Thanksgiving with all the fixings

Shopping lists in hand, on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving shoppers were in groups of two or three hovered around the spice section, baking section, and meats department. I was able to fetch a fresh 19lb turkey–it was the smallest one in the fridge filled with 24 lbs turkeys. To brine or not brine was the question when I got home, and I decided not to brine. I found a turkey roasting method by the barefoot contessa, cross checked it with Claire Robinson’s 5 ingredients or less–lemon, onion, garlic, butter, rosemary–prepped the turkey at 10 am, it was in the oven at 10:20, and out of the oven at 2:30–rested 20 minutes, and turned out good! Accompanied by side dishes prepared by Ipek & myself–stuffing, gravy, sweet potatoes, peas & corn, mashed potatoes, squash, pasta (firinda style with spinach and cheese), salad with pears we had a feast! Troy drew wonderful name plates for everyone at the table. Each guest had a unique identifier–Atil’s was fishing, Dede’s was a hippo, Babaane’s was an ay dede, Mike’s a bear in a cave, mine an ax (what did he mean??), Dost’s was a caterpillar, and Ipek’s was Ipek pouring tea! He made us all laugh with his creations.

It was a very rewarding Thanksgiving. While preparing if I was in a rut I stopped and asked “What would Ilknur do?” and moved forward! We missed my parents this year at the table, but had Atil’s parents with us. We are blessed that all our parents are alive.   We lost Atil’s maternal grandmother in November to pancreatic cancer; his mother could not fly back to Istanbul for her funeral. It has been a testing time, and so true that, as the saying goes, God broke our hearts to prove to us He only takes the best. Sevim anneanne truly had a heart of gold, a voice to warm the heart, and hard working hands that helped all the generations in her family. While the twins will not see her, the sweaters she knit for them hugs them.

The weather in Virginia Beach has been beautiful, time is flying by. In December we are starting our travels. More on that later!