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After Thanksgiving

First there is the party The Hostess envisions. All her plans and preps and notes on paper are glorious dreams. She begins determined to make them all come true.

The hostess sets about cleaning her house in joyful anticipation. Everything will be perfec — “Hey! Who put the holiday tablecloth away with that great big hurking stain in the middle? And where am I supposed to get another on such short notice?”

The man of the house looks up from the game on TV and says, “Huh?”

Undaunted, our hostess takes a deep breath, modifies her decor as best she can — which She is pleased to discover is still quite nice. Then, house in perfect order, retreats to her kitchen to prepare. She begins her pie making. With the crust rolled out and the filling ready to be poured, She reaches for the cupboard handle — and remembers that she doesn’t own a pie plate. She imagines the ugly looks on the faces of her dinner guests when they discover Thanksgiving dinner will not be followed by a yummy pie to be thankful for.

Our Hostess optimistically opens her cupboard and searches for the pie plate she knows she doesn’t have. She spies her square Pyrex Baking dish. She fits the pie crust into the bottom and adds the filling. A Square pie. Why not?

Still undaunted, she begins the prep on her side dishes. She puts the yam casserole in the oven to bake and pares the potatoes for boiling. She is thankful that someone else is cooking and bringing the turkey and stuffing. Her tiny kitchen is already over taxed.

The telephone rings. She answers it. The woman bringing the turkey says, “We’ve been stuck in traffic for hours. Word is the road won’t be open for ages. We’re closer to home then we are to your place, so we’re going back.”

Our Hostess sits with her mouth gaping.   She envisions the guests who will make it to the house. How will they feel about a Thanksgiving dinner of salad, yam casserole, mashed potatoes (no gravy, it’s with the turkey) and olives? She doesn’t think the novelty of a square pie is going to cover for the missing turkey.

At this point our hostess knows all of the polite things she is supposed to say. Instead she wails, “But you have the turkey!”

“And the stuffing,” her friend says. “Don’t forget the stuffing.”

“Are you sure traffic isn’t going to start moving soon? I made Pecan Pie and Pumpkin Crunch. I have the best yam casserole recipe ever. You don’t want to miss out on that.”

Friend says, “Yeah, you’re right. Don’t worry. We’re almost there.”

Hostess calls her a name. Friend laughs.

Everyone arrives for the meal. Hostess remembers she never put the potatoes on to boil. While Hostess scurries around in the kitchen, friends study her table settings and — completely ignoring the decor — rearrange the place to make themselves more comfortable.

Teen guest offers to whip the potatoes. Hostess, trying to get the cranberry relish and other tasties together takes her up on the offer. The potatoes are whipped perfectly. Hostess makes a mental note to remember to wash the splattered potatoes off the wall when everyone leaves.

Finally the food is on the table, a moment of silence is observed, everyone sits and Hostess realizes no one has a beverage. She jumps back up and scurries around filling glasses in accordance to the wishes of her guests. All is well. She sits — and where are the serving spoons? Oh dear, she thinks. These people are way too needy.

Finally the food is passed, everyone eats and there is much joy and exclaiming over the various dishes. The yam casserole was indeed a hit.

The square pie is first giggled over, then applauded as delicious. The Pecan Crunch refuses to turn out of the pan as it should, and thus is served upside down, but it was still super yummy. The meal was successful.

Soon the dishes are done & the guests start making leave taking motions. Food is divvied up and shared. Thanks yous, you’re welcomes, and well-wishes are exchanged. Everyone leaves. The hostess cleans her kitchen, walks out, turns the light off behind her and sits in her favorite chair with a sign of relief.

The man of the house says, “You know, Hon, I could really go for a turkey sandwich.”

She says, “Good, go to the restaurant. The kitchen is closed.” But of course she is already out of her chair and on her way to the kitchen.

~*~

Our day was wonderful and blessed.
We hope yours was, too.



50 Comments

  1. I know this isn’t the post you’re waiting for. Hold tight. I have photos to edit.

    Amoeba has a concert at the mall (for the grand opening of Black Friday) and after Thom and I are spending the afternoon together, but you’ll get your Tofurkey & Gravy Soda post, I promise.

    In the meantime, before you ask:

    Maple Glazed Yams with Pecans

    INGREDIENTS:
    4 lbs of yams (red-skinned sweet potatoes), peeled, cut into 1/4 inch rounds
    1/2 cup pure maple syrup
    8 Tbsp (1 stick) chilled butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
    1/3 cup all purpose flour
    1/3 cup packed brown sugar
    1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans

    METHOD:
    1 Preheat oven to 400°F. Butter a 13x9x2 inch glass baking dish. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add yams. Cook until water returns to a simmer, about 4 minutes. Drain; rinse in cold water.
    2 Arrange yams in baking dish, overlapping pieces. Sprinkle with salt. Pour maple syrup over yams. Dot with 3 Tbsp of butter. Cover with aluminum foil and bake until yams are almost tender, about 25 minutes.
    3 Mix flour and brown sugar in a medium bowl. Add remaining 5 Tbsp of butter. Rub in with fingers until mixture resembles a coarse meal. Mix in pecans.
    4 Sprinkle pecan mixture over yams. Bake yams until tender, about 20 minutes.

