[conspire] Thanksgiving gratitude

[Rick Moen]

I spent part of yesterday mulling over what I'm grateful for, this
Thanksgiving Day, and friends and neighbours (hi, all!) and a loving
family are high on the list -- but I wanted to give special thanks to
doctors, nurses, and the many other medical workers who're helping us
get through this annus horribilis.  We owe you... everything.  

The medical establishment pleaded with us all to stay home, just this
once, to not get together with other households, to not go drinking with
the lads on Thanksgiving Eve, to not take our germs to our extended
families.  I read that millions of Americans have ignored that advice
(the photos from LaGuardia alone prove it): Sorrow almost without end
will follow from that misjudgement -- but my family _did_ listen, partly
out of gratitude to those 2020 heroes. 

Being home has its pleasures:  My own kitchen was busy on Thanksgiving
Day, with me cooking up a small storm:

(Non-traditional) Shepherd's Pie:
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/16156/ground-beef-shepherds-pie/
That seemed like a recipe that rewards experimentation, so I added corn,
chopped carrots, and peas, swapped in fresh basil from my garden for the
dried basil described, added some chopped manzano chilli pepper from the
garden, and hiked up the garlic by a factor of eight.  (Because one
clove of garlic?  Really, now.)

Sauteed Parsnips and Carrots with Honey and Rosemary:
https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/sauteed-parsnips-and-carrots-with-honey-and-rosemary-240416
This is a sure-fire recipe I've used for years, and I increased the
honey a bit.  The recipe calls for a great deal of chopping, so I did
that part as prep work, yesterday evening.

Cranberry sauce:
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/perfect-cranberry-sauce-recipe-2104277
Recipe calls for "1 strip of lemon zest", hah!  Nope, zesting an entire
lemon is more better!

Dessert (for all next week, too) was a pair of fruit pies.  To be
different, I used cherries and blueberries together, because those were
the best frozen fruit at Costco the day I was there, and I wanted to see
if the combination worked.  Answer:  Yes, it does.  A bit of lime juice
added helped.  Crust was gluten-free because my wife is celiac.  Making
gluten-free crusts hold together is a challenge; keeping things cold
helps.

Anyway, no Thanksgiving trip to Los Angeles for us in 2020, unlike years
past.  Next year can be festive and involve travel and friends.  The
caution we exercise today makes it more likely we and people we care
about will be alive and well for those other Thanksgivings.

(Next cooking challenge:  Kardemummabröd aka Pulla.  Because if I can't
go to Stockholm or Helsinki, they can come to me.)