Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving is  a very special time for my family.  We enjoy getting in the kitchen together and cooking our Thanksgiving meal.  We enjoy celebrating the culinary tradtions that were so important to my mother and my children's Abuela.   Each person in our family, my husband, Michael and my children, Daniel, Caitlyn and Autumn get to choose what dishes they make for the meal.  This year it is very intimate since Daniel is in Iraq, and Caitlyn is with friends.  Although we are sad to not be able to include Daniel and Caitlyn we cherish our family time together, the memories of Thanksgiving past, the recipes of old, and the rich aromas that will surely waft from our kitchen.  Autumn has her two classic dishes that she has been making for the past 3 years.  She enjoys making the candied yams, which was my mom's absolute favorite dish for Thanksgiving, and the homemade cranberry sauce.  She is quite the expert with her dishes and dilligently makes them without any guidance, and with love and memories of her Abuela.  Michael is the expert at making the rub and he seasons the turkey.  Caitlyn normally enjoys making the red cabbage and salad.  Daniel will normally help out with whatever is needed, but he is the expert at eating.  Wish we could send him a care package with turkey and all of the fixings to Iraq, but it would take too long to get there.

Although we are Puerto Rican, minus Michael who is Puerto Rican by virtue of marriage, we take pride in honoring our American heritage on this day more than ever.  We enjoy celebrating some of the foods that were passed down through history to all Americans with a few adjustments.  My mother did not grow up celebrating Thanksgiving Day in Puerto Rico, even though Puerto Rico is a colony of the United States.  I believe they may celebrate it now though.  My parents did not come to live in the United States until they were 19 years old and my sainted mother did not even know how to boil water.  A complete shock to my senses.  I admire my mother and her many accomplishments.  I am proud that she made it her life-long endeavor to cook only the finest foods for her family and friends.  My mother grew up in a time where being a wife and mother was something to be proud of.  That was my mother's career and she pulled it off with amazing precision.  She came such a long way with her cooking abilities and it was so important to her that everyone enjoyed her creations.  Food was not something to just slop on your plate and plow into your tummies.  To quote a friend, Chef Tom Herndon, Take a moment, breathe and bring your attention to what you are about to eat. It’s about being present to the experience."  That is what each meal with my mother was like.  Of course my mother made all of her dishes with a bit of Puerto Rican flare and flavor.
 

As I was growing up the memories I have of Thanksgiving  were of me and my mother rising early to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, while she made the stuffing for the turkey.  My parents lived in New York for many years before they moved to California and so the parade was part of their ritual.  I was the only one in my family to be born in California yet I always felt a strong connection with New York.  My parents would probably still be there today if had not been for the fact that they had Mother-in-law issues.  They only came to California to escape those issues. 

My mother would season the turkey with love even though she herself did not particularly care for turkey.  Yet it was part of her new life and so she incorporated this into her repetoire of recipes.  I remember she would only eat the turkey wings becasue she contended that they had the most flavor out of all of the turkey parts. My mother's stuffing was pretty original as she would use rice instead of bread. Rice was more a part of her culture and she made it with an American and Puerto Rican twist.  For me the aroma of my mothers stuffing on Thanksgiving Day is what gives my Thanksgivning meaning.  Those aromas have such visceral memories for me that I can often imagin that my mother is still with me.  These are the kind of memeories I would like to create for my children.  And no matter where they are in the world, these are the smells that can instantly bring them back home.

One of my mother's favorite dishes was her red cabbage.  We only had this dish one time a year.  The red cabbage is a German recipe that I am not completely sure where my mother had gotten it from.  I do know she had friends from all over the world and would often get recipes from them. It was always one of my favorites too and so it has now become a part of our tradition as well.  It is such beautiful purple color that is a must on our Thanksgiving dinner table.

I love that mother taught me how to make so many things from scratch, as it makes cooking gluten-free so much easier.  The turkey was absolutely succulent and the many sides that we incorporate into our meal were absolutely delicious!  We decided to have a Blackstone Pinot Noir wine for dinner with turkey, along with sparkling apple and pomegranite juice.

For dessert this year we made gluten-free pumpkin pie and pecan tassies.  The pecan tassies were  a definite hit.  They are like tiny pecan pies in a cream cheese dough.  Delicate and not overly sweet.