    Serves 12.

    1. Gigi — the day had ME wondering for awhile — and the yams were way yummy. If you click on the title of the recipe, it will take you to the website where I found it. There is a photo there.

  4. The potatoes on the wall cracked me up! 🙂 Your friend really gave you a scare there, didn´t she!!
    And I make square pies all the time! They taste just as good! 🙂

  5. The hostess didn’t forget her blogging side! loved your post, it seems everybody had a wonderful time and a delicious Thanksgiving dinner!.

  6. Sounds about right for a holiday meal – good intentions followed by utter chaos, and then somehow it all comes together in the end.

    PS I hope you finally got some sleep.

  8. Sounds like a PERFECT Thanksgiving! LOL

    The problem I usually run into is something like, I plan a sweet potato marshmallow casserole thing, and when I get out the ingredients the kids have eaten all the marshmallows, and the Man has finished off the butter.

    Last time, Himself had taken my biggest (potato!) pot and shoved it under a drip behind the washing machine. WTH??

    *sigh*
    Yay holidays!
    YAY HOSTESSES!!!

    1. Susan — I have a bag of marshmallows I didn’t use. I went with the maple recipe instead — and it’s a good thing, too, because conversation at the dinner table revealed that only one person at the table liked the traditional marshmallow topped yams!

    1. Linda — it was great fun — and I was so tired after, although I don’t really feel like I worked all that hard. How does that happen?

  11. Adaptability is a hostess’s best friend. The turkey scare would have had me in a panic, though. We do have restaurants here that serve full turkey dinners, so in an emergency we probably would have gotten take-out from one of them, though it would have been costly. I would guess you probably don’t have restaurants serving that in Hawaii, though?

    The potatoes on the wall made me smile, too. Though I probably would not have smiled at the time…

    Sounds like everyone had a great time over all! Hope you got some time to rest with your feet up before the day was over.

    2. Barbara — we do have places that sell pre-cooked turkey, but in most instances they need to be picked up the afternoon before because nothing is open on the holiday.

      Thanks for the Apples to Apples link!

  12. in spite of all the mayhem this sounds like a really nice day. i would enjoy square pie as much as any other shape (no pecan pies here… not even pecans except maybe in the precious few specialised stores)

    1. Polona — the square pie was met with skepticism because it didn’t look “perfect” and not one could quite figure out how to serve it, but once it was tasted it went quickly!

  13. Well you and L are always saying something sarcastic or trying to get the other one going.YOur relationship with her couldn’t be any better LOL. Glad you had a great meal. Sounds great 🙂 See ya this afternoon 🙂

  14. This is why we Canadians wonder about the foolishness of having Thanksgiving so close to Christmas. I would need more than a month to get over that kind of hostess day!

  15. I made MY yams with crushed pineapple and walnuts this year… they were super yummy but I still got yelled at for MESSIN’ with them (just like I knew I would) and MY pumpkin crunch got served upside down too! *high fives!* How’d the Tofurkey tasting go??????

  17. We enjoyed our Turkey Day, too, although I can say everyone was more than stuffed. Love the story of the square pie. I’d do that, too, if my pie plate didn’t materialize. A square pie somehow makes the whole day more festive, doesn’t it?

  20. ROTFL!! So did you ever get the whipped potatoes off the wall?
    I mash mine with a potato smasher, right back in the original pot so the walls are safe. I might have learned this from experience… 😉
    Those yams sound yummy even if they aren’t Weight Watcher friendly, but now I am wondering… pumpkin crunch?… please share that recipe, too!!

    If I didn’t already love you, I’d love you for your square pie. 😛

    1. Karen — yep, the potatoes are off the wall. And my shirt, and my glasses, and the fridge and the window …..

      And I posted the Pecan Crunch Recipe several days ago.

  21. Wait… you don’t own a pie plate?!? I’ve been known to have all 6 of mine in use at one time!
    It’s been 26 hours since we sat down to Thanksgiving dinner and the last few slices of the 3 pies (2 pumpkin, 1 cherry) aren’t going to make it to bedtime.
    6 pie plates, 6 people… makes sense, right? 😉

    1. Karen — no pie plate. That means I haven’t made pie in over two years. What’s more, I have a hilarious story to share about the “no pie plate”, but not just yet ….

  22. I looked pretty good for your ‘side’ dishes. You didn’t write about any
    macaroni and cheese but I will asume you had some of that vegetable.
    ..

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