Here are some of my favorite things about Thanksgiving.
1. The Food
You might say that the food makes the gathering. In a lot of ways, I'm inclined to agree. I'm a firm believer that good food can make a good conversation even better (and that bad food can have a negative effect on even a good conversation). That having been said, when the Foxworthys get together, we do it up right!
The owner of the house we inhabit gets turkey duty. That's just law. The rest of us compensate with the sides. By this point, we pretty much all have our respective assignments. My parents make a relish tray (which includes these awesome beef-and-cream-cheese roll-ups). Mom makes sausage stuffing. My cousin Sara brings the rolls. My Aunt Denise (when she comes) does the sweet potato casserole. My cousin Roberta makes the pies. Emilee does the green beans. And me? I get to do the smoked gouda mashed potatoes.
Lemme tell you about these beauties: a few years ago, I was watching Food Network with my dad and saw Emeril Lagasse (whom I can no longer stand - he annoys me) on TV prepping some mashed potatoes with melted gouda cheese in them. I turn to my dad and say something to the effect of, "Those look good. I think I'll make 'em for Thanksgiving this year." And I did. They were a hit (with most of the family anyway - my uncle Jack prefers the 'traditional' taters) and so I was delegated to making them every year. It really is something to look forward to for me - I really enjoy it! One year, I devised my own recipe for Loaded Mashed Potatoes, but it really didn't seem to have the same appeal as the smoked gouda taters. So, I continue on. The recipe for the Smoked Gouda Mashed Potatoes can be found by following that link. The Loaded Mashed recipe? Maybe I'll post it one of these days...
2. The Family
I love my family. If people think I'm crazy, they can spend an hour or so with my family and know that I come by it honestly. We all nuts! Combined with the fact that we're nuts is the fact that we're all great cooks. Seriously. Amazing. Perhaps this should be an addendum to the 'food' portion, but we just love to cook in our family. No joke. My grandfather, Joe Foxworthy, was a cook in the U.S. Navy for several years and he passed on his love for and knowledge of food to all of his kids, who have in turn passed it down to their kids. And, assuming I have any, I'll pass it on to my kids. If I have any.
But back to my family. We laugh. We bicker. We sing. We cook. We eat. We are friggin' merry. It's just not a holiday without the Foxworthy clan. S'just not.
3. The Picture
Ever since I was a kid, my mom has been taking pictures of me eating a turkey drumstick. And every year, I reserve one drumstick for myself and let everyone else fight it out for the other.
Actually, 'the picture' hasn't been a REGULAR thing... or, at least, it wasn't until about 1999 or 2000. At that point, Mom snapped a picture of me gnawing into a turkey leg while wearing a shirt that proudly proclaimed "BITE ME!" (it had a picture of a mosquito on it - get it?). Since then, the pic has become a staple. I don't think I have any copies from the last couple of years, but the below pics are from 2004 and 2005, respectively.
<-- Thanksgiving '04Thanksgiving '05 -->
Well, gang, those are my top 3 favorite things about Thanksgiving. If I get around to it, I'll post tomorrow's picture up here so you can see it. Have a safe and happy holiday!
Posts
