Ok. I admit, it looks like I have I problem… it’s not that I’m obsessed with pickles, I swear… I just – have a routine, you know? Setting up the pickle trays is how I start my day on Thanksgiving!
But anyway, our celebratory day started as it often does, the weekend before. Now, Paul has been doing the household grocery shopping for a few years due to my mobility issues, and with only a few exceptions he pretty well knows what we need from week to week and I don’t micromanage too much. Saturday, however, we needed to do our pre-Thanksgiving sojourn, and I wanted a little more of a hands on experience. And because I was going, Jacob had to go to push me, while Paul pushed the cart. And of course, Natalie came along, as she had a separate list, so she pushed her own cart.
How did it go, you ask? Oh, it was VERRRY interesting. Navigating the aisles of Walmart – on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving – in a wheelchair… 1/10, do not recommend! 😆 A complete madhouse of humanity – I’m sure more than a few of you saw the same thing in your local groceries. It was a trip to remember, for more reasons than one.
First of all, due to the hordes of shoppers, and zero handicapped parking spots, we had to park at nearly the end of the universe. Not that big a deal when I have helpers around to assist with my chair, but I’m telling you it was far out there in the boonies. We had time to tell each other stories on the way into the store.
Then of course, was just the sheer ludicrosity of getting around in the store and finding what we needed, though I will say that people were in good spirits, and entirely accommodating of my needs, doing their best to let me through. Much appreciated!
But finally, when all of my list had found its way into the cart, Natalie had been collected, and it was time to check out, Jacob took me to head out to wait in the van. As we approached the exit, however, we discovered to our chagrin that it had begun to rain. Not a spitting little sprinkle either, mind you, but a full-on drenching downpour. With only a brief hesitation, we quickly concluded there was nothing for it, and with resignation, forged out into the elements to make the long, long journey back to the outer limits of space and time to the van. By the time we and the chair were loaded up, we were utterly soaked and freezing, and had to turn on the engine and heat to warm up.
I immediately called Paul, who was still waiting in the checkout line, to ask if, considering the inclemency of the weather, they would appreciate a pick up by the curb. He said nah, it wont prevent the groceries from getting wet anyway, we’ll just hoof it. So they did, still amidst the heavy deluge and thunder; but by the time we slowly made our way home, it had let up enough that unloading was much less of a sloppy endeavor.
So, anyway, that was my weekend adventure – shopping! HAH!
Sunday was wonderfully typical – mass and a relaxing visit with Grandma. Best pic of the day:
Monday was a normal day of work and school, dropping off in the morning, picking up twice in the evening – once after school and again for Lyss and Efrain after Soccer and Chess were finished.
But then came Tuesday, and things started to kick into high gear. Knowing the limits of my stamina, I needed to do as much in advance of Thursday as possible. I’d had that in mind when I was shopping too, which was why, though it pained me somewhere in the depths of my trad-wife soul, I chose to buy the pre-diced mirepoix instead of bags of celery, onion and carrots, which would require the extra steps of cleaning, peeling, dicing, and then cleaning up the after-mess. However, when it came time to sauté the vegetables for the stuffing and I just *dumped* them in the pan with butter and seasoned them, light shone down from heaven above and angel-choirs sang as I happily stirred the aromatic, sizzling mixture, having eliminated more than an hour of extra labor – and the pain that would have accompanied that process. I salved my wounded wifely ego by breaking up the massive pre-sliced mushrooms into smaller pieces by hand. Got that into a casserole dish and the fridge to await completion with meat juices the next day and finished the day feeling rather successful.
I was determined to finish everything I needed to do in advance of Thursday on Wednesday morning, since I knew Ana was coming over in the afternoon, and the kitchen would be a-bustle with the making of Pozole. Each year Natalie asks her mom to come help her learn a new Mexican recipe during Thanksgiving week – which is also her birthday week – and that was her choice this year. So I began my shredding of cheese for the mac at 8am:
Pepper Jack and Extra Sharp Cheddar were shredded; then there was some Philadelphia Cream, some Velveeta, and some goat cheese just for fun. Then I made the sauce, and from start to finish that took 2 hours. At that point my back was cooked, so I had to rest for a few minutes. Got up again when Paul had finished cutting up the chicken (we did boneless chicken instead of turkey or ham this year) and I did the seasoning and got that started in the roaster.
