Thanksgiving flashback

[peterh6308]

I told this story years ago and was asked recently to repost it! My partner and I were together for 20 years, and the first couple years we did all the holidays at other family members houses. Before dinner we would get together with our buddies for a friendly game of touch football. William came home from work a week before thanksgiving upset because his Mom told him that her and his Dad would be out of town for Thanksgiving. Also his Grandma wouldn't be cooking either, so this really pissed him off. He didn't want go anywhere else, so I told him I would cook the dinner. Now I did most of the cooking during the week, but he completely lost any faith that I could pull off a big turkey dinner. Now I've done it a few times before just not with him! So I bought everything I needed and the day came. He still wasn't convinced I could it, but I told him go play football and when you get back everything will be done. I also told him to bring home anyone wanting a good meal. When he returned home I had everything done except the gravy. I transferred the turkey onto my new platter (with matching gravy boat which I still have and use) and started to make the gravy. He's standing there impressed then asked me where's the gravy packet at? I'm like gravy packet fuck that I make it homemade!! He said that is homemade and thats how his Mom and Grandma do it. Well I continued gravy making while he watched then I gave him a taste. He was so surprised that it tasted so much better than the packet. We sat down with a few other guys and he wouldn't stop staring at me with that love in his eyes. Well needless to say thanks to that day we ended up hosting every Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter dinners for the next 15 or years. My original posting was a lot longer, but this is the cliff notes lol

 

[br6205]

I told this story years ago and was asked recently to repost it! My partner and I were together for 20 years, and the first couple years we did all the holidays at other family members houses. Before dinner we would get together with our buddies for a friendly game of touch football. William came home from work a week before thanksgiving upset because his Mom told him that her and his Dad would be out of town for Thanksgiving. Also his Grandma wouldn't be cooking either, so this really pissed him off. He didn't want go anywhere else, so I told him I would cook the dinner. Now I did most of the cooking during the week, but he completely lost any faith that I could pull off a big turkey dinner. Now I've done it a few times before just not with him! So I bought everything I needed and the day came. He still wasn't convinced I could it, but I told him go play football and when you get back everything will be done. I also told him to bring home anyone wanting a good meal. When he returned home I had everything done except the gravy. I transferred the turkey onto my new platter (with matching gravy boat which I still have and use) and started to make the gravy. He's standing there impressed then asked me where's the gravy packet at? I'm like gravy packet fuck that I make it homemade!! He said that is homemade and thats how his Mom and Grandma do it. Well I continued gravy making while he watched then I gave him a taste. He was so surprised that it tasted so much better than the packet. We sat down with a few other guys and he wouldn't stop staring at me with that love in his eyes. Well needless to say thanks to that day we ended up hosting every Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter dinners for the next 15 or years. My original posting was a lot longer, but this is the cliff notes lol

Thanks for sharing.

 

[chac54]

I've just made my 3rd turkey in my lifetime. I have to say the recipe I had is damn near perfect, the meat dripping with juicyness, nothing left on the bird it was damn near picked clean, (sucks, no leftovers). Like you I make gravy from the pan drippings, no packet required I have not done gravy with the giblets yet, I'm not convinced on a good recipe for that... yet

Damn, I gotta cook another bird for some leftovers LOL

 

[BrokeStraightBoys]

What a great story thanks for sharing.

 

[tampa24]

Thank you so much for sharing that Peter!

Sorry it took me this long to find your post. When you told this story a few years back, I was so impressed by it. I'm thrilled you're sharing it again with more people. As I recall from the original telling, your straight husband brought home a few of his straight friends from a friendly game of football. (If a friendly game of football isn't an oxymoron. haha) He was nervous and skeptical of your culinary skills in taking on a huge Thanksgiving meal that he had never seen you prepare before. So I can imagine he didn't want to disappoint his friends if they chose his home for the meal, at his invitation, and the food turned out to be mediocre or worse.

You describe the look of love and appreciation he kept giving you throughout the meal. The pride he must have felt in hosting friends to a great meal... You said that because of that first Thanksgiving meal together in your own home, you think he grew to love you even a little bit more that day. That really warms my heart.

 

[tampa24]

My own mom has never used a powder packet or a store bought jar from Dow Chemical to make the gravy for any meal. haha But there are still plenty of people out there who only use packets (or jars) for gravy. I'll eat it gladly of course if my kind hostess or host prefers to make it that way. But I really got a kick out of your husband assuming that great tasting gravy could only be made if a store-bought packet of flavorings was involved. haha When you use the drippings, and maybe add water taken from the pot of the boiled potatoes, some corn starch or flour, and a few seasonings of your choice... Yum! Completely homemade gravy can be delicious.

I make the milk gravy myself at times. And of course I don't add any extra artifical flavor packets to it. Though I agree that making a (good) traditional poultry or red meat gravy, with no added artifical seasonings, is a more complicated task. haha

 

[br6205]

I never used store bought.