Halloween is rapidly approaching, but it’s Thanksgiving that takes center stage in Beached — and as you might imagine, Mer’s holiday involves far more than a traditional meal.
Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I tend to default to a standard menu: roast turkey with herb butter and caramelized-onion gravy, garlic mashed potatoes, green beans, a second wildcard vegetable, homemade cranberry sauce, assorted relishes, and rolls. For desert, I make a killer dried cranberry and apple pie, and my grandmother’s pecan pie.
Over the years, I’ve learned how to tackle a meal of this magnitude—and preparation is key. A comprehensive shopping list is the foundation upon which all else is built. But there’s more. Cranberry sauce can be made ahead. Veggies can be peeled or blanched. Tables can be cleared and set. Even wine can be opened early—just be sure to have more for the guests.
Probably the biggest tip I can offer is not to go this meal alone. I did. Once.
Thanksgiving is a symbolic meal. Home and hearth and family themes permeate the holiday. Magazine layouts depict tables laden with crystal and china, a platter with a holiday bird that could only have come from Martha Stewart’s oven, and someone holding a carving knife who looks as if she actually intends to use it on the turkey, and not her family.
I speak from experience when I say that many a cook has gotten herself caught up in the presentation of perfection when we all know life is messy. Yet no matter how intelligent the hostess, this is not a lesson that can be taught.
Sadly, it must be experienced.
Chapter 6~
Mer considered herself a reasonably intelligent woman, but smart wasn’t the word used to describe a person who went to the grocery store the night before Thanksgiving.
Beached launches January 10, 2018!
Hi Micki. I forgot all about Thanksgiving! Whoops.
I’ve got your back!
The night before??? Mer, Mer, Mer.
I’ve hosted the “big” Thanksgiving meal here at our house for the past five years or so. While my husband and I don’t go off the deep end with planning (like his side of the family tends to do) we allow about three days total for planning, prep and cooking. What’s tricky is, no matter how organized you THINK you are, the day of is always chaotic. Crazy. Insane. One year, after I did a quick count, I realized I’d filled something like 56 containers of left-overs for family members to take with them.
Never again.
It’s that chaos of the unexpected that does Mer in….
Fifty-six containers of leftovers? Yowza! I don’t have that many containers. Lol. You are a saint. I have a confession. I LOVE Thanksgiving leftovers. I make extra so that I have leftover leftovers! So, if you discover you have a 59th container you don’t know what to do with this year, I’d be happy to take it off your hands!
I love leftovers too – if there are any by the time I’m done doling them out! That fifty six sounds crazy, but what it translated to was about 6-7 containers per “family,” or individual. Cause ya know…there’s taters, sweet tater casserole, five cup salad, 2-3 kinds of veggies, ham and turkey, gravy and the OMG desserts!
You’d have to fight me for that 59th container. 😉
Game on! Lol.