Next came boiling the noodles. Do you know how long it takes to boil a large pot of water? Well, longer than a small pot, I’ll tell you that! While waiting for the water to boil, Ruben helped me lay out the bacon on a cookie sheet and put it in the oven. Finally the water boiled and I put the noodles in the pot, and then set Jacob to monitor the timers for both of those while I laid myself down again. Got up in time for the bacon to come out of the oven. Ruben was excited to chop the bacon, so I monitored his work and he was quite successful. Sisters were hovering, and wanting to assist, but I waved them off. This was Ruben’s job, and they could only step in if he got tired or gave up. He did neither.
Once the bacon was cooked, and while Ruben was chopping, I set Natalie to toasting the Panko bread crumbs in bacon fat. Because of course you use that bacon fat! Finally it was time to assemble. Typical of me, I made a ginormous quantity of sauce, which meant I had to double the noodles, which meant I ended up with literally two casseroles. Had to shred more cheese for the tops, but not to worry, I bought enough cheese. Got everything together, and they looked B-E-A-Utiful! Foiled the tops and into the fridge they went.
I was out of the kitchen just in time for Ana to arrive. Pozole is a BIG process. They worked the afternoon and I stayed out of the way. By bedtime we had almost gotten literally everything we could finish done, and went to a well deserved rest.
Thursday morning I was up before everyone except Xavier, who rose early to get the floor swept and mopped. After last week’s rain storms, with all the dogs coming in and out of the muddy back yard, it was much needed!
As is my tradition, I prepped my pickle and olive trays first thing. Is it beyond preposterous? Of course it is. Can I scale back, like, EVER? Of course not. “Can’t stop the signal!” I gotta be me, and Me means EXTRA!
The first set of pics include casseroles awaiting their oven bake, chairs atop the table after mopping, sweet pickle, beet, and cranberry jelly tray prep, and Caesar salad prep:
Next set of pics is all about the FOODS!
- King Hawaiian buns
- Salty tray: Dill pickle slabs, banana peppers, Spanish olives, kalamata olives, blue-cheese stuffed jumbo olives, dill pickle spears. Sweet tray: bread-and-butter-pickles, Dave’s spicy pickles, whole pickled beets, sliced pickled beets, and cranberry jelly.
- Caesar Salad (there was one with, and one without, black olives)
- Crispy Garlic Parmesan fingerling potatoes atop a bed of rosemary ricotta.
- 5-cheese Mac & Cheese with crunchy panko and bacon topping.
- Cilantro, radishes, avocados, limes, and shredded cabbage to go with the Pozole.
- Mushroom stuffing.
- Garlic-Cream-Cheese Mashed Potatoes.
Not pictured: Pozole, roasted chicken, wild rice, corn, and gravy.
Photos of my people, as many as I could find, or would cooperate, or turned out (some were inexplicably and irretrievably out of focus):
- Jeffrey, with nearly the longest beard he’s ever sported.
- Kitchen work with Laurent, Jordan, Ana, and Xavier.
- Lyss, sneaking a crouton, with cousin Noel back in the office.
- Paul, Grandma, Geneva and Mark around the table during preparations.
- Geneva and Jacob (I was in a hurry to capture this and failed to recognize my camera had focused on the coffee bar behind them. Oh wellzies, they’re cute anyway).
- More chatting at the table with Grandma, Geneva and Mark.
- Laurent and Grandma, listening while Paul reads the first Thanksgiving Proclamation.
- Paul reading while Xavier, Ana, Natalie and Mark listen.
After I ate a very small portion of almost everything (I mean, like a table-spoon, it was perfect!), I came to the absolute end of my stamina and had to go lie down. I didn’t make it back up for dessert, and I knew I might not, so I handed off the camera to Natalie and asked her to please take some beautiful photos of Laurent’s delicious sounding Maple Pumpkin Pecan mini-trifles! She outdid herself taking many MANY more than I could ever hope to need, these are just the best of the best. (And don’t you just love Laurent’s beautiful antique-looking ring! I adore the marquis style…) Also pictured, Natalie’s birthday cake choice of cheesecake with fresh strawberries and whipped cream.
As I lay in bed trying to relax, wishing for nearly the first time ever that I had some oxy, and offering up my suffering, I had a momentary mental glitch during which I felt sad and guilty to be missing out on time with the family. But immediately I flipped that self-pity switch right off because I remembered that over the course of two days I had already logged nearly 8,000 steps – 3-4x my usual count, and I gave abundant thanks to God for the ability to do SO MUCH MORE than I have in past years. God is good, and I did indeed have an absolutely brilliant Thanksgiving. Hope you had much to be thankful for as well!
