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Wednesday, November 29, 2017

The Pork Boys Do Thanksgiving 2017

Click to enlarge.

We had a lovely feast last week, beginning with an 18-pound turkey that M. P. found on sale for only six dollars or so; two new supermarkets have opened near us in recent months, and isn't competition a wonderful thing?  When it works in your favor, that is.  At any rate, turkey and dressing is M. P.'s favorite dish, so he set to with a will, and when he was done very late that night, our menu included the following:

Hors d'oeuvres
Ham roll-ups
Beef roll-ups
Swiss cheese bits
Extra-sharp cheddar cheese bits
Deviled eggs
Green olives
Black olives
Boudin balls, breaded and deep-fried (a Cajun delicacy; M. P. had made the boudin from scratch the week before)

Appetizer
Velouté de brocolis with Velveeta cubes in lieu of croutons


Main Course
Roast turkey stuffed with sausage dressing
Cranberry sauce
Mashed potatoes
Giblet gravy
Maque choux (a Cajun corn casserole, like M. P.'s mama used to make)
Cornbread salad
Green bean casserole*
Sweet potato souffle*
Cranberry sauce
Homemade biscuits and butter


Wine
White Zinfandel (Winking Owl, California, 2017)


Dessert
Pumpkin pie
Pecan pie
Crockpot caramel cake with whipped cream and caramel sauce
Maple-bacon cookies
Coffee

* - Your Head Trucker made the starred dishes, both of which are much too simple to qualify as haute cuisine.  But M. P. ate them up just the same.

As a matter of fact, we had so much on our plates, we forgot about the biscuits until all was said, done, and eaten!  But of course we have enjoyed them since, along with a truckload of very tasty leftovers.  (Confidentially, fellas, after eating turkey for seven days in a row, I am now getting just a wee bit tired of it.  But shhh - don't tell M. P.!  I think a little talafia meuniere would be a nice change of pace, and that's another dish that requires no culinary talent to slap out.)

And so the Pork Boys feasted well and long again.  But just so you understand - these occasional feasts, along with our simpler Sunday dinners, are about the only recreation two gray and grizzled retirees can afford anymore - we never eat out, and only once or twice a year can we scrape our nickels and dimes together for a little KFC.  Other times, M. P. conjures up a homemade pizza instead of calling Domino's, and he says my cheeseburger pie - a trifling dish - rivals the taste of a good Whataburger.  So please don't begrudge us a little festivity in the kitchen now and then - when youthful charms and money have flown, food is one of the very last comforts - and one of the best. For all of which, we are truly grateful

Alas, I am too old and slow to chronicle all the kitchen doings in pictures these days, but here are a few snaps that show off M. P.'s artistry - he really loves to set a nice table and make things pretty.  I hope all my truckbuddies had a fabulous turkey day too.










4 comments:

Davis said...

The dishes look spectacular and I'm relieved to know you're not starving...

Russ Manley said...

No, not starving at all. While other things in life may be in somewhat short supply, food is not one of them, God be praised.

As M.P. says, we may be poor, but we eat like kings -- no small blessing, that.

Frank said...

As always, it all looks scrumptious! Speaking of the age thing...

We went to a neighbor's for Thanksgiving (there were 10 of us) ...and I agreed to bring a veggie (roasted butternut squash which was quite good) and homemade cranberry sauce which I literally BURNED because I am apparently no longer able to multi-task. So then I had to make another batch. Luckily, I had purchased 3 pounds of cranberries at Costco and had only burned half the amount.

After all that, I forgot to bring the cranberry sauce to the dinner...AND NO ONE EVEN ASKED "WHERE'S THE CRANBERRY SAUCE." If someone had, I could have retrieved it within minutes.

But all is not lost. We have our own turkey waiting in the freezer for either Christmas or New Year's Day...and the cranberry sauce will keep. Personally I love turkey leftovers which is why we bought a turkey of our own, for consumption at a later date. Looking forward to it.

Thank you Russ and M.P. for sharing. Despite the state of the nation and the world, we are thankful for all that we have.

Russ Manley said...

I understand about multitasking - even monotasking is risky now. We have two kitchen timers, three counting the microwave, and without them we would be in big trouble in the kitchen, I'm afraid.

In my youth, cranberry sauce was something I could take or leave, but at this late age I find it absolutely scrumptious eaten with the turkey meat, bite by bite. Now that is a Yankee invention I can heartily endorse! Grin.

Glad you all had a good Thanksgiving and have made some neighbor-friends up there.

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