Life is like a buffet
Roadmap to a fast and loose Thanksgiving
My first time visiting New York was in 2012 for Thanksgiving with my family. This was towards the end of Gossip Girl’s airtime, Kelly Cutrone’s reality show and books had hit the market in recent years, and I was still in the headspace of MTV’s spinoff of The Hills, The City with Whitney Port.
I was obsessed with the TV-produced, fashion girl NYC. The girls were clubbing in Meatpacking. Starbucks was an accessory. It was a transformative visit for me. I was wearing head-to-toe Forever 21 and H&M channeling Lana from Tumblr in my own special, and sort of off way…. This is my first Thanksgiving here as a resident with a slightly different vibe, but still very much that girl.
I’ve got my work cut out for me now. I have planned none of my food for tomorrow. I’m not going home to Indiana this year for Thanksgiving because 1. I’m going for like 2 weeks over Christmas and 2. I’m ready to make Thanksgiving my holiday… I’ve done Thanksgiving before, but without any regularity or any particular Vision. I’m building traditions now.
Three friends from DC are coming up to celebrate with us and two of them will be crashing with us, camping in the living room. One of them is my former roommate, bestie and sous chef for life, so I’m not sweating the cooking. I’ve just still got to map out what I’m making and hopefully my day tomorrow isn’t all chopping and spending the day on my feet in the kitchen. Let’s see what I can get through today to make tomorrow gorgeous.
The Table
I have a small collapsible wooden table that will have to do to hold our bounty. Someday I will have a proper dining table in New York. Mark my words. I got a few cute things from Etsy to make my table feel festive without blowing a complete bag.
I got a tall beeswax pillar candle. It fits perfectly in this ceramic sugar dish we stole from a cafe in Istanbul. In true Etsy-shop-owner style, the candlemakers sent a handwritten note with the package saying I’ve supported their Midwestern beekeeping family and that my business means a lot to them. These people could be totally bunk, but in the meantime I choose to believe I’ve shopped ~with intention~.
I have some ratty mismatched cloth napkins that will have to do. My favorite ones are literally from Trader Joe’s. They have sweet little embroidery of vegetables on them - tomatoes, carrots, garlic, radishes. They were dirt cheap when I got them years ago and honestly so cute - IYKYK. I did find a set of 2 on Etsy that will look cute and elevate the rest. My favorite color is red, my apartment is very red, these napkins are red.
Lastly, I got a linen tablecloth from an Etsy shop in Latvia. Back in 2017 I was spending a year studying in Azerbaijan. I took advantage of the region I was in and did a few trips to places that would otherwise feel harder to travel to from the U.S. I spent Spring break traveling across the Baltics and noticed linen shops everywhere. I wasn’t much of a cook at the time, but I got a mauve apron from a shop in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Linen is made from flax plants and Baltic people have been making linen for centuries. It is super durable, relatively affordable in smaller cuts, and quite tasteful. Good all year round frankly, for many uses. I don’t have linen bedding, but it is allegedly worth your investment because if you treat it properly, you’ll have it for life.
I don’t think I budgeted enough time for my Latvian tablecloth to ship in time for Thanksgiving, but I’m still hopeful. I went with French Blue, because I suppose not everything can be red.
What’s cookin
Okay this segment is me in real time figuring out what I’m making - eek. Today I’m going to prep everything I can, probably starting with pie.
My Thanksgiving will need pumpkin pie. I have made classic pumpkin pies, but I am going to quirk it up this year. I’m making Hailee Catalano’s Fluffy Pumpkin pie. You bake the very simple graham cracker crust for about 10-min, but this is otherwise no-bake and I can rely on my stand mixer to do the heavy lifting. It seems perfect and I stan Hailee.
For the bird, I’m not doing a full Turkey. There’s only 5 of us, my fridge is small. I’m not doing all of that. I’ll make a roast chicken or maybe a turkey breast - I’ll decide when I’m at Union Market and see what they have.
That being said, I am making my own stock. My idea of heaven is making stock at home. They don’t want you to know how easy it is. It’s the best aroma for your house and just a really nice thing to do for yourself. I like Alison Roman’s version from 2021 Thanksgiving. It’s great, but I’m probably going to do chicken wings.
I love to bake, but I’m not prioritizing that this year. Plus I enjoy the luxury of living by C&B and they’re the pros. I put in an order for dinner rolls last weekend and I’m picking them up later.
Potatoes will be mashed and not complicated. It was Ina’s year for me. It always is, but now and forever more. I binged her audiobook this year. She’s a treasure. I’m going with her Parmesan Smashed Potatoes. I don’t mind lumps and like the skin. It seems almost classic, but I like the cheese in this as a compromise because I don’t do mac n cheese on Thanksgiving.
I was just spending way too long looking at stuffing recipes. This is the complicated part for me. Growing up, I wasn’t into stuffing, which doesn’t feel right to me because everything in it sounds nice. So I need to make a version that makes sense to me. Naturally, I’m falling back on Alison for this. I’ve watched maybe 1000000000 hours of her cooking videos. She’s never asking you to do extra steps or add fussy ingredients unless it’s the whole point. Her Thanksgiving videos are my Superbowl and I loved her version this year. She’s pregnant and sooooo radiant and is just being so relaxed about everything.
For the veg, I’m going to take a note from my mom. She likes to fry up bacon or pancetta and cook with green beans. That is a very perfect Thanksgiving dish to me and that will be staying in the family.
Cranberry is coming from the can.
In my culture, a lot of wine is drank at Thanksgiving. I’ll be supplementing a few bottles, but my friends are leading that charge on bevs. I’ve heard rumors of batched cocktails and cookies. Yummmmm.
I’m kind of a diligent freak about making playlists for occasions, trips, and whatever honestly. I have an insatiable appetite for finding new music and I am binging it until I can’t listen to a single song so that I need a podcast or silence to cleanse my palate. Here is my Thanksgiving playlist of 2024.
My Thanksgiving gift to all of you is the poem below. It is written and read by Amy Taylor, frontwoman and genius of the band Amyl and the Sniffers. It’s called LIFE IS LIKE A BUFFET. Happy Thanksgiving my dear friends :)
Linen sheets are incredible I must say they are a good investment. Everything sounds wonderful; happy Thanksgiving my love ❤️