Good Food St. Louis - Eat Well, Travel Far, Laugh Often

Time 2020-11-24 02:03:14

Web Name: Good Food St. Louis - Eat Well, Travel Far, Laugh Often

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Good Food St. LouisEat Well, Travel Far, Laugh OftenBlogAboutBioQuotesInterviewRecipesCategoriesAlphabeticPhotosMy Best ShotsFarm WeekendsHolidaysPlaces FacesNostalgiaTravelFoodTravelSicilyIrelandItalyFranceCubaMexicoNew OrleansTurkeyRestaurant ReviewsGalleryListEating OutContact Thanksgiving: It s Memories and MenusNovember 23, 2020 by Jean Carnahan This year I could ve settled for open-faced turkey sandwiches puddled with gravy and cranberry sauce pushed from a can as God intended. Instead, I went with a small, fresh turkey for me and my two bubble mates. Traditions Remembered, If Not Kept This YearI don’t come from a big family, so there was no trouble fitting around the dining room table on holidays. Thanksgiving dinner includedjust my parents, maternal grandparents and me and an occasional relative or two.Even so, the day was heralded with great pageantry, or as much as we could muster in a row house with a kitchen the size of a walk-in closet and an oven barely large enough for a baking dish.I always said I didn’t learn to cook as a child, because our kitchen wasn’t big enough for more than one person. Truth be know, my interest ran more to baseball and books than food preparation.Only the BestLike Christmas, Thanksgiving was a day that called for using the accumulated finery that working people stored away for such occasions. One of my assignments was to set the table with a full array of silver, china and crystal.Mama s silver pattern was called Fragrance and over the years she d added to it piece-by-piece until she had eight place settings. (Sorry, Mama, but the Noritake and the Reed and Barton are packed away somewhere.)I d begin by pulling the thick, folding pad from behind the buffet and positioning it onto the mahogany dining table. Mama had already ironed the white linen tablecloth and napkins, a task too delicate to be entrusted to me. Be Careful with the Crystal, Jean This being a special occasion meant we’d most often be drinking from the crystal glassware rather than the multi-colored set of aluminum tumblers we used every day.I d retrieve each piece from the glass-front china cabinet, where fine items were kept on year-round display. I loved the way the fragile stems felt as I rotated each in my hand and the ringing sound the glass made when tapped with a spoon.Dealing with a Dead BirdFrom the kitchen, Mama would invariably call out a warning for me to be more cautious handling such costly stemware, which, she reminded me, would be mine someday to set my own Thanksgiving table.At the time, I couldn t envision ever celebrating Thanksgiving without Mama in the kitchen. No way would I ever go one-on-one with a dead bird, running my arm into its icy cavity to fetch parts and pieces for giblet gravy. Yuck!Pushing those thoughts aside, I d count out the Noritake china plates. I d remove the sterling silverware from its cloth-lined, wooden chest, check it for any signs of tarnish, and polish each piece until it gleamed. My mother would surely laugh if she could see me wrestling a Thanksgiving turkey, as I was in this photo a few years ago.A Rockwellian SettingAs the noon hour approached, without being told, I d don my church-going clothes. My father and grandfather would put aside their usual work attire for a tie, well-starched shirt and cardigan. They looked like Mr. Rogers long before he ever had a television show. Ours was a holiday table as Rockwellian as it gets. Here I am with my grandparents (Howison and Lucy Armstrong Sullivan), gathered around the Thanksgiving table in our small row house in Washington DC during the 1950s. I can still locate the turkey, dressing, potatoes and spoon bread on the table.The Spoon BreadThe last dish from the oven was always spoon bread, a puffy, eggy, cornmeal and flour mixture that melted in your mouth. The delicate dish was served only at Thanksgiving and Christmas.After Mama’s death, I found the recipe among her many cookbooks and kitchen notes. The handwritten card was yellowed with age and stains of batter dropped during those meals of yesteryear. I have tried to replicate the dish, but no matter how hard I try my spoon bread never matches my memories.A Gathering of Thankful HeartsThis year my Thanksgiving has been scaled back to three. Quite a reduction from our usual 30-40 