A Traditional Thanksgiving Feast

Thursday November 22

It was not just Thanksgiving, but our niece Joanna's eighteenth birthday as well. So at an interval in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (at a time when Barbara could be forcibly wedged out from in front of the TV), we celebrated with a hearty sausage strata and a carrot cake (made by Becky) cleverly decorated with carrots and "18"s in a checkerboard across the traditional creamy icing.

The feast was scheduled for 2 PM, so preparations began soon after the birthday breakfast got cleared away. Everybody pitched in, and to keep their strength up, Joanna made cream cheese-stuffed mushrooms, while we provided some of Helene's salted giant pecans and Barbara's smoked bluefish pâté. The latter was made the night before we left, according to this recipe, but this time it benefited from a squeeze of lemon juice in the process.

We were to be fourteen at dinner: Becky and her husband Steve; their children Melanie, Joanna, Madeline, Jacob, and Caroline; his parents Chuck and Martha; her and Holt's father Harold; friends Kelly and Genevieve; and of course Holt and Barbara. The meal combined a multitude of family traditions in a most satisfactory way, and no vital element was missed.

The main feature, of course, was the enormous turkey. This (plus an extra turkey breast) was barded with bacon by Martha, and roasted unstuffed.

Dressing in the southwestern tradition was made of crumbled cornbread and sausage, masterminded (along with everything else) by Becky.

The requisite sweet-potato casserole was dotted with brown sugar and toasted in the oven; Melanie increased the usual topping-to-sweet-potato ratio by cleverly undermining her second portion.

Joanna accompanied that with regular mashed potatoes (thus strengthening her biceps), as a canvas on which to display Martha's giblet gravy.

Holt roasted asparagus, while juggling the rolls that were also warming in the oven to do so.

And to please every palate, there were three kinds of cranberry sauce: Martha's raw cranberry and orange relish; Barbara's cranberry chutney; that jellied stuff from the can that the children adore.

The sweet finale was a picture-perfect pair of pumpkin pies, baked by Jacob.

What an accomplished - and full - family!