Thanksgiving here and there

A sentinel for the turkey

Maybe it's been reading Sara Vowell's The Wordy Shipmates, and savoring its critiques and ironies of the Boston pilgrims since mid-September, but a Tandoori Turkey seemed like the right thing to do.  So with all Modern Family references granted, and with thanks to Bon Appetit, Eating Well and Rachael Ray (can you believe it?) here was the menu for today:

Tandoori Turkey

Naan and Cashew Stuffing

Cranberry-Mango Chutney

Peas with Coconut, Cumin, and Coriander

Cardamom Vanilla Custard

Cranberry Meringue Pie

Sweet Potato Pie

Prosecco

quite a bit of wine

Mac, wonderful Mac, constructed a three-hour playlist alternating between modern Indian dance music and 17th-century English madrigals (as recommended by our 17th-century English music friend, and yes, I am thankful to have such a marvelous friend) and we ate and oscillated between two very different worlds - Plymouth Pilgrims and Bollywood Boogie.  Oliver somehow combined the two in this futuristic sentinel role, guarding the turkey against... cats? This was a Thanksgiving of individual slices, maybe disparate things: Iris's sweet face completely beset by poison sumac (sumac!) and treatments both modern (steroids) and medieval (unguents galore) - missing my dad - and then this glorious, happy news of a new life, sooner than we thought, but safe: my brother's son, soon to come home from the NICU at George Washington University and named Emmett Alexey.  And so now to put the kids to bed, to pour another glass of wine and talk of many things.