Well, here it is Monday (late afternoon!) of T-giving week, and I have nothing yet. Part of the reason is that I remain firm in my conviction that you can take as much or as little time and effort preparing a turkey as you want to, and in the end you get pretty much the same product. So why waste both of our times on the usual crop of recipes? I think this year we’re doing beef. Of course there’s the tradition end of things as in “we always do turkey” and that’s fine, enjoy the memories if not the bird.
So, before me sits the usual pile of some of my November food magazines:
surprisngly, out of the bunch I have, only three of them have the traditional cover shot of the beautifully browned fowl. It would be interesting to be on the shoot for that sometime.... Anyway, Bon Appétit proclaims: “Amazing Turkey” and “The Secret to make Perfect Gravy Every time”; Food & Wine headlines: “Thanksgiving – 65 delicious recipes including the perfect turkey”; Martha’s two publications “Living” and “Everyday Food” let me “Make it your best Thanksgiving Ever” and the Everyday version has “Thanksgiving 1-2-3”. Cuisine at Home boasts “our tastiest recipes – holiday classics, and best ever holiday side dishes”. Saveur, in its usual quirky way features “28 Great Holiday Sides, and in a sub blurb “Meat-Free Thanksgiving”, avoiding the pesky Turkey.
I suspect the reason for all this hype every year is that the poor home cook (whom they assume is eternally looking for short cuts and time savers) tried one of their suggestions last year and it turned out that it resulted in a just okay turkey. So, this year by God, I’ll find that Holy Grail recipe or insider “secret” and turn out a miracle. Not gonna happen.
Anyway, I’ll do my homework and pay attention to any nuances that catch my eye and in particular see what this year’s wine suggestions are, and report tomorrow. Hopefully by now you have decided what your center of the plate item is, and have a pretty good idea about sides and other courses. I suspect that my usual conclusion on wine will be “DWTHYL” as usual..
But, we’ll see..
Another One:
A reader (alert as usual) reminded me of another phrase that’s working its way around lately. I’m sure you’ve heard it. Normally used at the start of an interview, the obnoxious interviewer pokes a microphone into somebody’s face and says; “Talk about…. what you heard, how you felt, etc.”. An adjunct to that sometimes heard is “Tell me about…”. Or another favorite: “What was going through your mind when…..”.
Ugh.
And since we’re sort of on the subject of interviews, another thing that gets me yelling at my inanimate television is at the half of a college football game, some “reporter” (somehow usually a female) waylays a coach who is trying to get to the locker room sticking her microphone at him. If his team is leading, says something stupid like: “How were you able to score so many points on that team?” I suppose answers such as “We’re better than they are” are not PC so there’s usually the trite “well, we found we could run on them” (translation: we’re better than they are); or if it is the coach on the short end of the score, out comes something like “Tell me what you have to do in the second half to get back in the game?”. First of all he doesn’t have to tell her a damn thing, and again he can’t say “we have to cheat”, and so we get something like: “Well, we’ll have to block better and make some plays” (translation: They’re better than us). Just once (and I suppose I never will) I’d love to hear them say: “Lady, that’s a stupid question – good bye” and head for the locker room. I expect there is some contract that makes the coaches have to suffer the Holly Rowes and Erin Andersons and other notes sports authorities of their ilk. However, I do enjoy watching them in inclement weather trying to manage their coif.
Did I just slip into a rant??
Don't forget to include in your Thanksgiving planning how you will
DFD
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