Thanksgiving advice…

I am a natural-born teacher. I’ve taught dance for almost 20 years and taught high school students how to cook in our high school’s culinary arts program.

I’ve taught all sorts of cooking classes so in November of 2020 when I started to see people panicking and begging for help; I wrote a post that got over 10,000 likes on social media.

Here is my 11/22/20 post.

“Hey!!! If this is your first Thanksgiving that you have to cook because of travel & gathering restrictions I must tell you this….today is the day you may want to take your frozen turkey out of the freezer and defrost in the refrigerator in a container in case it leaks while it defrosts.

I made the mistake of taking my turkey out too late too many times and sweated it out if it would be ready to roast on Thanksgiving. Here are a couple other pieces of advise I have found helpful over the last 31 years of cooking Thanksgiving dinner.

▪️Read the recipes you plan to make AHEAD and re-read them. For real you don’t want to find out on the big day you forgot to get something that would change the dish drastically.
▪️Make a list and shop early. No one wants to torture themselves and be in a last minute panic situation at the grocery store.
▪️Simple recipes with fewer good ingredients always come out better and are way less stressful.
▪️Mise en place or prep ahead!!!!! I cannot stress this enough!!! Being well organized and ready to go on the big day is fucking priceless! You will thank me and this goes for other big meals not just on thanksgiving. Seriously just taking the time to prep a few things here and there instead of just sitting on your phone is time well spent and is good for you mentally as well. Lol!
▪️Never apologize for your food!!!! To quote Julia Child “I don’t believe in twisting yourself into knots of excuses and explanations over the food you make. Usually one’s cooking is better than one thinks it is!”
▪️Let yourself off the hook and don’t try to make everything from scratch. If you like to bake then by all means make your pies on Wednesday, but if you don’t enjoy baking then buy them!!!! Keep your menu small and don’t try to tackle too many things. This one is huge. People start thinking about every dish they have ever had on past Thanksgivings and think they need to make them all.
▪️Plan on something super simple or order a pizza on Wednesday night so you can take the time to get organized for tomorrow. Same thing goes with a simple breakfast on Thanksgiving morning. This is not the day to make pumpkin pancakes or some other dumb shit you think is necessary. It’s not.
▪️This may be the biggest one of all. The big daddy of advice….clean as you go!!!!! Honestly people get so overwhelmed when they look around their kitchen and it looks like a bomb went off or worse when the pot or bowl or whisk that you need is dirty under a mountain of dishes!!!!

I hope this helps anyone who is dreading to cook…because they don’t enjoy cooking or perhaps they have always been that person that is lucky enough to just show with a pie or flowers for the table. I have some time today so I am prepping ahead things that can be made far in advance and make turkey day a snap!!

Take a deep breath. Count your blessings. Give thanks for all the good things that did happen in this shitass year and Bon Appetit!” ❤️❤️❤️~julz

This was the post that made me think I could be a writer and pass on knowledge I’ve had learned myself.

I have an interesting tidbit regarding the photo I used at the top of this post, Norman Rockwell’s Thanksgiving painting which was part of his Four Freedoms series.

As I am sure you know how much I love living in Arlington and all its history.

I wrote an entire blog post when I visited my friends Kevin and Sue who own and operate Rockwell Retreat which was Norman Rockwell’s second home he owned in Arlington.

One of our good friends owns the first home of Norman Rockwell. This was a complete surprise to me.

When my friend gave us a quick tour of the house he told us about a very special window in the house.

It was the window in Rockwell’s Thanksgiving painting! We were thrilled to see it and look out of it!

How amazing! We were standing in the spot that was the head of the table. How cool.

Our friend went on to tell us the models he used in that famous painting were townspeople as he always used.

The Grandmother holding the platter was a cleaning lady and I think the Grandfather was a plumber or some other kind of skilled laborer.

I love getting the back stories like that on Rockwell’s famous pieces of art.

It’s all so interesting and it all took place right here in Arlington. ☺️