Saturday, November 28, 2009

One Big Fat Family Feast

Individual members of our family are generally not fat, but boy is the size of our family ever fat and getting fatter -- as are our family feasts. It all started with Scott and Buffy offering their home for Thanksgiving because Elaine and Bub are still recuperating from Briton and Jeanne's wedding less than two weeks ago. Elaine has been working non-stop since arriving back in the New Orleans area. Rachel's family drove dpwn from Atlanta and stayed the week with Elaine and Bub.


We drove down with foods from our produce-packed freezer and pantry. These included pickled beets and okra, ginger-cran-pear chutney, spiced pecans, butternut squash, potatoes for oyster dressing, corn, bell peppers, canned tomatoes, pumpkin, smothered okra, and what I thought was a bag of turnip greens, and a bag of cooked giblet mix for making giblet dressing. I also brought some of my loose pepper jelly to pour over cream cheese and serve with crackers.

I had little cooking to do, so I spent much of the week visiting with kids and grandkids, my niece Nikki and her daughter Corinne, and my Godchild Gary. Miya and I made bows for lots of loot on Santa's sleigh. That bag of greens -- turns out it was actually basil, so it didn't make it to the buffet table, but I did make Bub's favorite oyster dressing and some turkey gravythe day of...

Buffy's mother and dad drove in with their RV refrigerator packed. Their offerings included Ann's southern-style potato salad -- the kind I love with as much egg as potato, a huge pan of cornbread dressing, and everything but their kitchen sink for making Dewey's should-be-famous chicken gumbo and rice -- and another bag of poatoes for mashing. Buffy kept Richard busy painting her newly remodeled hallway and helping her clean and set up tables and chairs. Scott spent several days running back and forth to various stores for party supplies -- and staying out of Buffy's way..

Bub glazed and cooked a ham, while Rachel produced pumpkin bread, the best stuffed mushrooms I ever put in my mouth, the requested-by-Sarah saffron rice, and mac and cheese.

Scott's best friend and neighbor Sam smoked a turkey and a ham while Scott got geared up to fry a turkey and roast another for his sister who is a traditionalist. Bub decided that he wanted a full fried turkey to take home to his baby boy who was working. At this point, we were up to two hams and four twenty-plus pound birds; but Bub insisted that Scott get another that could be fried last minute -- just in case.

Sam's sister-in-law baked bread, but we also had store-bought becauseRebecca is partial to Parker House  rolls. Briton arrived with deer chimichamgas that he not only cooked -- he shot the deer. I've never had deer that I enjoyed before, but these were some of the best chimichangas that ever passed my lips.

Just when we didn't think we could fit another dish in the house, Sam's wife Michelle rolls in from three blocks away pushing her kitchen island laden with pies: pecan, pumkin, and chocolate -- and an extra-large casserole of candied yams.

Scott's cradle mate Kathleen stopped by, as did another of my nieces, Melanie, with her two-year-old and eight-month-old baby boys. Elaine road in with her daughter Gloria and Gloria's boyfriend. Michelle's brother and his family were visiting from Arkansas. Even Buffy's ninety-two-year-old great uncle made an appearance on the arm of his daughter, with his granddaughter carrying his great granddaughter.

Rachel summed up the family feast, spreading her arms to include the whole event, with, "I just love being back in this part of the country for a holiday." After we finished feasting, each guest left with enough food to feed their families for a week. We all agreed that it was obscene the amount of food we had, but we can't wait to do it again.