheesecake
Sometimes I think it would be nice to invite strangers to
Thanksgiving dinner.
I could impress everyone with my beautiful, golden-brown turkey;
my fluffy mashed potatoes; my homemade cranberry sauce; and some
inventive side dishes that I plucked out of Gourmet magazine.
Tradition takes a back seat to nothing – except cheesecake
Sometimes I think it would be nice to invite strangers to Thanksgiving dinner.
I could impress everyone with my beautiful, golden-brown turkey; my fluffy mashed potatoes; my homemade cranberry sauce; and some inventive side dishes that I plucked out of Gourmet magazine.
If I were serving strangers, no one would be upset that I was serving broccoli instead of green beans, or sourdough rolls instead of potato rolls, or throwing garlic and green onions into the mashed potatoes, just to give them a different little twist.
Instead, I have my wonderful yet picky family, who insists that everything at the Thanksgiving table be just the same as it was last year, and the year before that, and the year before that.
One little change sends everyone into a tizzy. I’ll give you an example.
Before Thanksgiving Day this year, I got into an intense discussion with my mother about dressing. Like many people, I don’t stuff my turkey, instead preparing dressing as a side dish.
Being lazy about certain Thanksgiving essentials, I typically get Stove Top stuffing and usually almost forget to make it until the last possible minute, when there are 50 million things happening all at once in the same little kitchen space. Potatoes to mash, rolls to warm, turkey to carve, and so forth.
This year, I had the bright idea of making the dressing in advance in the Crock Pot. That way, I could get it out of the way and off the stove top, one less thing to do at the last minute.
When I told my mother about this, she got very concerned. Like I was losing my marbles or something.
“I can make the dressing if you want,” she told me, thinking I was stressing out over doing this.
“No, Mom, I really want to make it in the Crock Pot,” I said with a sigh.
All I wanted to do was try something a little bit different. I didn’t dare tell her I’d found a stuffing recipe that called for applesauce.
I had to reassure her that I was really fine with making it in the Crock Pot, and it was no trouble at all. I had to tell her a couple of times before she got the idea.
“OK, then, I’ll make it in the Crock Pot for you,” she said bravely. “I’ve got Stove Top stuffing. I’ll bring it.”
Well, that wasn’t quite the point I was trying to make, but I said OK.
And then there’s the squash issue.
My brother always brings butternut squash and bakes it in the oven. Not that I have any objection to butternut squash – in fact, I rather like it. But no one else does, and we end up with a truckload of baked squash.
But I don’t want to hurt his feelings by turning away his offering, and so there is squash for weeks.
Everyone’s got a favorite thing at Thanksgiving. For my younger son, it’s the right kind of soft, squishy roll. For me, it’s the sweet potatoes with marshmallows. For my dad, it’s the turkey.
So if I want to experiment with Thanksgiving, it will be with strangers. And faced with a choice of family or non-family, family wins hands-down. So I’ll stick with the same old menu if it makes them happy.
And in the end, they were. With an unexpected twist.
My parents brought not a pumpkin pie, but – surprise! – a pumpkin cheesecake.
“We thought it would be fun to have something different,” explained my dad.
Well, I guess there’s some room for new tricks on Thanksgiving after all.
