Page Title

HOME

As the years pass it is nice to know you can depend on certain things. Every year my grandmother, aunt and uncle and cousin gather around our table. They usually always bring pies, and this year was no exception. Another thing you can depend on is that about one week before Thanksgiving the stove will go out. So, this year, our entire meal was prepared on a two burner electric cooktop purchased at Walmart the day before Thanksgiving for 29.95.

We made two turkeys. One my mom decided to ‘butterfly’ so it would cook faster. I deemed this one “road kill turkey” because when the flat bird was delivered to the table...it looked like road kill. To do this, my dad removed its backbone. Meanwhile, in the Gramma cooker we cooked a ‘traditional’ bird (right). Clearly, me carving the bird was a spectacle for all to witness! Then there were the potatoes...we used a ricer...all were skeptical—

Table no. one

With the food ready, everyone takes their place, even Anchor.

With the table set everyone found a seat. We managed to pull off the dinner, even with the lack of a stovetop! We had traditional turkey, road kill turkey, crock pot applesauce, crock pot sweet potatoes, riced-baked-mashed potatoes, peas, cranberry sauce, cranberry relish, sausage stuffing, corn, and gallons of sweet tea to drink. Mom and I started Wednesday boiling the tea, and making as many of the side dishes as we could on our two burners! It was a time to remember! After dinner was cleaned up Mom took us on a tour of her cellar garden. She is tending shitake mushrooms down there, and all her herbs used in the dinner came from there. Also, you can see the old stable located under the center chimney.

Audrey and I walked around outside afterwards. It was chilly, but the lake was so smooth...I got the picture on the right which was a reflection in the water! Outside, my mom’s winter garden is a rival to her summer collections.

Just before dessert Matt got the lowdown on my grandmothers haunted house. They had lots of stories to keep him interested. You can see the day was a typical November day, overcast and cold...

During the dinner, Malena took the camera and shot these pictures. I always find it interesting to get the days events from their perspective...here is hers.