THANKSGIVING 2010 FINALLY DONE

Such a wonderful day.  Nothing better than spending the yesterday and today in the kitchen with my daughter and seeing two wonderful guys eat with zest.  Now I am back in my half house, resting, relaxing, and trying to remember to eat reasonably.

Our table was beautiful.

I have only a couple of other Thanksgiving thoughts, then I promise I will leave this subject and go on with life. I will skip all this rambling next year as I have already bored everyone with the details.   I was laughing to myself today remembering how to cook a bird.  It happened when my daughter did  the perfect bird.  The evasive Turkey day prize.

 How do you cook a turkey?

• Plain Cooking.....  Thaw and rinse.  Truss legs.  Salt and season skin.  Inject breast with butter and seasoning.  Place in 500 degree oven for 45 minutes.  Then lower heat to 350 and cook until done. 
• Dressed up turkey..... Thaw and rinse.  Butter  utside.  TAKE AN OLD T SHRIT FROM A STRAY man, making sure it is clean PUT IT ON THE BIRD. Size of T is dependent on how many pounds the turkey weighs.  My first husband was a 4x and the bird usually weighed 25 pounds. The T fit the bird,  Butter Tshirt.  Cook until done at 350.
• Bagged Turkey....  Thaw and rinse.  Butter and salt outside.  Place in a paper bag from grocery store.  A big brown bag,  you may not be able to find this anymore.  Cook until done at 350 degrees.
• Baking Bag Turkey.  Buy baking bags and follow the instructions.
• Fried Turkey   This is too dangerous to give directions.
• Grilled Turkey.  Seems this is new, I havent seen this method before so look it up.
• Boiled Turkey.  Happens in some countries like Arabia.  Meat is boiled ( chicken, turkey, goat, lamb), in lots of spices.  Rice is cooked in the same very large container after meat has cooked off the bone.  When done, dump everything on a very large platter ( at least two feet in diameter).  Sprinkle toasted pine nuts over rice.  Eat with fingers.  No utensils.
• Smoked Turkey.  Follow smoker directions or buy one.
• Beer bottle.  Use a large can of beer with about 2 inches discarded, Bake turkey in vertical poistion with beer can placed upright into the cavity.
• Grocery Store cooked.  Most stress free method.  If you are already stressed, making this meal and cooking the turkey will make you out of your mind.

Well the day is gone and Christmas decorations will come be sorted and put up on Sunday. . Leave any turkey hints under comments.  We just can never know enough about Turkey cooking.

THANKSGIVING 2010 .... THIRD PERIOD

Pinehurst Hotel

After my divorce from Joe and after my move back to North Carolina in 1980, Thanksgivings became a really mixed bag. The first one I remember was at the old Pinehurst Hotel.  Very traditional fare but prepared with lots of butter!!  Men still hanging around waiting fore a tee time in their nickers.  Such pretense.  But the old white rockers on the porch and mint juleps were wonderful. 

The Carolina hotel, now the Pinehurst Resort, opened in 1901. It immediately served as the center of all activity at Pinehurst, surrounded by lush grounds, perfect for enjoying the warmth of the day.





Then there was the Thanksgivings in Saudi Arabia.  The food was different, the people didn't care about this day, for sure.

 I remember one holiday that was spent flying to the Asir on the western coast of Arabia.  I was sitting in view of a group of men and the stewardess came with a tray of boiled eggs, in their shell. I was not prepared for what came next....they popped them into their mouths, shell and all, and in  a few minutes, out came the shells which were spit upon the floor.  God love Saudi.  Later that day we had a meal in what used to be the Kings get-away.  Nine courses and five hours later, I was too tired to even sleep. 



Gladstones'



Memorable was the Thanksgiving spent with Leah at Gladstones on the Pacific Highway in Malibu about noontime..  Oysters Rockefeller.  I can still smell the salt air. But by six we were hunting somewhere that had old fashioned Turkey.  No such animal in LA. That visit also included the Chippendale's and the Christmas pageant at the Crystal Cathedral.



