My daughter Mary has started to enjoy cooking. And she's getting quite good at it. Last year as we were awaiting the imminent birth of Baby Jude, Mary offered to make the entire Thanksgiving dinner. It was a great blessing to me since I needed to be on call to help my daughter by babysitting her two year old when she went into labor which could have happened at any minute.
This year Mary offered to do it again. I accepted gladly again but with the limitation that I wanted to be involved in the planning and reserved veto power over the menu. I also told her I would be helping with the entire meal. It was a good plan.
Mary started with making a brine for the turkey. I had never done a brine before and she is absolutely right that it very much improves the flavor and tenderness of the turkey. (Brine pictured above. Below-- Mary photographing her awesome work.)
We were quite organized because, for me, it is not going to happen if I don't have it planned out.. We always have a shopping list like the one below...
But Mary took it to a whole new level with color coded spread sheets..
The menu...after much negotiation and consultation with the family about their favorite traditional foods...
Menu and timing sheets are taped to the cupboards...because that's much easier to just look up then to search for the the sheets of paper amid the messy table...
Mary at work and seemingly loving every minute...She's good!!
And here she is with her completed masterpiece of a dinner. It was delicious, and with no catastrophes! So proud of her, not only because she is a good cook but, more importantly, because she is willing to give many hours to serving her family.
And for the first time, we were able to expand our Amish table into the living room, instead of into the kitchen where the table would take up so much room that it was impossible to open the fridge without asking the person sitting there to get up for a minute.
When we added the new room to our house we also expanded the opening between the dining area and the living room.
Mary and I with the mission accomplished...
#Feelingblessed, #Feelingthankful
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