Thursday, November 22, 2012

We, three

Dunyazade lilies on the terrace

We are having a small Thanksgiving dinner tonight: a man, a woman, and a cat. Life in this part of the world has been strange for the last few weeks, and stranger still, coming up, with our truncated, one week trip to South Africa, which feels all wrong, somehow. But so it has to be. We just don't feel like party central.

We will be eating goose for weeks. We love roast chicken and turkey is really a giant chicken, so not much different, and a goose seemed like a good idea. There are perks: goose fat to keep in the freezer for all those potatoes to come, goose stock to reduce for later use in sauces and soups, and goose meat to be shredded and layered in Bevan Christie's incredibly sinful cake-thing of paper thin crepes. I must dig out his recipe.

The goose. I think, too, that I have changed my mind about how to cook it. We're going Asian. Some soy, some scallions, some sake, some citrus. So I lied about that stuffing. Perhaps I'll tweak it  - I can see quinces and wild rice working with ginger...A cranberry chutney, thanks to my Edible editor Gabrielle, who gave me the idea.

Thing is, I need to go out. Now. We need bubbly for our traditional (at least for us) Thanksgiving cocktails - and Vince is...working - albeit from home. In exchange for more time off when we really need it. And we don't eat our Thanksgiving dinner at 4pm. We can't. We never learned how. So it really is dinner, at the usual time, and going out around lunch time on this day feels furtive, somehow. As though one is doing something wrong. Because EVERYONE is inside cooking, or eating.

Maybe I'll wear a balaclava. No one will know it is me, Doing the Wrong Thing.

Just how recognizable are my hips, anyway?

9 comments:

  1. Hips? Is this a full-length balaclava? Or might that be lips (for the standard issue bank robbery/skiing variety)? Happy Thanksgiving, Marie. Your wonderful essays always make it seem as though your kitchen is giving thanks for good food, beautifully prepared. (We do Thanksgiving in October without the shopping feature add-on.)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Shop with pride, Marie. Most of us dont have the energy ... or guts. Dinner at diner time is perfectly respectable. It always takes mw so long to prepare a big meal that im running three hours late - hence 4 oclock. Thanks for your lovely, inspiring blog. And for the Don. Xoxo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was a swat exercise, in and out with surgical precision. Have a good dinner, webb, and my best to Himself. xox

      Delete
  3. Goose! I haven't cooked a goose since London days!And now? I'm off to cut a mango and nectarines for breakfast...funny ol' thing, this time difference!

    ReplyDelete
  4. You're a goose. I'm pretty sure at 6ft tall and weighing in at about a 100 lbs.the only thing hip about you is your 'tude.

    And that's pretty hip.

    xo Jane

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Honey, I know you're expensive, but you're hired! xx

      Delete
  5. Stealth shopping? Hell yeah!! : )

    ReplyDelete

Comments on posts older than 48 hours are moderated (for spam control) . Yours will be seen! Unless you are a troll. Serial trollers are banned.