Thanksgiving Day

On Thanksgiving Day I fought off the sinus infection with Tylenol and Claritin and woke before sunrise to begin dinner preparations. I emptied the plastic bag containing the 22-pound tom, which had been soaking for 36 hours in a solution of salt water, sugar, and spices. My responsibilities for the day consisted of the turkey, stuffing, gravy, broccoli, and a de-boned lamb leg that had been marinating in the fridge.

It had been years since Thanksgiving had been held at our house, and my multi-tasking abilities would be stretched to the limit. I reflected not for the first time how management scientists could have saved themselves the trouble of making factory field trips by just watching their mothers in the kitchen during Thanksgiving.

The turkey was in the oven by nine a.m. and the lamb leg joined it at two. Somewhat miraculously, the gravy, broccoli, and stuffing came together without mishap, and all the dishes were completed about the same time. As planned, the brine had made the breast moist and flavorful, so covering the turkey with gravy was merely an option and not a requirement.


Guests arrived with salad, yams, cranberry sauce, and dessert. After I said a few words of thanks, we sat and began our meal. We lingered four hours at the table, talking about everything under the sun. Later there would be clean-up (not by me, thankfully), wrapping and tupperwaring of leftovers, and feelings of regret about overeating. But for the moment there was bliss.

May you, dear reader, have had your own such moments during the past week. © 2008 Stephen Yuen