Chip and Dale Designs

                                                A Thanksgiving Day Blog

  I hope all of my US friends are having a good Turkey day filled with food and fun. And to those of you that don’t celebrate it, I hope you are having a most wonderful day as well.

  Thanksgiving at my home in Pennsylvania was a big deal. There was the yearly argument between my mother and my grandmother about the turkey. We always got our turkey from a Turkey Farm. And yes, I even had a t shirt with their logo on it. My grandmother ( we called her Mamam) would get a turkey from the restaurant where she worked. My mother refused to make Mamam’s turkey. She may have been stubborn as I think that trait runs in my family- hahahahaha. One year, she told Mamam she made her turkey- and Mamam went on and on about how much moister the turkey was, etc. Guess what? My mother cooked the same old damn bird she bought every year- Mamam’s turkey was still in the freezer. 

 

    We also always had Mamams’ sister over for the day. She lived in a cool apartment above a hotel in the neighboring town. She was a school teacher back in the day. Now, this woman could not have been sweeter to me. I loved her-but according to some of my friends she was NOT the nicest teacher. And that is the nicest way I can say that.  Funny how that all works- but who knows what my little friends acted like in school- but I am sure they were all angels like me. (You can laugh now- that was supposed to be funny as I lived in the corner in kindergarten).

  It also meant that mom would get creative with the food. One year my dad gave her a ton of grief when he caught her putting an ice cream pie in the oven. “What the hell, Arlene- too many bloody marys?” Anyway, she had the last laugh as her Baked  Alaska turned out beautifully- and there was not a bite left. If I tried to bake one there would be a huge mess in the bottom of the oven. I suck at cooking- just ask my poor kids.

  Sometimes one of my siblings would be able to come- which was a giant treat for me. All of my siblings are quite a bit older than I and most of the time lived far away. It was like Elvis was arriving.

 

  My favorite part of dinner was my mom’s filling- yes, in my neck of the woods in PA it is called filling, not stuffing as most normal people call it. The base is bread and potatoes and it was seasoned with poultry seasoning, a ton of sage, and one other spice I cannot think of at the moment.  I have found out not everyone likes this wonderful concoction! As my family is not a fan, I do not make it. For years I tried to shove it down their throats but it just got sad. (They like good ole Stove Top- for crying out loud it kills me to make that crap) Plus, I cannot figure out how to make this filling in a small batch. My mother’s recipe starts with 10 pounds of potatoes and goes from there.  (well,  prob not 10 pounds but her worst fear was to not have enough food for everyone- and believe me that NEVER happened).

  Anyhoo, I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday- or not!

Chip and Dale Designs!