beXnlog

Thursday

I don't feel a need to do anything for Thanksgiving, or Thankstaking as i sometimes refer to it. Celebrating "family" and "good things" shouldn't be relegated to one measly day revolving around dry turkey and false notions about togetherness (not to mention football, gender roles and genocide). If we don't brave the bus masses and head down to VA, my mom feels slighted - even though Thanksgiving just meant a turkey for my dad and we all ate separately in front of the tv like we always do anyways. If we don't head over to Douglaston, be's whole family gets upset and spends days trying to convince/trick/guilt him into going - dinner equating to a massive affair with extended relatives and numerous dry turkeys, save the one with tomato sauce.

If you declare you're doing nothing for Thanksgiving, all sorts of parents think you're essentially evil and causing them to stress and cry. But if you do "something," even if it's without them, they instantly feel much better. I don't understand this logic - what are we celebrating anyways? - but we did end up doing something on Thursday. It was decided Wednesday morning that we would host a small dinner with other friends who didn't travel either - partly parental guilt, partly to ease the week of bickering between be and myself regarding the holiday, and partly because we do like dinner parties.

A$ (whose mom was also happy she was doing something), Lovella and Arif came over for dinner:

Hummus with fried sage on sesame toast with garlic oil
Plantain chips*
Arugula and apple salad with basalmic vinaigrette
Pan roasted tiny potatoes with garlic
Sauteed broccoli
Roasted butternut squash
Quorn Roast with fresh rosemary and sage
Grilled marinated portabella mushrooms
Herb Stuffing
Brown gravy
Fresh cranberry sauce
Mudhouse Sauvignon Blanc, that tasted grapefruity!*
White Zinfandel*
Iced tea with lemon
Pumpkin pie*
Apple pie
Vanilla ice cream
Raspberry sorbet
Pomegranates

*Brought by our lovely guests

Surprisingly, the Quorn Roast was quite similar to processed turkey, specifically the kind found in TV dinners! Dry and dense just like the real thing. I was also surprised at how fluffy and delicious the instant stuffing was. Hits in my opinion: the tiny potatoes and the butternut squash. Things we've made better other times: the broccoli and the grilled portabellas.

As much as i love stuffing, gravy and cranberry sauce, i'm deciding that next year the menu shouldn't be bound by any "traditions." Why not make a nice meal comprised of the foods from other cuisines, or of foods everyone likes? And why not eat Quorn Roast, stuffing and pumpkin pie year round? That is, unless we end up at one of the parents' houses next year. Or if we do anything at all.

posted by beXn @ 2:02 AM