Ralph would laugh to remember Thanksgiving at the Seaside in Oregon.  This marks the end of the Lewis and Clark trail.  Don and Vicky Hansen, the Fitzpatricks' and the Greenlaws' had a buffet second to none.  Alas, we had dozens of families, kids and spilled cranberry sauce.  We have laughed so much about that day. After we had gotten the spilled cranberry sauce out of our finery.

A year or so later.

Another place to remember...and I hope you have the opportunity to visit, is Harts in Meredith New Hampshire.  Reading about the history is fun...http://hartsturkeyfarm.com/html/history.html  They make everything Turkey and bird day brings out the best.  Of course, I would tease Ralph, it wasn't a southern meal, but it would do.

As Ralph and I settled into our first home, Franny, Eleanor, Leah, Don and my new grandson shared wonderful meals.  I loved cooking for all of them and setting a fancy table.  Eight years of Bird days were spent in our homes in Raleigh.  Every year we shared the warmth, love and way too much food. 

As the 21st century got firmly underway, I shared more times with my sister.  One very terrific Thanksgiving was spent at my Niece's home in Maryland.  Of course, the conversations were wild, the stories unbelievable and the food was soooooo good.  Outside of the traditional, was the most delicious beef I have ever eaten...cooked by Nancy.  This year I have had to take a rain check.   The last two years have been Ohio Turkey days.  Great food last year. By her request,  I tried to teach Leah the art of old fashioned dishes, and of course the stress was out of sight.  This year we will have it perfect from turkey to pecan pie. 

WE WISH YOU ALL A WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING.

THANKSGIVING 2010 ... MAKING OUR OWN MEMORIES

The Thanksgivings after the seventh grade were spent in a brand new house that sat on the same land as the one that burned.  They were not much different except the house was a small cottage.  No dining room but everything was new, convenient and wonderful.  Turkeys still came from the woods and food still came from the wonderfully canned goods   High school years blended into college ones and the excitement of going home for the holidays.  That didn't really last too long because just a couple of years would find us still on campus when everyone else was going home.  We had a "Charge To Keep" and staffed for the holidays.  On these occasions we had all the traditional fare in the Hospital cafeteria.  Except for the nursing students the Duke campus was absolutely dead.  The traditional fare turned into institutional turkey, dressing like I had never tasted, none of the delicious pickles, and the pies didn't hold a candle to Grandmothers.  My boyfriend was home enjoying and here I was ..... working.

Marriage was soon to follow. On one particular Thanksgiving I had begun to work in the Emergency room.  One of the residents had been sent a smoked turkey.  The staff let it sit out for hours.  I had a healthy helping and very soon after I went home.  In just a few  the agony of food poisoning set in.  My hubby took me quickly to the Emergency Room.  I was given a real dose of Compazine, I think.  We had been scheduled to take off and visit his mother in Charleston, SC.  Since there was nothing for me to do but sleep under the influence of all the drugs, Joe started to drive in that direction in our little MG sports car.  I shall never forget dreaming that a huge semi had turned over and white turkeys were flying everywhere.  It was months before I told anyone thinking I was hallucinating   Yes, there really was a bunch of loose white turkeys just south of Durham.

Our first cooking of the Thanksgiving turkey was a real story of its own.  I started my search for a live turkey and one of our neighbors found one for me and delivered it.  The only place to keep it until my lucky husband came home.  Little did I know that he was clueless as to how to fix the bird.  The first exciting thing was that the turkey didn't mind him and fled the foot locker the first chance he had.  Our beautiful new trailer was spread with you know what.  Our married student friends settled into a laughing contest as they watched the decapitation, hanging, and scalding.  I never lived down this episode, but the food was wonderful  I discovered Mt. Olive pickles, tried successfully to make my own cranberry sauce but I did have to buy the rolls that were not nearly so good.  I added over the year some recipes from my husbands' family.  Sweet potato ...well cannot remember the name, but maybe you will.  You grate a huge bunch of sweet potatoes, cook them with a ton of sugar and add some spices.  A pudding like concoction that is wonderful.  I soon tired of the grating and this recipe left my memory. 

