Thanksgiving, November 25, 2021

 We had a wonderful but tiring Thanksgiving here on Thursday. There were 14 vaccinated and one masked 6 year old for the hors d’oevre hours and then 11 guests, plus Deb and me for the meal.  We started the day early, glancing at the local paper and then beginning the cleaning process. Deb dusting, cleaning the bathrooms, and steaming all the kitchen and wood floors. I spent well over an hour pushing the vacuum around and bringing equipment and implements from storage. Abigail arrived around 9:30 to help with the cooking and to complete her signature dishes of cheesy cabbage casserole and the mashed potatoes. 

Darcy and her partner Maria (now known as Bud) stopped by around 1:00 to help and then headed out at 3:00 to join Bud’s parents for their celebration. Darcy did help me install the lights and garland along the front porch ceiling before she left.

We cooked two turkeys, one in the oven, and the other in a roaster oven placed temporarily on the top of the washing machine in the laundry area. 10 pounds of potatoes were peeled and scrubbed for the mash, and two cans of yams were baked in a casserole and covered in marshmallows for the candied yams. Deb prepared the dressing for stuffing the birds and baking in the oven. Her world famous turkey gravy was prepared, utilizing the meat laboriously picked from 17 boiled turkey necks, a job she completed earlier in the week. The broth and the meat served as the base for this delectable sauce, augmented by salt, copious amounts of pepper and the drippings from the turkey roasting pan.

Our guests began arriving around 3:00. The various contributions were stuffed in the ovens or arrayed on the counter for nibbling: creamed corn casserole, green bean casserole, Brie filled pastries, stuffed Brussel sprouts and stuffed mushroom hors d’oevres, huge drop biscuits and lots of wine. We mingled, nibbled, drank and conversed until about 5:00. I carved the turkeys for the two platters, we placed all the sides and mains on the counters and everyone started through the line. Deb offered a toast to good friends and family members, and the room grew quiet, the only sound the clinking of utensils and the happy  moans and groans of satiation.

Following the meal, we sat at the table or around the rooms, digesting and waiting for the pie course. Pumpkin and apple were on offer, covered with large and small dollops of CoolWhip topping. Coffee was brewed for some, and final glasses of wine for non-drivers. The guests began filing out by 8:30 and Deb and I were left with the clean-up. Dishes had been loaded into the dishwasher during the pie course, so all we could do was sort the remaining pans and serving dishes for the morning. Leftovers had been sent home with everyone and the remainders were placed in their plastic bins and crammed into the remaining spaces in the refrigerators. I stripped the meat from the carcasses and then placed both bodies on a large tray and out to the deck to hide overnight in the grill ( our “outdoor refrigerator” as the temps were into the low 30’s overnight.)

We fell into bed around 10:30, sleeping as if dead for almost 9 hours. A long, tiring and enjoyable day. We hope your holiday feast was as enjoyable as ours, filled with family and close friends after the years of enforced solitude and quarantine. And just think, only 30 days until Christmas!!!

Pandemic Omaha, Friday, November 27, 2020

 Thanksgiving week is now past. One holiday to both remember and hope to forget. Remember because we, throughout the nation, gathered with loved ones mostly in small groups to count our blessings and our good fortune of health and happiness; try and forget the pandemic that is ravishing our nation and the world, to forget the past four years of our national shame and malaise. 

No birthdays to report this week, at least none that we have on our calendars. There are two mea culpas for last week’s post: first, brother John Covert stopped by to wish Mark a happy birthday, and Deb snapped a photo of the two Covert  brothers in their caps and masks.

Second, Lee Needelman brought a beautiful chocolate cake to Mark when they joined us for pizza on the patio last week, we neglected to include the fact and a photo in the last post. The omissions were the error of the scribe - the editor was in Lincoln for the morning and did not have the chance to review the work, no slight was intended to either.

It has been extremely quiet in Omaha this week. Weather was snowy on Monday, but then melted away by Tuesday. We did some grilling, baking and grocery shopping, but nothing too outrageous. Ed and Meg were to host his kids, Avery and Spenser for Thanksgiving in LA, but second thoughts on flying them across country with no intervening quarantine period resulted in a cancellation of the trip. The kids are to stay in Maryland, celebrating with their mother while Ed and Meg will have to figure a way to consume all the turkey, mashed potatoes and homemade turkey gravy on their own.  Note that the gravy and turkey freeze well and the mashed potatoes can be made into great potato pancakes! 

On Wednesday, after Deb whipped up an apple pie and three pumpkin pies for Thursday’s feast, we journeyed out for another COVID 19 test. We are hoping again for negative. This is our 5th testing. The afternoon was then spent boiling the 16 turkey necks which are the key to Deb’s famous world class gravy and then she spent two hours picking the meat off said necks.  

That takes us into Thursday (feast day) which arrived early and we hit the ditches running. we prepared the oven, Deb prepared the stuffing and dressing, Mark brought the turkey up from the lower refrigerator and we began stuffing the sacrificial avian and tossing it into the furnace. This is the first time in our memory that we have actually cooked a turkey in our oven. Always before, there were so many sides and other things to be cooked that we used a stand-alone Nesco roaster, either outside on a separate table or in the laundry area on top of the washer dryer, as an auxiliary kitchen.  The ancient Nesco bit the dust this summer so, even though a replica had been purchased, we decided to try the more conventional oven and were we glad we did.  Finally, crispy skin and deep brown color.  Really tasty!

Abigail arrived with her additional supplies and commenced on her specialties: mashed potatoes, cheesy cabbage casserole, creamed corn casserole and green beans. Mark brought up his refrigerated dough for the homemade pull-apart rolls and Deb commenced on the gravy. The bird was pulled from the oven around 1:15PM, looking bronzed, buff and ready for his performance.

Then the sides went into the now vacant oven for their turn, and finally the rolls were popped in for the last act. Kate Duggan stopped by with a surprise gift of “Pink Stuff,” a staple at the Picken’s thanksgiving table and always a treat for the grandkids; achingly sweet cherry colored whipped cream with the cherries imbedded. A truly lovely and thoughtful homage to Bev Picken’s huge Thanksgivings of the past.  This Thanksgiving would also have been her 91st birthday.

Darcy and Maria arrived with their two dogs in tow, and we set the table, posed for pictures, and began shoveling in the food. So much food, even though we thought we were consciously moderating the size, if not the number, of the dishes. We rolled away from the table around 4:30 and circled the fire pit for an after meal discussion and a rest around the fire.  We checked in with Jake and Audrey in Michigan, and then with Ed and Meg in LA; those last two were just getting ready to tuck into a beautiful prepared feast, looking at food for 5-8 that was now going to be enjoyed by just two.

Darcy and Maria headed out around 5:00 to see Maria’s mom, and Abigail headed home to feed her dog and take a rest. Leftovers and pie accompanied each departure.

Deb and Mark cleaned up the remains of the day then sat in the living room for a while with a last glass of cheer and then a little TV. Into bed by 10:00, exhausted, but in a good way. Truly a good Thanksgiving, although different from any in memory. Next year, we can all gather together again and reminisce about the T’Day of 2020!

Wash your hands, keep masked up (except when shoveling leftovers into your face,) maintain your social distancing from all and stay safe. The orange one finally stated on Thanksgiving eve that, should the Electoral College actually vote for Joe Biden, he would leave the White House - although the election had been fraudulently stolen from him.  December 14th will be the best gift 2020 gave us this year.  January 20 will be our 2021 gift!