Like most Americans across the country, this year marked the
first thanksgiving in my entire life that was spent with just my immediate
family; no parents or grandparents, no brother, sister, nieces and nephews, no
cousins, aunts or uncles, no friends or adopted families. It was just the four
of us. And like most, I too struggled with how to recreate the warm, loving and
hospitable feeling of the meal with the turkey, all of the sides and multiple
desserts for just a family of four.
A lover of logistics, I spent the week leading up to the main
event perfecting the menu (to ensure just the right amount of leftovers), the
grocery list (to ensure I only bought what we needed) and schedule (to ensure
everything was perfectly cooked in our single oven). I was going to host the perfect thanksgiving
meal without wasting too much food or energy. It might sound stressful: a 14lb
turkey, 7 side dishes (with recipes adapted for a family of four), 3 mini pies,
a champagne and apple cider toast and a perfect martini all orchestrated to a
schedule with no time to spare. And sure, it could have been stressful... but in
reality, I realized about a week post-thanksgiving that the dinner wasn’t the
cause of stress but in fact my outlet to manage my existing stress….I am
apparently someone who cooks when stressed.
Back up to the beginning of November and I was bracing myself
for a doozy of a month (and I didn’t even know the half of it). Work wise we
were coming into quarter end, along with Dreamforce and the annual investor day
conference. Add to that our largest acquisition ever and yeah things were busy.
At home, life was a mixture of balancing work, showing appreciation to Martin
for picking up my slack (7am and 5pm meetings kind of put our daily routine
into chaos) and finding time to actually mentally unplug and focus on the kids.
In addition, for the first two weeks of November I was mentally preparing to
have to miss out on McKane’s wedding (previously scheduled for Dec 11, thankfully
now rescheduled, for March and which I am to be a bridesmaid) and trying to
find the words to comfort Anjulee after losing her best friend and then father
both to cancer two weeks apart. Oh, and Martin decided to grow a mustache... to
be fair that one didn’t add to my stress. It just seemed like an appropriate
thing to add to the list.
With all of the craziness and sadness and stress this month
brought, I was actually thankful for the distraction and focus of planning this
ridiculous meal and attempt to bring some joy to these bleak times.
And you might think that I would stop there (because, yeah, I
had a full plate already, both figuratively and actually), but like I said, the
cooking, prepping and planning of meals has actually helped me work through my
stress. And there is no better way than to try and use up all of the leftovers
and ingredients from Thanksgiving dinner with letting nothing go to waste.
Since thanksgiving I have cooked the following: Annegrets goulash, turkey pot pies,
turkey Asian noodle soup, hermit cookies, carrot marmalade, celery soup, cranberry
salsa and carrot salad…. Seriously, f this was a marketable skill, I would be
rich.
For those wondering, below is the menu we had for our 2020
Thanksgiving Dinner
Drinks Starting at 5pm
The Improved Dirty Martini – by the NY Times
A Champagne and Cider Toast with Billecart Salmon Brut Rose and Martinelli’s
apple cider
Dinner Server at
6:15pm
A 14lb Spiced Roast Turkey from Little City Meats and recipe by
Foreign Cinema
Sides Dishes included:
Mashed potatoes ala Martin with gravy from Little City
Stuffing by Foreign Cinema
Traditional green bean casserole
Creamy pearl onions by Williams Sonoma
Cranberry relish by Oceanspray (and my childhood)
Sweet yams by the Lafayette Collection Cookbook
Dessert at 7pm
Mini apple, pumpkin and pecan pies with whipped cream by Martha
Stewart
