I think we both had many wistful ideas about Thanksgiving. MLE loved having enough food for one meal. I loved the idea of tastey foods that we didn't eat but once a year. But in both our families, the execution of that idea never went very well. MLE's mom was trying to feed a horde of children and grandchildren. By the time I met them, thanksgiving was a madhouse of screaming children and dietary restrictions. My own history was of boxed stuffing, a dry turkey, cranberry sauce from a can, and Don in love with mashed potatoes from scratch, with lumps of uncooked potato still in them fighting with me who wanted something smooth, even if it came from a box.

In 1998, MLE and I had our first thanksgiving alone, just the two of us. We had thrown off the culinary shackles of Mormonism and moved out of her parent's basement. We had a subscription to Food and Wine magazine and weren't afraid to use it! We still have a photo of that first Thanksgiving--the port-cranberry sauce (made from scratch), the brussels sprouts (never had those at the Sewell household), the stuffing and potatoes were from a box (hey, I needed to grow into the new role...) but it was a good start. And the wine! We had wine! I can't imagine now how people survive Thanksgiving without something to drink.

Our own personal Thanksgiving tradition started like all good ones--unintentionally. In 1999 I had to work, but we thought fondly of that first one and in 2000 had an even better spread. The thing that we liked was doing the basics well but then adding something new to the mix. For example, a few years ago I did some research on potatoes--how to prepare them, how to cook them, how to make them just right. This year, we had whipped potatoes. None of that grainy, half-cooked stuff; no, I cubed the raw potatoes into nice, even sizes, cooked them to perfection, put them through a food mill, whipped them with butter, milk, and cream in my Kitchen Aid until they were light and fluffy--MLE said that they reminded her of whipped cream!

I did two stuffings this year: my first attempt at a basic, classic bread and sausage stuffing; and a Chorizo-cornbread stuffing. The basic one was fine--well executed, tasty. But that chorizo-cornbread one... oh do DIE for! The recipe came from Food and Wine's Marcia Kiesel who is the first person I read, many years ago, criticize Emeril. I've loved her from that day on (let's face it, all he really does is say "bam" a lot--his food is crap). She also mentioned being a vegetarian. How she came up with chorizo stuffing I'll never know, but bless her for doing so! The cornbread is rich, made with buttermilk. The collards add the perfect touch. The colors alone make it worth having on the table. Turns out it tastes heavenly.

I forget when we first discovered bubble-herb loaf, but it's become a requirement for years now. Too much cheese and butter to be healthy, but those herbs add... vitamins? Anyway, it's a luscious, poppable bread that we eat all day long.

I spent time over several years trying to figure out roasting and how that whole turkey thing works. I did deep-fried turkey in 1990, long before it was fashionable. It works well, but not really worth the time/danger/effort of the fryer. I tried brining them, marinating them, injecting them, you name it. In the end, I mostly just like putting a little butter and herbs on them and then roasting them till done--no longer. I've done it well enough in years past that this year we opted for the side dishes and just had a turkey breast that took all of 30 minutes to roast. I even roasted it to dryness because MLE still fondly remembers her mom's turkey...

One new classic is the burbon pumpkin pie with pecan streusel. We've had it every year since 2002. The Bourbon adds a nice flavor and that streusel gives it a crunch that is unbeatable.

We've also added a brussels sprouts/bacon/chestnuts to the mix. Not very cutting edge, but a well executed classic.

The second brussels sprouts thing didn't go so well. It was ok, but just not very interesting.

I am mostly glad not to have to worry about the families. My memories of Thanksgiving are more along the lines of passive aggressive arguments about table manners, dad turning on a TV wherever he goes to watch a game that has no connection to him whatsoever, and all of us being required to compliment mom on her bland dinner. Sometime while I was on my Mormon mission, Wal-Mart moved to Taylorsville and suddenly Don and Donna had a "tradition" of going shopping at 6:00am the Friday after. They couldn't afford that when I was growing up, but after I left it became an essential part of their weekend. I guess they were just that desperate to enter the mainstream.

I wish them, and all of you, well at your shopping sprees. I'm sleeping in, then having a nice breakfast, then going to workout, then doing all my shopping the way God intended: online!