It’s that time of year again - one of my favorite holidays, Thanksgiving. Not only because eating and cooking are 2 of my favorite activities, but also because it is a season of reflection and gratitude for life’s many blessings. Two of my biggest blessing are out of the country at the moment so I’m celebrating small this year - just myself and my parents, whom I am SO grateful to still have. And since it is just the 3 of us, and I’m in the middle of a ridiculous stretch of marathon holiday installations, we thought we’d go out to eat this year. We are headed to the historic Wayside Inn, which, as the oldest operating inn in the United States, seems like an appropriate Thanksgiving venue. Also, their food is always very good!
Normally I host and we have at least 9 or 10 and sometimes many more. My dad likes to help cook and is the gravy whisperer…he makes the best gravy, but I've finally graduated to the gravy master in recent years with a little help from Ina Garten (see THIS post for the secret). Dad is also in the go big or go home camp when it comes to quantities of food…procuring a nearly 40 lb turkey from the turkey farm of a friend several years in a row. I had no idea turkeys grew to that size?! I’ve had to use a garden bucket (hey, I’m all about solutions! and what BETTER use for a garden bucket?) to brine big bird, and he BARELY fit in the oven!
I also have the worlds best recipe for cranberry sauce - an apricot-pecan hybrid created from the cranberry sauce my sister-in-law makes and the recipe my nana used to make. You can find that HERE. It’s super easy, keeps forever in the fridge, and makes an outstanding condiment on our favorite turkey sandwiches throughout the year!
The other must have recipe in our house, besides the normal sides, I mean, is THIS ONE for the Lucia Rolls introduced to me by my sister-in-law, and completely irresistible (both the rolls AND my SIL!).
I’ll miss cooking and the wonderful aromas and leftovers on Thanksgiving Day, but I’m grateful for the many blessings in my life and for the opportunity to relax and enjoy the day with my 80-something year old parents in lovely historic surroundings! I’ll get to make the whole shebang when my crew wanders back from Europe and Canada next month - it’s their favorite holiday too!
