Let's Talk Turkey... or Pig...or Oysters?

Thanksgivings in our family have become an epic event. I come from a family that hardly ever plans any event months ahead of time and we have found that, lately, we have started plannning Thanksgiving as far as eight months out. CRAZY!This is the third year running that we've done this now and our group has grown this year, too. We've added a new spouse, a girlfriend, and a couple more babies to the dinner table. It's a big, crazy crowd of kids and adults for an extended three or four days of fabulous food, endless drinks and tons of laughs... and we love it! 

This wonderful madness all began the Thanksgiving of 2007. My family had all agreed to get together at my house (which was huge because at that time it meant that half of them were travelling cross country to see us) and I, along with Chef, agreed over the phone that this would not be an ordinary Thanksgiving. This one would have a more rustic, more European taste to it and there was not to be a turkey. Chef ran with this. This was his dream. One non-traditional Thanksgiving dinner coming right up!

2007 Crispy, Cracklin', Stuffed Porchetta

He special ordered a porchetta to stuff and roast and we planned on ratatouille, risotto, and a couple other side dishes. Appetizers would be bruschetta topped off with roasted red peppers and crumbled goat cheese with olive oil on top. Mmmmm...no turkey, mashed potatoes, and the stuffing was

inside the porchetta! Chef cooked the porchetta to perfection- crispy and brown on the outside and melt-in-your-mouth on the inside. And, we did end up roasting a whole chicken just for Ruckus. It turned out he was too much of a traditionalist for the rest of us. For dessert? Not pumpkin pie, or even pecan pie. I made my first homemade tiramisu. It was my first ever attempt at my all-time favorite dessert and it was a little heavy on the brandy. But none of the men seemed to mind that. It was a deliciously non-traditional Thanksgiving meal and we found, most importantly, that it was a fun way to start a new family tradition.

Thanksgiving of 2008 we decided we had had so much fun with the non-traditional Thanksgiving theme that we would do it again, but still find a way to keep the traditionalists happy. Chef special ordered a bigger version of his porchetta- this time an entire, organic pig to roast. Lucky Chef had an empty seat next him on his flight to my house so that the pig (which was frozen and packed up whole in his carry-on luggage) could fly comfortably next to him. 

Chef with the 2008 Thanksgiving Pig

Can you tell we are serious about our food in my family? Chef prepared the pig that night upon arrival and injected it with all sorts of special flavors that he had brought with him. The poor pig turned out to be the source of much heated debate that Thanksgiving. Would he be served whole on the table? After all, we serve the turkey whole, don't we? How else do you present a Thanksgiving pig at the table? The family was split on this matter. As it turned out, Patty (Ruckus's fiancee) used to raise pigs growing up and was becoming more and more traumatized by the whole display (understandably so). So Chef decided to cut up the pig and serve it as pork slices and shredded pork at the table. We still had a fried turkey to display and make room for. We do feel badly about Patty's experience with the whole thing.
And now ... Thanksgiving 2010. (We all made different plans for 2009 since two members of the family were deployed.) So this year, somehow, we have come back to a fully traditional Thanksgiving (much to Ruckus's relief)... well, mostly. A big organic turkey has been ordered to roast and serve at the table along with some version of mashed potatoes, select veggie dishes to be determined and, oh- the stuffing! My favorite part! We have decided to make it an oyster stuffing... I've been put in charge of bringing the oysters, too, since they are a local delicacy in my neck of the woods!!! We'll find our own ways of adding some foodie twists to the side dishes, I'm sure. And there will be an oyster roast added in as a pre-Thanksgiving meal or maybe post Thanksgiving meal, too! Mmmmm... 
Whether your Thanksgiving is about creating new traditions or keeping the old traditions alive, I hope it is filled with lots of family, friends, laughter, great food and even better memories! Happy Thanksgiving and happy eating!!!

Little Gourmands in the Making

The thing about having mini gourmands is they eat all the good food! They may not like everything I cook, but if it comes to seafood- they love it all! I’m talking Dungeness Crab, oysters, mussels, blue crab, shrimp… need I go on? Talk about expensive taste! The other day we had lunch at a local restaurant on the river. It is oyster season here and I absolutely LOVE oysters! Give them to me raw on the half shell and I am a happy girl! So I ordered a dozen oysters as an appetizer and the waitress finally brings out the beautiful plate of a dozen oysters on the halfshells. Right away my 4-year-old daughter, Cakes, starts in: “OOOhhhhh! Mommy, can I hab an oysto?” Of course, this question always makes me proud, but that pride quickly fades when I look at the plate of oysters in front of me. I want to eat my oysters and savor each one… tap, tap, tapping and pulling on my shirt continues. “Momma, momma! Can I hab an oysto?” I am carefully squeezing the lemon juice onto each oyster. “Momma, momma! I want an oysto! Can I hab one? Momma?” As I’m pulling the first slimy sucker out of its shell and drawing it closer to me, of course I hand the fork over to Cakes. The look of delight is too much to not make me grin with pride and joy. She really loves them! I cannot say I was that adventurous with food when I was her age. Here’s the thing. When I was her age there were clearly foods that my parents did not share with us. Oysters would have been one of them. I can picture my father saying something like, “Ladies do not eat oysters.” Mmm-hmmm…well this little lady does! But that was their rightful way of saying, “No, this is mine and I’m not sharing it with you until you fully appreciate it or can pay for it yourself.” Ha! If my child shows an interest in it and it’s not a choking hazard (or bacterial hazard- oysters are a concern for young babies- don’t give raw oysters to young babies) then I say give it to them! The worst is that they won’t like it and you have still exposed them to something new. Children want to eat how their parents eat most of the time. What could be more convenient than cooking only one meal (meaning the one you would like to eat for dinner) and having everyone eat that one meal? I’ve done it all so I know… being a short-order cook is not convenient, but I still do it when my husband is away a lot. But it’s so much easier for me when I actually plan one good meal and give it to my kids without a choice. Yes, there’s fighting and heavy sighing at the sight of the food most of the time, but isn’t it our job to torture them a little? Seriously, though, I didn’t like all the meals my mom put on the table growing up. There were some meals where I wished I had a dog to feed my food to under the table when my mom wasn’t looking. Sometimes my brother and I would pull the “I have to go to the bathroom” excuse only to spit out our food in the toilet. We were terrible! And we never appreciated how good we had it! I do now, but growing up you don’t always have a taste palate for all the tastes in different foods. I used to hate tomatoes. I remember really wanting to like them because they were a staple in my house and the rest of my family loved them, but every time I tasted one, I just couldn’t eat them. Now, I LOVE tomatoes and eat them all the time. So I get it. I totally get the looks on my kids’ faces when I serve cream of rutabaga soup for dinner and tell them that they have to try it. (Yes, this is a true story! I have the pictures to prove it! It was delicious! The looks on the kids' faces were priceless)I know that they are wishing for pizza or something “normal.” Feeding my kids well is a struggle all about constantly exposing them to new flavors. The challenge is to keep my kitchen open and my creative food juices flowing! For now, I'll consider the fact that my kids have expensive taste in food (all things seafood that is) a small feat.
Watch out for the post about the rutabaga soup next!