John woke me up this morning whispering, "It's Thanksgiving week!" In our little house, this is a big deal. I pre-ordered our organic turkey weeks ago, and have carefully been amassing all the necessary ingredients for an autumnal feast come Thursday. All this planning and excitement has often made me think of you, darling readers-how many of you are cooking a Thanksgiving meal for your sweetheart for the first time this week, or will be joining your future mother-in-law around the table? How many of you are seasoned Thanksgiving pros, and how many of you are staring down the gauntlet of an enormous turkey?Whether this is old hat or new territory, I hope you'll all enjoy some of my best advice for pulling together a fantastic Thanksgiving meal (I officially ousted my mother from gravy duty when I was 12, so I've got some experience) and delight in some of my family's famous Thanksgiving failures!
My Thanksgiving mantra is, "Keep it simple", and there are three easy steps to help you achieve turkey nirvana. The first is:
Determine your diners' expectations.
The first year we celebrated Thanksgiving with my cousin Maria and her family, she served a stunning 32 lb turkey, homemade cranberry relish and...whole roasted sweet potatoes. My younger brother Charlie and I picked at these strange orange roots politely (we were 11 and 9, respectively) and demanded a Thanksgiving do-over complete with mashed potatoes once we were in the car.
Figure out what's expected at your Thanksgiving table. If there's always a green bean casserole, don't disappoint your dinner guests. Ask your sweetheart or a family member you're close to about what's served. People are usually pretty flexible at the dinner table, but since Thanksgiving traditions are mostly about food, you don't want to miss a key component (like our mashed potatoes)!
Photo by Kate Headley.
This is such a nice post!!
ReplyDeleteSounds like you have it all under control!! We don´t have Thanksgiving in Italy but I celebrated it in Canada when my friends from University would invite me to join them back home. My favorite was always pumpkin pie and that cranberry sauce!!
xoxo
This is really great advice! I love that you ousted your mom, cracks me up! We're actually going to my family's house in Kansas this year. I'm really excited! We leave on Wednesday (we're driving 12 hours) at the crack of dawn and return on Sunday so it's a decent length of a trip. Plus my stepbrothers band is playing and we love their band but never get to see them. Should be a real treat! I'm hoping to make the macaroni :)
ReplyDeleteAs much as I adore you I have to admit I have really conflicting feelings about you Americans for hogging all the thanksgiving! Turkey is my favorite meal ever and us poor Europeans don't get to take part in all this action!
ReplyDeletePfff!
On a more serious note, enjoy your Thanksgiving week ;)
I'm deathly afraid of gravy. Any tips?
ReplyDeleteI always do the stuffing and sweet pototoes because my Mom skimps and I like lots of leftovers!
LOL I could not agree more! I am making pretty much all the sides, potatoes, candy yams, green bean casserole and the pies. it will be carb-o-licious! My sister and I will be the only ones this year, so we will be eating and waking it off in shifts.
ReplyDeleteGreat post- It will just be the four of us- which keeps it simple and special- I am going to bring out the good china because I love setting the table!
ReplyDeleteLena, this is such an amazing post! I loved reading it and I completely agree with your mantra. I can't wait to see photos of your Thanksgiving dinner.
ReplyDeleteHappy Monday!
xo
fab post! i wish we celebrated thanksgiving here, but, well, better luck next time for us. :) hope you have a wonderful holiday and everything goes great! :)
ReplyDeletehugs
I'm loving that you have everything under control... what is the secret ?!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm lucky to be eating at a friend's house...but would love a little turkey for my house. I don't believe a 6lb turkey exists. That's like an anorexic turkey.
ReplyDeletexo,
c
cute post, we do dinner at my mother in laws house and she cooks the meal...I am only responsible for a dessert which is fine by me...cooking a turkey seems like a daunting task
ReplyDeletewe are so alike, it's not even funny. great (and much needed!) advice, my sweet :)
ReplyDeleteThat is a great stance to have for the holidays- simple can sometimes be the most beautiful!
ReplyDeletei couldn't agree more! my boyfriend and i area cooking thanksgiving dinner together for the first time this year away from our families and the first thing i did was take consensus of the food traditions that must be upheld. so we might only be feeding a few, but the table will be full with old comfortable favorites. i couldn't imagine just going out for pizza or something... that would make being away from family so sad!
ReplyDeleteVery useful post. We don't have Thanksgiving here but I wish you all the best on that special day.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't agree more. Brining your turkey a la Alton Brown isn't a victory if your clan wants it done the way Nana has done it for 50 years. Great entry!
ReplyDeleteWhat lovely thoughts about entertaining for Thanksgiving! Hope yours was simply a delight!
ReplyDelete