Black Friday

I didn’t do any shopping today, though I am in the valley where the big box stores abound and shopping is an endurance sport even in the off season. No, no shopping for me. Not due to a political statement, not a boycott or a message being sent via dollars not being spent, though I do prefer to buy local and I haven’t shopped at a Target in over a year.

I spent today with my dad and the boys. We went to Harry Potter 7.1. He paid for the tickets and the popcorn. My dad didn’t do any shopping either. Except for a pumpkin pie that he waited to come out of the grocery store oven.

We could have made one at home, but his ovens (he has two in his kitchen) are designed for reheating things about to be eaten, not for baking ingredients that have been beaten. My father bought the two turkeys that fed our 8 person family for the past 36 hours since our arrival from his next door neighbors. They deep fry the birds in mass to raise funds for their congregation. Which means the gravy must come from a jar. The cranberry sauce can from a can.

The boys and I brought the potatoes all the way from Oakland. We made both kinds, sweet and savory, from scratch. The boys in the kitchen with me every step. Clinton chopped first the yams and then the russets. Ethan filled the water to just the right level in the deep pots. I sauteed the garlic cloves and just about burned them, but Clinton smelled the oil and warned me. Clinton did the mashing, Ethan did the spicing, butter, brown sugar, pecans, two eggs for good measure. Garlic, sour cream, 4 different kinds of pepper. Coarse sea salt and finally big puffy marshmallows. Two sons, two dishes, two kinds of potatoes. It all makes sense to me. I feel like of all the dinners we spend together, this a meal that should be made together.

Black Friday
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