She had to work this morning, just five hours to get through the holiday, and I was left to start Thanksgiving dinner.
"Peel ten pounds of potatoes, put them in a pot, I'll need eight for the workers at my job, mix up a batch of dressing for Ramen noodle salad, put everything in the bowl and wait til this afternoon to make it, but boil the dressing in a quart jar and put it in the ice box." Thanksgiving supper is in the plans.
"Pull out my cookbook, you can still read most of the recipes, just follow the directions." she said, which made reading the directions with spills and casualties of dinners past, piled up and stained, across pages torn from the book, "There are things in there I never use, you think about the dish's and you'll remember" she threw in there casually, as though I could even remember my own middle name.
I put the turkey in a plastic bag, with onions and celery, five spices I had not put in it before because the plastic bag's box said I really wanted to use them, put it in a collapsible pan and started roasting it.
Sweet potatoes, bread dressing without oysters, (thank goodness) olives, jar of jalepeno pepper canned with carrots and onions ( seemed to fit) , and a custard pie (she made last night ).
I read each recipe at least seven times. Just an hour til the turkey comes out, then it will sit for an hour, and contrary to popular belief, that's when she will make supper.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Ralph Peck
Photography by Ralph Peck
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