Thanksgiving Day - a real holiday for me

My kids and I decided that this year we were skipping the turkey, the stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, the green bean and dried onion casserole, the smashed yams coated with brown sugar and burnt marshmallows, fresh out of the can cranberry gel, farina balls and Pillsbury crescent rolls. Yup, this year we broke tradition from Thanksgiving food.

Instead we decided on a rolled shoulder of lamb stuffed with brown rice, mushrooms and red peppers served with: roasted fingerling potatoes seasoned with rosemary and sea salt; baked shallots; baked yams; steamed broccoli with a béchamel sauce; cranberry and pomegranate relish; fresh baked homemade yeast rolls (my grandmother's recipe) and homemade desserts - spicy pumpkin pie and pecan-carmel torte with whipped cream.

Stephen prepared and cooked the lamb, Emily make the rolls, my mom got the wine - Savennieres and Malbec, and I made the pies and somehow all the vegetables got cooked with no one actually owning that specific task.

We all agreed it was the best Thanksgiving dinner ever. It was smallish with five family and two guests. One of the guests was from India experiencing his first Thanksgiving in America and the other was from Maryland having her first Thanksgiving ever away from her Italian-American family. Panjak is not vegetarian so, there was no problem for him to eat the lamb. And Jenny was happy that our family doesn't yell at each other over dinner.

I spent the day relaxing, not studying, cooking pies and contacting friends and family.

My friend, Jimbo, from Scotland sent me greetings and wanted to know about Thanksgiving and why we Americans celebrate it, inquiring if the holiday had something to do with massacring Indians (apparently there was a broadcast in Scotland on Thanksgiving day by a woman who claimed to be a native American descendant and said the holiday originally was a celebration of Indian massacres in the colonies). Susan from Singapore sent me greetings from Asia with no questions. My Italian friend, Maria Paola, who lived in America for over 10 years knows all about Thanksgiving and says this time of year makes her miss this country.

It was a perfect holiday for me. But, I hit the books the rest of the days off.