 I was introduced to Pepperidge Farm Stuffing mix in the sixties and was addicted.  No longer saving stale bread, trying to get it just right.  But I did add my own water chestnuts, onions, celery (like the old fashioned stuffing I was used to), and some oysters when we were rich enough.  All the other stuff was wonderful.... celery stuffed with cream cheese and olive, spiced little red apples, and a bit of eggnog.

The years went by and our small family had Thanksgiving pretty much the same way with the addition of friends and Joes' employees that were far from home. I can still see the buffet with sweet goodies, the table laden, and folks we had met along the way.  Family was far away.  I became famous during this time for Southern Pecan Pie.  Yummmmm!

THANKSGIVING 2010 -- Early Memories

Seems impossible to me that Turkey Bird Day is here again.  My daughter and I were going over the menu this afternoon and my mind was flooded with thoughts and the past Thanksgiving Dinners.  I thought through the yeas from my childhood, in my first marriage, away from home places, my second marriage.....the foods I have had, the people, and the places of my Thanksgiving.   You may kinda question why I am spending time on my blog with all that is going on.  I will deal with all other things in other blogs or emails.  Tonight I am concentrating on Thanksgivings over the last 75 yeas.  This post deals with the first thirteen of them. All in the same home.

Before I begin the descriptions I need to remind you that some of these years were during World War !!.  In those days sugar was rationed and we didn't have the sweets that were usual.  The other things were pretty much the same because we grew and canned all our vegetables, killed our turkey, and had a friend who supplied all the eggs.  For some of you it might be fun to look up President Roosevelt's comments about Thanksgivings in these yeas. They are very enlightening.  I may be important to remember that President Roosevelt set the day we now celebrate in the late 30's. Before then it had been the last Thursday of November.  The reason FDR did it was to extend shopping. I thought he was a Democrat??  See stamps at the bottom for sugar, gasoline, shoes.....

Of course I cannot remember in any detail the first five or six Thanksgivings but I do remember the ones with Grandmother and Grandaddy.  The table was always set in the dining room, not the kitchen.  The best linen and dishes found their way to the table.  Grandmother would spend many hours before the day polishing silver and washing up the best dishes that hadn't been used since last Christmas.  Yes.  Only for use on Thanksgiving and Christmas and Easter.  We lived in the same house until I was in the seventh grade when it burned to the ground and a new one was built on the same site.  The dining room table was large and it was not unusual for it to have too many adults for kids to eat there.  We were set a table in the kitchen, of course.  The house was a kind of lodge built in the twenties.  The dining room had a huge floor to ceiling cabinet along one wall, there was wainscoting all around and on one end of the room were windowed doors overlooking the lake.  There were numerous antiques in the room:  a sideboard, a side table, a large desk and the table and chairs.  The appliance pictures are authentic.

The menu was all about turkey, just like everyone else, I guess.  One thing about the turkey was that Grandaddy always killed one for us.  Wild birds were right close by and were numerous.  He spent months before hunting out the perfect bird.  One of the Thanksgivings was special in this regard.  He came home with two birds.  He swore he got them both with one shot.  Just as he let fly, the second bird put his head in way to the shot. I sue didn't see this happen.

  We would keep the turkey alive until the day before cooking time.  Grandaddy would hang the bird on the clothes line, cut off his head, and run to keep from getting showered with blood.  Soon as that was over, the bird was dunked into a huge tub of boiling water, feathers were plucked, the bird was gutted, the giblet cleaned, and the liver retrieved and all the pinfeathers were burned.   Then to the kitchen.

