It’s almost Thanksgiving, and I haven’t finalized my menu yet. Other than cranberry sauce and the fennel gratin my friend Kim turned me on to, I have no idea what I’m serving. That means I haven’t shopped for groceries yet. That means I’ll be elbowing my way through the macaroni aisle alongside the other procrastinators I used to mock. Karma’s a bitch, especially when you are one.
And I don’t have a turkey.
I do know I’ll be making pumpkin pie, pumpkin pecan bars, and white chocolate bread pudding. Dessert is the most integral part of any holiday meal, right? And wine. We’ll have plenty of that. Let’s be honest, the turkey hardly plays a limelight role, despite what the advertisers would have you think. There is a turkey lobby after all. (Who knew there was a frozen pizza lobby?!) Sure, the ceremonial cut through the unctuously crisp turkey skin is fodder for Norman Rockwell, but once you get past the crunch, it’s all blah. Turkey is overrated. There, I said it.
I’m thinking about just making all our favorite side dishes and see if anyone even misses the bird.