My oldest son, Alex, invited Roger and me to his house this year for a pre-Thanksgiving dinner he was having for some of his friends who couldn't make it home for the holidays. How sweet is THAT? How many 22 year old men do you know who are that kind and thoughtful? Thank God my boys take after their Daddy.
Roger and I arrived early for dinner and we were prepared. Prepared in the way that we'd had the good sense to eat BEFORE we got there. We walked into a different kind of Thanksgiving, and lemme tell ya, Norman Rockwell had NOTHING to do with it.
I knew we were in for a new holiday experience when we walked into the kitchen and saw one of Alex's friends furiously typing away on his iphone. This friend just graduated with an Aeronautical Engineering degree and it was HIS job to configure the different frying temperatures of two separate cooking oils. An important job, too, since it was the holiday turkey they were trying to fry. Uh huh...Toto, we are NOT in Kansas, anymore.
I stuck Alex's favorite dessert in the fridge and assumed a place at the bar to watch the action. Lord, I wish I was a drinker.
Alex's friend, Milad, was busy assembling Alton Brown's macaroni and cheese, saving time by assembling the entire thing in one dish. Layers? We don't need no stinking LAYERS! I watched as he happily stirred the different cheeses together and didn't seem concerned at all with the amount of macaroni cascading down onto the floor.
Alex and Jay were inspecting the semi-frozen turkey for ice particles, since, apparently, that makes for a really exciting and possibly explosive turkey fry (and I don't mean explosive in a festive, exciting way, but an Oh My God, It's A Nuclear Bomb kind of way.)
A friend had already warned me to have Alex check the grease level BEFORE he lowered the turkey into the hot oil, and I'd like to think that if Alex had actually tried to FRY the turkey he would have followed my instructions. But I'm trying to live my life in reality now and I doubt very seriously if he even HEARD WHAT I SAID about the possible life ending nuclear holocaust that could occur if he didn't follow basic frying safety.
No Worries, though...Alex announced the frying was cancelled since the turkey was still semi-frozen. YAY! I put down the fire extinguisher, unclenched my jaw and tried to remember how to breathe.
We were down to the wire now and dinner was definitely in sight - and it was only an hour and a half later than we were SUPPOSED to eat, too. Way To Go, Team!
Suddenly, Head Chef Milad realizes he's forgotten that most basic of Thanksgiving beverages...GRAVY!! Immediately, three iphones are whipped out and internet surfing for gravy recipes begins.
Nevermind the fact that I'm sitting right there with DECADES of cooking experience and GENERATIONS of cherished recipes stored right in my head! Does anybody ask ME? Nope, I don't have buttons, and I'm not linked to the internet, therefore I am invisible. That was when I decided to sit back, shut up and watch the show.
You mean you can't heat an ENTIRE ice cold turkey in 15 minutes? Frozen green beans should be cooked BEFORE you add them to the green bean casserole? Cream gravy and hoagie rolls are NOT traditional Thanksgiving Day foods? WHO KNEW??
Ice cold turkey, lumpy gravy and HUGE ENORMOUS dinner rolls were beside the point. This dinner, so lovingly prepared, was a triumph for Alex and his friends. They were proud of the fact that they had managed to pull this together, all by themselves and their friends were so grateful they bragged on the food and did their very best to eat every single bite.
Looking around that table, it occurred to me...There was a lot to be thankful for, believe me.
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