thanksgiving forgets.. it happens

THANKSGIVING FORGETS.. IT HAPPENS

I will preface this by saying I think we’ve all done it, at one time or another. It could have been Thanksgiving or Christmas or Easter or just that huge party you threw for a special celebration. The table was set and the meal was ready.. my daughter looked at me and said “Is anything in the oven, as she opened it up” nope. “Did you leave anything in the microwave?” I said “no” as she opened it up and voila’ there are the turnips I am warming up! Jesus, I would have forgotten them.. for sure. We both laugh at how we always forget something.. satisfied I had forgotten nothing this time, we announce supper is ready.

Turkey and stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, ham and roasted brussel sprouts along with turnips and oven-roasted carrots from the garden. I even made my own cranberry sauce. I had taken my homemade buns out of the oven an hour earlier and let the kids enjoy my appetizer :  ) We made a huge dent in that delicious meal, one of my best. This was the first time I had everyone over together since COVID took over our lives. We laughed as we ate and drank wine and it was perfect. I was missing some grandchildren who couldn’t be here, but it was enough people for me to handle, not having done this for a while.

I have a pool in my condo complex, it was still in restricted mode but will accommodate a family unit for one hour so the kids planned on using the pool and hot tub after dinner. As the girls helped me clean up, I put stuff away opening up the fridge to put in some leftovers. There on the bottom shelf is this huge beautiful salad I had made that morning. I know.. I still can’t believe it and that is why I have to write this blog. “Did you forget anything else.. ?” Jessica’s voice is ringing in my ears, while we rescue the turnips from the microwave. OMG, am I ready for them to put me in a home?

That I had put such an effort into this beautiful salad, and there it sits, was kind of sad. I was planning to make a family recipe for homemade dressing when my daughter showed up two hours early and threw all my plans into disarray. I guess you can’t do that to old people, so I’ll blame it on her. Surely if I had made that dressing with such care, I would have remembered the salad right? Ya I know, probably not and that is such a pity. Fortunately, they all wanted to take home some salad, and that cheered me up considerably. At least I didn’t have to eat salad all week, I’m happy to not eat salad at all. I do buy lettuce though, all the time, so I can throw it away when it rots in my fridge. I always know it’s there though, on the off chance that I may decide to eat something healthy.

I couldn’t shake that I forgot the salad from my head, especially when we went through all the motions and the jokes we always seemed to forget something. The turnips were rescued, thank God, I did them with lots of butter and brown sugar, yum. Had I forgotten the turnips I would have been really upset.

Peeling and cutting a big turnip is a major construction job in my kitchen. I dealt with that bad boy the day before, I had a hammer and huge butcher knife on hand, using a butter knife as a fulcrum! If I don’t find a man in my future I may have to give up turnips, or a turnip may eventually do me in. That vegetable is a cross between delicious and dangerous. I have tossed huge turnips that have metamorphosed into shriveled-up aged little balls, from my fridge. It’s a known fact that you need to have a commitment to deal with a turnip.

Forgetting a ‘side’ for a meal is something that needs to be addressed and I’m not sure how to do it. That we actually went through the steps so we wouldn’t forget something still haunts me four days later. There are kitchen hacks for everything so there should be one for this, don’t you think? I have thought long and hard about this and being an entrepreneur I know there has to be a simple solution. Maybe I could come up with something to take to market and finally make my millions? How hard can it be to eliminate this snafu from our big family meals?

If you have an idea how to solve this I would really love to hear it. Should you know any older single men who can peel and dice a turnip, a phone number would be nice, in case of emergency.. hmmmm

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving…

Oct. 12th, 2020

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