A few days before the important day, Grandmother had been busy getting the table lines out and the final dishes and silver gotten ready.  She would have the sweet potatoes cooked and in the fridge waiting for final ton of sugar and spices, vanilla and baking.  The jello salad would be in the refrigerator, having been made a few days back.  It was so good and so tempting.  My fingers found their way into the long rectangular glass dish more than once.. Stale bread was toasted and cut up for the dressing.  This of course was before the days of Pepperidge farms wonderful bag.  The bread would be wet after the Turkey had been baked and the drippings were divided between the dressing and the gravy.  Careful attention had been given to the deviled eggs which had to be very fresh, made only  a few hours before the meal.   Plenty of celery sticks were prepared and getting crisp in the refrigerator.  Cranberry sauce came in a can.. yes Ocean Spray.  I know that my other grandmother made hers, but it was jelly at our house and canned.

Pickles of many types were waiting in their special jars.  None of them were made in Mt. Olive or some other processor.  These pickles had  been made in the late summer by Grandmother, Aunt Bessie, Aunt Mary and others who dropped into the farm in Wentworth to help with the canning.  The best pickles were the bead and butte ones made by Aunt Bessie.  But we also loved the sweet little ones and of course the pickled peaches. (I cannot make them and cannot find them in stores today.)  Canned vegetables were plentiful and had been canned when the pickles were made.  We always had wonderful green beans (casseroles were not in vogue yet).   The turkey was moist and wonderful, especially the leg.  To this day it is my favorite part.   We had  yeast rolls made in cloverleaf fashion by grandmother using cakes of yeast.  Creamy gravy made with drippings from the turkey, chopped boiled eggs, and seasoned perfectly.

As if this was not enough.... the dessert was a work of art.  Made several days before, three things were always there: FRESH coconut cake, a couple of pecan pies, and pumpkin pie.  Sometimes there were extra ones, depending on the mood of the day. 

A POEM THAT CHANGED ME

Today I had a wonderful conversation with my son-in-law about patients, about life and about situations.  It made me recall one of the wonderful instructors that were on my staff when I was  Director of Education and Training, Organizational Development at Barnes Medical Center in St. Louis.  She was expertly prepared social worker.  She developed a slide show using this poem.  Her mother did the narration and she did background music with her flute as I recall. 

Her name was Jean Janklow.  She is one of the kindest and most sensitive individuals I have known.

At the time, I was in my 40's and like some of you, felt on top of the world--Arrogant, in charge, energetic, achieving, being right, knowing my craft, and sometimes obnoxious. I was excelling both locally and nationally.  I was named the top educatior/trainer in the country in healthcare by the American Hospital Association.  I still have the clock to prove it.  I got the best of raises, the Empolyee of the Year, and named to the best committees both at Barnes and for Association for Training and Development, American Cancer Society, and on and on.

But, some things are so humbliing that I want to share them with you. 

When Jean previewed the slide show in a large auditorium with the perfection to be envied,
 it was if a brick hit me upside the head.  It brought me close to my own mortality.  We used this for orientation for some years.  I wish I could sit in that auditorium with the lights out and the words, music and meaning touching me again.  Thank you Jean. 

When this old woman anoys you, requires too much, dribbles or gets overwhelmed.... I want you to remmeber the years I have lived, the things I have accomplished, the loves of my life, and how much I love each of you.

An Old Lady's Poem


What do you see, nurses, what do you see?

What are you thinking when you're looking at me?

A crabby old woman, not very wise,

Uncertain of habit, with faraway eyes?

Who dribbles her food and makes no reply

When you say in a loud voice, "I do wish you'd try!"

Who seems not to notice the things that you do,

And forever is losing a stocking or shoe.....

Who, resisting or not, lets you do as you will,

With bathing and feeding, the long day to fill....

Is that what you're thinking? Is that what you see?

Then open your eyes, nurse; you're not looking at me.

I'll tell you who I am as I sit here so still,

As I do at your bidding, as I eat at your will.

