I just finished consuming my traditional post-Thanksgiving breakfast: mashed potatoes and gravy. Sheer bliss. I added some braised greens to the bowl also. These were from the garden. More bliss.
Miss Em was lamenting that this was her very first Thanksgiving without her older brother, aka Frugal Son. I said, "For me too." To which she replied: "You had 34 Thanksgivings without him." So true.
To distract her from her sorrow, I said, "Remember our after-Thanksgiving tradition? When we went to the toy sale at the Junior League Thrift Store in New Orleans followed by a trip to the zoo?"
She drew a blank at first, but then she remembered. "They always had Santa and big cookies."
Right. What I remember: Whizzing by Lakeside Shopping Mall, with its full parking lot. Then, on to Freret Street for the thrift store, which opened a small annex full of toys just for the season. It was always packed, and probably as competitive as any Black Friday sale at a big box store.
I was serene and guilt-free. I was looking for wood toys and art supplies; these were usually kind of beat-up looking and the art materials were not complete sets. Since I was not going for the most-desired new-in-box items, I did not feel that I was stealing from the poor, who were there for gifts for their little ones. Meanwhile, the kids were talking to Santa and eating cookies. Mr. FS was--as is his wont--standing in a corner looking bored or irritated.
Then on to the wonderful Audubon Zoo, where we had a membership for many, many years. On the biggest shopping day of the year, the parking lot was usually almost empty. Since the weather was usually nice, we would have a picnic lunch. Then home.
And now I will commence my favorite part of Thanksgiving: turning my turkey carcass into stock!
What's cooking at your house?
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Just finished the last of the wonderfully juicy chicken I made, some mashed taters, and rice
Also made banana cake (all gone after 24 hours) and it will be homemade pitas and hummus next week to give that a go :)
My Thanksgiving celebration happens on the Saturday following the date, as it is not a holiday in England. I just finished rolling out 5 pie crusts in preparation for making up the pumpkin filling. The pumpkins were cut up just last week to steam and drain in preparation, as they don't have the tinned version in this area anymore. Finished cutting up the 3rd turkey this morning. Made 32 cups of cornbread dressing yesterday. Tomorrow morning will be time to make vegetable salad, fruit salad and relish tray. Tomorrow evening, we will heat up the turkey and dressing, cook carrots, peas, mashed potatoes and gravy, put out rolls and butter and cranberry sauce, bake the pumpkin pies and some apple pies. Then we break out the wine and party with 20 friends.
Yet to stumble out to the kitchen for a leftover breakfast, having fallen a bit behind in FaM posts and then overslept this morning.
Rum-laced sweet potatoes await. And duck wings. And...I think otherwise we ate about everything we prepared, having found 8 instead of 6 at our table last night.
M'hijito showed me how to gently, slowly bake just-ripened pears with walnuts, brown sugar, butter, and still more rum. I'm thinking I may do that for breakfast...but am a bit too hungry to wait for the process.
LOL! One of the young women had never tasted duck and never tasted brussels sprouts. What vacuum do some people grow up in?
So glad to see you back!!!!
Well, in a manner of sepaking, 34 years, but were you really thinking about Frugal Son (even as a twinkle in your eye) for all of those years? It's sweet that your children miss one another!
@FB-Two starches: my kind of meal.
@Shelley-I wish I could make pie crusts. That seems like a lot of food, even for 20 people.
Hope you had a lot of left-overs.
@Funny--A very nice menu! Next year, think about making a gumbo with the duck. It's supposed to be divine.
@Duchesse==Miss Em was saying that we had many years w/out FS, so it didn't bother us as much as it did her! They do get along; so happy about that.
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