Thanksgiving

Janet and I went up to our daughter’s home in Columbia S.C. for Thanksgiving dinner, the one condition being that I go up a day early to cook the Turkey.  ( I may be remembered for nothing else but Turkey when I die.  I vary my techniques:  Sometime I brine the Turkey, sometimes I cook it in paper bag, sometimes I just roast and baste, and this time I used a Turkey bag.  It always seems to turn out well, thus the invitation.)   I usually use Tone’s Italian seasoning for the dressing and I make some to cook in the Turkey and some to cook outside the Turkey.  I made both giblet gravy which I love, and gravy from the pan drippings (Which would be better with giblets, but I have people in my family who object to giblets a lot).  For some reason, for the first time that I remember the non giblet gravy came out lumpy, but a quick whiz in the blender made it smooth as silk. 

The dinner came out very well, with pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie, and apple pie, and lots of whipped cream to finish it off.  My two sons (both well over forty) drove up on Thanksgiving day, ate, played games with us and left that evening.  One son brought the sima (Scandinavian mead which has become a tradition at Thankgiving.  It was delicious though not as carbonated as usual. I had boned out the turkey and bagged the meat and the dressing so that my younger son could take the carcass home to give his cats a thrill. 

The boys bagged up a bunch stuff and left for home about ninish (three hour drive home) and I was a bit concerned because late night driving after a big meal can be worrisome.  I was also concerned because wife and daughter were planning an attach on Black Friday, and I wanted to be awake in the morning to chaperone them.

Black Friday shopping was enormous fun and we spent much less than I had feared and got some real bargains on things we needed.  When we were loafing around the house playing with Roscoe the dog and Meow the cat the phone rang.  One of the sons said, with some panic in his voice, we didn’t get any turkey or dressing when we came home.  My answer was  “Well turkeys are still forty to forty nine cents a pound  some of the stores, go buy a turkey, roast it and you’ll have your own supply.”  They agreed that this was a good idea so they bought one, and the rest of the day was filled with calls about how much seasoning, how much bread in the dressing, etc. etc., etc.  Then their was peace, until evening when younger son called.  “I have good news and bad news” he said.  Suspecting that they had cremated the turkey,  I asked for the good news first.  “The turkey came out great,” he said, and the dressing was good.” 

“What’s the bad news ?”   “Well, when we were boiling the potatoes, the electric range caught on fire!”    “What”?   “It came out okay.  I knew where the fire extinguisher was and put it right out.  The range is dead, so we had to finsih the potatoes in the microwave, and except for the smell, and the black streaks on the wall over the stove, everything is okay.”

When we got home, I pulled the back off the stove to discover that it hadn’t been, (as I suspected) a grease fire, but all the fire was concentrated in the wiring behind the switches and dials.

Jan has hated the appearance of that range since we moved here so today I bought a new range.  The wall didn’t quite come out very well, but most of the black streaks are gone (In one place, the wallpaper is permanently damaged, but we will decide what to do about that in the days ahead.  I am thankful that we had a good time as the family.  I am thankful for the fire extinguisher, and mostly I am thankful that the house didn’t burn down..