I'm a small child of four with a grand father and mother.

Brothers and sisters, who love one another.

A young girl of sixteen, with wings on her feet,

Dreaming that soon now a lover she'll meet.

A bride soon at twenty four-- my heart gives a leap,

Remembering the vows that I promised to keep.

At twenty-eight , I have young of my own,

Who need me to guide and a secure happy home.

A woman of thirty, my young now grown fast,

Bound to each other with ties that should last.

At forty, my young sons have grown and are gone,

But my man's beside me to see I don't mourn.

At fifty once more, babies play round my knee,

Again we know children, my loved one and me.

Dark days are upon me, my husband is dead;

I look at the future, I shudder with dread.

For my young are all rearing young of their own,

And I think of the years and the love that I've known.

I'm now an old woman ...and nature is cruel;

'Tis jest to make old age look like a fool.

The body, it crumbles, grace and vigor depart,

There is now a stone where I once had a heart.

But inside this old carcass a young girl still dwells,

And now and again my battered heart swells.

I remember the joys, I remember the pain,

And I'm loving and living life over again

I think of the years ....all too few, gone too fast,

And accept the stark fact that nothing can last.

So open your eyes, nurses, open and see,


...Not a crabby old woman; look closer ...see ME!!



Rusti Pickin'

Today is October 10,2010 and the soothsayers are saying it is to be a perfect day.  It certainly was close to it for me.  Leah and I left around noon and headed south to the apple orchard in Seville that hosts a semi festival each October for picking your own apples, fresh pressed cider and popcorn.  There was a nice invitation to the plein aire paiinters to come and set up the easle and enjoy the day. This orchard is family owned and operated orchard featuring homegrown peaches, apples, cider.. Pick your own apples and pumpkins on the weekends in October  Leah helped me set up and then headed for the deep silent orchard to sketch and to pick some of the varieties.  She did return with too many to really carry, a beautiful canvas, and was tired and happy.,  We came home with a bushel + of an assortment of apples, a gallon of the fresh pressed cider and wonderful memories.

I did not include pictures of Leah.  I have learned my lesson from several people.  So I will not be using very many pictures of others in the blog.  I will print my pictures and get permissions from others.  So the pictures I have included are of  me .   Wish each of you could have been with us.

With a little luck you will get some apples and apple butter.... our next poject.... at Thanksgiving. 

It was a wonderful day!

Rusti Painting

Blogging Again

I apologize, my life has been quite uncoordinated for the past year. It is now time for me to again write my thoughts, life events and random things of interest. I need to follow the example of my very competent Nephew, Jim Turner, who manages his very well and writes in such an interesting way.

To bring you up to date. I am now settled, of sorts, in northern central Ohio. The town is Olmsted Township. The zip code will call us Olmsted Falls. The towns are small and very numerous in this part of a very conservative state. I will in the future tell you more about the town and the area. It is a fascinating story.

It is wonderfully and full, sharing my life with Leah, Justin and Sterling. I am slowly getting to know each of them in a new and wonderful way. Sterling is the light of my life. Never mind that we share the North Wing of our home. Actually he lives in the dungeon, using my facilities and kitchen. I never knew how much an eighteen year old boy could eat. Nor did I know how wonderfully sensitive and kind that he could be. He has a new job at Giant Eagle, our chain grocery. He will be working in the seafood area and in a few months he will be at the Tri C community college in Parma. At least that is the plan. Leah is our primary bread winner with her very prosperous career as an architectural designer. Justin is in school for his degree in nursing and is constantly in a study mode. He is the worrier in the family... I thought i was. I do remember those days when we were trying to marry clinical with the book work. He works too much in addition to school. Of course he is the only one that really has the expertise for the yard and house, so he carries that responsibility too.

Note: I am just learning and I put in the wrong picture of my beautiful fireplace beforre we moved in... enjoy since I cannot delete it.