gathering of family and friends.It will be like no other Thanksgiving in my lifetime with the exception of that time when I had the flu and could only keep down chicken soup and crackers.Sadly, our holiday gathering will not be around a table with as many loved one this year. But wherever we are, the important thing is that we celebrate safely and with grateful and hopeful hearts. Comments commentsFiled Under: Family, Family Meals, Thanksgiving Tagged With: Thanksgiving, thanksgiving decorations, thanksgiving memories, traditional thanksgivingMore from my siteA Traditional Thanksgiving MenuTurkey WrestlingLet s Talk Turkey: Heritage or Butterball?Thanksgiving in the Ozarks: A Plentiful FeastA Thanksgiving StrategyThanksgiving Menu: Comfort Food with MemoriesMashed Potatoes: A Thanksgiving ClassicNovember 21, 2020 by Jean Carnahan Leave a CommentWriter Nora Ephron wisely said, People need more mashed potatoes in their lives. She called the silky, smooth spuds, God s shaving cream. Mashed Potatoes: Then and NowI fondly remember my mother’s mashed potatoes. They were enhanced by nothing more than butter, milk, salt and pepper. That’s exactly how I made mine for many years, preparing them, as she did, with a wooden-handled potato masher. Some lumps remained, but those just added texture.Then I moved onto an electric hand mixer. The handy kitchen gadget whipped the potatoes so perfectly they took on the look of a spud smoothie. Today I use a ricer. A potato ricer takes a good grip and some muscle power.Loaded PotatoesI’ve made other changes to my mother’s recipe. It s now acceptable to load up the bland root vegetable with decadent extras, at least, at Thanksgiving. In addition to the butter, I add roasted garlic, half and half cream, and Boursin cheese (or cream cheese) to my holiday potatoes. They’re superb!(Recipe here)Favorite Comfort FoodThe Winner is . . .Some years ago on this blog, I asked for responses to the question: What is your favorite comfort food? Mashed potatoes was the hands down winner, garnering twice the number of votes as its nearest rivals.In a virtual tie for second place was mac cheese, tomato and potato soups, cornbread, roast beef, and grilled cheese. To my surprise pizza, meatloaf, beef stew, and fried chicken all hovered around third place.Serve from a Bowl or from a Shell? Twice-baked potatoes ready for the oven.On many a Thanksgiving plate, you’ll findmashedpotatoes nudged up against the turkey and dressing and all overlaid with a puddle of gravy.But there are other ways to serve the ubiquitous spuds. When I mentioned my Thanksgiving side dish to Cyndy last year, she had a different take.“I make them about the same way you do, she said, with Boursin cheese, butter, garlic and light cream. But then I put them back into the shell with a sprinkle of cheese and green onions before twice baking.”Either way works for me. Comments commentsFiled Under: Side Dishes, Thanksgiving, Vegetables Tagged With: comfort food, mashed potatoes, potato ricer, Thanksgiving side dishes, twice -baked potatoesMore from my siteThankful for Mashed PotatoesThanksgiving Potatoes: Mashed and SweetVegetable Soup, a Meal in a BowlChicken Pot Pie, the Comfort CasseroleCorona Cuisine: Something Old, Something NewChef Favorite Cooking Tools123 626Next Page AboutI no longer cook daily for a family of 7 like I once did. I cook for one at my condo, eat out frequently, and entertain family and friends at my farm on weekends and holidays. So I still have a spoon in the pot, so to speak.I’m Jean Carnahan. You may remember me as Missouri’s First Lady during the 90s or the state s first woman U.S. Senator. Over the last 20 years, I’ve published 8 books, including a cookbook, Christmas at the Mansion. (More) Subscribe to Blog via EmailEnter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email free. Email Address Subscribe Books by Jean Carnahan The Good Food Group Editor: Jean Carnahan Research Assistant: Cyndy Crider Social Media: Grace Sutcliffe IT Consultant: JC Antolinez WEB Maintenance: HeurisIT, LLC. Top Posts Pages About MeMy StoryBioQuotesInterviewPrivacy Policy RecipesSaladMediterraneanPastaSoupComfort FoodSide DishesDesserts PhotosPlaces & FacesFarm WeekendsHolidaysNostalgiaMy Best Shots TravelSicilyIrelandItalyFranceMexicoNew OrleansCubaCopyright 2020Foodie Child Theme goodfoodstl.com · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress · WEB DEVELOPMENT BY Heurisit.com

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