How Thanksgiving Grew on Me

It was November of 2003, just about a year after we had found ourselves at SeaTac airport visiting Seattle for the very first time. I had started work in August, celebrated my first Halloween – ever – and now everyone was talking about Thanksgiving. I had no idea what the holiday was about, but everyone seemed to be fussing over turkeys and cranberries. We bought a turkey, cooked it and sat down for our first Thanksgiving dinner. For years Thanksgiving was merely a day to enjoy food, and it wasn’t until Mia started preschool that I met the pilgrims and the native Americans for the very first time at the preschool Thanksgiving feast. Slowly I started learning about this holiday, the story and history behind it.

There has not been a year without a turkey. Our first proper Thanksgiving meal was served to us by our Finnish American friends, and after that I have cooked dinner for our friends. As we don’t have family in the area, our Thanksgiving is a gathering of friends, the family we have created around us over the past years. This Thursday we will be sitting around our dining table with our friends again.

As cooking is one of the things I love with a great passion, I will start cooking and baking in the morning on Thanksgiving Day. I don’t believe in making the pies beforehand as – in my opinion - the pumpkin pie will be at its best when it’s still a tad warm. To be honest it has never been one of my favorites, and this is the only way I will eat it, made from a scratch, when it’s freshly baked. The other pie is going to be peach, peaches we preserved in August after getting them straight from the farm in Wapato.

Then it’s time to start the soup. Over the years I have been switching between wild mushroom soup, and pureed butternut squash and chestnut soup. But a soup has been our go to starter for all these years. While the soup is simmering on the stove comes the stuffing, my recipe is a secret, and I make two varieties, one that will be shoved inside the turkey, and the other one to be enjoyed with the bird.

Around noon we’ll pop a bottle of champagne and claim the holiday season opened. Upstairs the TV is on, and the kids watching a movie. As the bird goes into the oven, I will start working on the sides. The side dishes have the biggest variation over here due to the fact that my children usually like none of them. I have tried mashed potatoes – yuck. Then I thought the classic dish with sweet potatoes, orange juice and marshmallows would have to be a hit. Well, I was wrong. There was a year with scalloped potatoes – yuck. Scalloped yams - double yuck. This year I’m seriously contemplating ditching the potatoes, all varieties including sweet potatoes and yams, and trying something different. We haven’t done rice, and we have never tried Yorkshire pudding. And they claim all children love potatoes.

There will also be green beans and carrots. The carrots will be simmered in butter and honey, the beans topped with bacon. My cranberries involve orange zest and brandy, and usually the gravy will grab a drink out of the brandy bottle as well.

When the candles are lit, the wine opened and it’s time to sit down, we thank for another year passed before we stick our forks in. Max will have an entire turkey leg. Magnus and Mia prefer white meat. Everyone will eat too much, hey, it's Thanksgiving after all! And sometime later in the evening we will all approach the left overs for just another slice of the bird or maybe some pie.