Cooking

I actually ate remarkable little for Thanksgiving. Not that I've ever really viewed the day as a time for competitive eating and the lot, but things cropped up which prevented me from gorging too much.

Was it because the food is burned?

Or because there was a blazing row over dinner with the relatives?

Or am I on some new fangled diet?

Or because I was alone at my apartment, eating a turkey sub?

Well, no, it was none of those. I spent the day cooking, which normally, I leave to others on this day.

See, because of the Holiday Fetish Fair, plus some other engagements earlier in the weekend, I choose not to accompany my family to Detroit. See, since before my parents were married, before I was even a thought in there minds and before they had there current jobs, they have been making this annual jaunt to Detroit to see my fathers family. And I could actually predict, with startling accuracy, what the events of the trip will be. Where everyone will shop. Who was over for dinner. Which items were specially prepared for whom. What the general topics of conversation will be. Its a nice trip and one I have enjoyed a great many times, but I've sort of outgrown it.

So I decided to spend the day with my grandfather and cook for us. We spend very little time together and so it seemed like a nice idea. And we got ourselves a bird and I agreed to cook.

Since my parents have a much better kitchen for doing major cooking events (I think I just invented a term there), I made a motion to cook there. And everything went fairly well. We even cleaned up and my mother should come back and find her kitchen looking quite nice, and not at all like a disaster area.

The menu included:
-A small turkey, covered in various seasonings and cooked with dressing inside
-Cornbread dressing with fresh onion and pork sausage
-Garlic mashed potatoes from scratch. I modified my mothers recipe slightly, and I think I have an idea for how to make a few subtle improvements to my modifications
-Gravy from scratch and
-Corn.

We also had some pumpkin pie (store bought) and some veggies and dip to munch on during the preparation. And it should be noted that except for the potatoes and corn, I had never prepared any of the other dishes before. And the potatoes I have generally done with the supervision/assistance of my mother.

I started prepping the bird and doing the dressing at about 11am and we finally sat down around 5ish. So that's 6 hours of cooking. And there wasn't much time to sit down once the bird was in the oven, because I was constantly basting it and checking everything. Plus after the stuffing and bird were done I had to strike and reset the kitchen and I was constantly pulling out pots and pans to take care of the next round of preparation.

And it was fun. I honestly had quite a bit of fun. I love to cook when I have a proper kitchen and proper ingredients, which I had. I love to cook when I can run the kitchen how I like and when I have enough room to maneuver around. And I love to cook when I can turn it into performance art, which I was able to do because my grandfather got to see my cooking skills and there is so much leftover that the parents will be able to taste it.

But I was so freaking tired that after eating just enough to make sure everything came out well, I layed down to watch the last quarter of the game and relax and I promply fell asleep and didn't wake up for 2 hours. And then I was up just enough to finish with the second half of the dishes.

It was a nice thanksgiving all in all. And I think I'm going to try to plan more major cooking events in the future. But first, I need a 4 sided apron. After all, what's cuter than a boy who can cook in a kitchen in a little apron?

Jake Bullet