We missed Nanny’s birthday this weekend but are very much looking forward to Thanksgiving dinner at her home in NE Texas. There are new babies this year, and even more forthcoming. There are usually about fifty people celebrating the day anchored by Nanny and four of her five children.
Four sons, daughter Leila died a few years ago. Turkeys and ham and side dishes plus a dazzling array of Southern desserts. Last year we decided to take photos of the ladies who make it all happen. Jim’s mother Margie made chef’s hats and I brought along all the stuff I had at home.
The guys all wondered what was going on. Perhaps we intruded on their naps or football or Risk game. But that was my point (troublemaker that I am). As a girlfriend you’re an oddity that needs to be checked out. As a new wife you ask what to bring. You suss out the situation and decide, as I did, that munchies for after dinner are the thing you can sidle in on and not intrude on mains or desserts.
Then you give one signature dish to a newer wife to make her own and expand your repertoire. But by then you’re just another wife, only there to prep, cook and do mountains of dishes. Therefore the photo to remind everyone of who does the work.
Don’t get me wrong. We do enjoy getting together with a large group of family every year and I’m even getting used to fifty people at a time! Unfortunately we usually bring the dog with us so she has to be watched every minute. We kept her at the vet’s last year and will never do that again.
I have to make boursin (cream cheese spread), spicy almonds and cashews, and perhaps another dish to share this year. The one I gave away was spinach balls, a classic in our family that Brenda makes now that she’s married to the clan, too. Maybe smoked salmon mousse on pumpernickel toasts….
Hope you’re planning an eventful Thanksgiving, too. Dee
Cooking with Dee 
We have the same stuffing every year, MIL’s mom’s stuffing. Other side dishes change (vegetables, mostly). Would it be wrong to offer to make, as an addition, my Dad’s stuffing? Am I asking for trouble in 26 years of tradition? Yikes. But my kids would love it…
I wish you luck. With my family we don’t have many traditions but I know that most families that have traditions don’t want them to be messed with.
I’m used to Mom’s plain stuffing with sauteed onions and celery, toasted wheat bread cut into cubes, thyme and sage, salt and pepper, the sauteed liver of the bird in question and beef consomme to moisten a bit. Later on the rest of the consomme is added to the gravy.
One year I made up a sublime stuffing for a girlfriend, with sausage and tart apples. I cooked and she provided good champagne.
Now we drive five hours and I bring along a couple of homemade appetizers. We do Christmas, however. I do, anyway!
[Notice I have Ms Princesa tucked under my arm]
Only a few weeks away now!
luv Val
Hi PDX,
Why don’t you take along your Dad’s stuffing as an extra dressing. When people love it, they’ll ask you to bring it again next year! Dee
Hey Robin in Salem OR, remember when your car was in the shop and you rented a “nacho cheese” VW convertible bug? We drove 1/2 mile to the store for champagne, with the top down and singing “I Will Survive” with the radio at the top of our lungs. Luckily those were my younger days. It was a good dinner though, I’m sure Barney (her old dog) liked it. –D