Thanksgiving: A Time to Celebrate and Count Our Blessings

Thanksgiving is a celebration for giving thanks–being thankful for our bounteous harvests, food on the table, a roof over our heads, good health and friends and family.

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Did you do it that we have writer Sarah Josepha Hale to thank for Thanksgiving ? In all my years of this freehanded celebration with family and friend gathering from afar , I never really bonk that someone was responsible for making it happen . I reckon I thought it was carried on since the Pilgrims and the Native Americans joined together and made a feast .

Sarah was abide in Newport , New Hampshire in 1788 , where she grow up and learned to read even though she did n’t go to schooltime . Among her many causes , she consider in Thanksgiving and want passionately to make it a internal holiday . Sarah write letters requesting her desire for this public holiday to five dissimilar chairman : Zachary Taylor , Millard Fillmore , Franklin Pierce , James Buchanan , and Abraham Lincoln .

In the long footrace her determination paid off and Lincoln was persuade by her cause , delivering the following declaration on October 3 , 1863 : “ The year that is pull towards its end , has been fill with the blessings of fruitful fields and sanitary sky . To these bounties , which are so always enjoy that we are prostrate to forget the source from which they come , others have been added , which are of so extraordinary a nature , that they can not give out to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible . ” He declare that on the last Thursday of November the national holiday , Thanksgiving , would be lionize .

I read about this story on Garrison Keillor’sThe Writer ’s farmer’s calendar — I pledge online for costless and look forward to this entertaining and informatory daily publication .

I am glad that we have this national vacation . Tomorrow I am celebrate with 20 family members and friends here at our menage . Each person bring a mantrap for the banquet and it truly is that . We attempt to keep it seasonal with vegetable side dishes ranging from mashed potatoes with Allium sativum , spiced winter squash puree , greens , sauerkraut , cornbread dressing , cranberry and orange relish . I grow up with sauerkraut being a traditional dish to be served with turkey , though some people think it is strange . I am leaving you with a formula for it – perhaps you ’ll try out and make it to go with your remnant Republic of Turkey .

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours !

Sauerkraut with onion

This formula lends character to straightforward sauerkraut . My Irish grandmother always put the turkey neck in the sauerkraut passel and lease it manipulate over low heat on the back of the stove while she prepared the rest of the dinner party . Traditionally , our kinfolk never had turkey without sauerkraut — I think it is a regional affair . If you do n’t make your own , look for bracing sauerkraut compact in plastic purse in the meat department of the supermarket , rather than canned . I service this kraut with mashed white potato , stuffing and mushroom gravy and look ahead to leftovers for Reuben sandwiches . This sweetheart is fromThe Onion Bookby Carolyn Dille and Susan Belsinger , Interweave Press , 1996 .

Serves 10 to 12

1 large yellow or white onion1 - 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter1 - 1/2 to 2 pound bag sauerkraut1 teaspoonful bruise caraway seed5 or 6 juniper berriesAbout 1 cupful white wine ; ironic , but a slight fruity

Peel and quarter the Allium cepa lengthwise ; slice up the quarter crosswise into thin slices . Melt the butter over intermediate estrus in a tumid non - reactive sauté pan . Sauté the onions over medium dispirited heat for about 10 minutes , stirring occasionally .

debilitate excess liquid state from the sauerkraut and add it to the onion . Add the Carum carvi and juniper berries and agitate well . lend the white wine , stir , cover , with the lid slimly ajar , and falsify over medium low estrus for 20 to 30 minutes . repress the hotness if the sauerkraut is simmering and the wine is evaporating . Add a footling more wine if necessary , stir and taste for flavourer .

you’re able to keep this over low rut for awhile or reheat it before serve . Remove the juniper berry before serving . Serve raging .

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The table is set and awaiting our guests. We have to rearrange furniture to add an extra table to fit everyone together. There isn’t much room for table decoration–the food is a feast for the eyes and our stomachs! Happy Thanksgiving!Photo/Illustration: Susan Belsinger

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