Holiday gatherings often include a generous helping of spirited discussion or controversy. And while some energetically ignore the age-old advice to avoid like topics sex, politics or religion, these neighbors are prepping for the annual appearance of the dish that refuses to be ignored.
Designer Turkey
Karin Krippaehne
Just Like Daughters, Senior Moving
For over 20 years I have been helping people organize and downsize. I manage moves for seniors around the city going into smaller spaces. When packing a kitchen, I am always curious about their specialty recipes. What do they love to cook, and what are their traditions? It’s always unique and interesting stories about food shared. Last year for Thanksgiving, at my house, we let our health-conscious daughter buy an organic, free-range, hormone-free, etc…SCRAWNY bird. This year, we’re back to full fat.
Fluffing
Wendy Medlock
Director of Transaction Services for Windermere Real Estate/East, Inc.
Thanksgiving is all about the food. The more the merrier. We fully expect a house full of sugar-high kids and food coma dads by the end of the meal. My sister's mother-in-law used to bring Pistachio Fluff every year. No one ate it except for her and her granddaughter. Now that Grammy has passed, her granddaughter brings it every year. We can't get away from this recipe! The recipe calls for marshmallows, but no. Grammy substituted hers with cottage cheese! It also says to top the dessert with a maraschino cherry and/or crushed pistachio. Grammy left these out as well.
Side Dish
Carolyn Grinstein
Our tradition has, for some 50 years, been to gather here in Medina, with family from all over the country, for Thanksgiving. This worked great when the kids were younger, but as generations ...uh...fade, and kids grow up, gathering becomes more and more challenging. Then the pandemic hit and gathering became harder. But we always managed, and always, ALWAYS serve a few old staples: Mashed rutabagas, Caramelized onion with prune and chestnuts, and Creamed Chestnuts.
The LEAST popular, but MY favorite: mashed rutabagas. Yum! Make them just like mashed potatoes, but even more butter, and lots of pepper. Make ahead, refrigerate, then add to other stuff in the oven.
The OLDEST family tradition, from my childhood in the '40's, from the French peasant side of the family: creamed chestnuts. The rural French farm people, like all rural people, depended largely upon whatever happened to be in season, and in November, chestnuts were abundant. This is a very rich, extremely simple countryside dish.
It’s Not All Gravy
Molly Goudy
“Everything is better with Mayo.”
It’s not Thanksgiving without Mayo. The Bocek Family grew up on Evergreen Point and built the family homestead in 1962. Five out of the six adult Bocek children still reside in the Three points/Clyde hill communities. We can’t have a family Thanksgiving dinner without a bowl of Best Foods mayonnaise. It can’t be any other brand, just Best Foods. The first time I was a guest at Thanksgiving with my in-laws, my mother-in-law was rather taken aback in horror at my condiment request yet she obliged, with Trader Joe’s Mayo. How sad. I still dipped my hot turkey in her fake Mayo, and after that it became a tradition at either her house or mine. She always set out a special bowl of Mayo just for me.