Kirstin, Courtney, Zaire & Andy watching TV
Zaire trys an oyster!
Our traditional Thanksgiving is in Mount Vernon, Maine. The food is great and the company is always interesting. This year we had three families. Our hosts were Bob and Vicki joined by their daughter Anna and new son-in-law Mike. Mike’s parents, Evgeny and Svetlana, and sister, Anna, were with them. Mike is the youngest and his family escaped from Russia when Mike was about 6. So half the table spoke Russian and the other half English. Anna’s Mom (Bob’s ex-wife Barbra) rounded out the set. This was the first time that Bob and Vicki invited his ex- and it seemed to go OK. Families these days make strange bedfellows. Or maybe it’s, ‘bedfellows make strange families’. Or could be ‘bedfellows make estranged families.’ Somehow it all works out.
The other guests were Andy and Jan and Jan’s daughter Jill with her husband Tim. Jill and Tim have just gotten pregnant for the first time and are a very happy pair. Andy always brings the Cherrystones and P.E.I. oysters which he shucks for appetizers. A few of those and a little bubbly sets up the feast nicely. (see above)
Finally there was our little group – Rena, myself and Courtney with her sister Kirstin and daughter Zaire. Courtney is like a daughter to us and has been part of our family since age 8 when she first came to stay for 2 weeks as a fresh air kid from Roxbury. That’s them in the photo-- sacked out on Bob’s couch watching their traditional post-prandial movie. This year it was ‘Ratatouille’, a pixar animation about rats cooking the meals at a fancy Parisian restaurant. We coulda’ used a few rats doing prep work in Bob’s kitchen! Or at the very least washing the dishes.
Bob is a great cook. He does everything from scratch. Example: making squash soup. Step 1 – Boil the chicken to make stock. Step 2- Saute the seeds and strings from the butternut squash in a stick and a half of butter. Step 3- strain the butter and throw away the strings and seeds. (which are just for flavor). Step 4, 5, etc …… Who else has the patience for this kind of cooking? After dinner we talked about how Bob and Vicki should retire from the newspaper business and open a restaurant in their barn. The food is really that good!
On the way home, poor Rena hit a deer with her new Suzuki. I wasn’t in the car. I was driving Zaire with the leftovers and the folding chairs in the old Pontiac. Rena was behind us and was only going about 30 MPH when the deer jumped in front of her car. Everyone was OK, the Suzuki was drive-able and nobody wanted to stop and see how the deer made out. It’s hunting season and according to Maine’s road-kill laws we get to keep the carcass. But not tonight deer! After dodging bullets all month, the poor critter gets run over by a carload of vegetarians. A definite case of bad deer karma. Best to leave well enough alone! Perhaps in a past life she/he/it was a Maine hunter. In that case, would he/she/it be caught in a karmic loop from hunter to hunted and back endlessly? Maybe Maine needs an experienced karma-kanic to sort out various repercussions of deer-hunting on the astral plane. I know Rena has a Suzuki that could use one to repair its front bumper.
Anyway, I wish good Karma to all those who read this blog and Happy Thanksgiving too! That’s all for now,
Daktari
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