Turkey Day

Val getting saucy with the turkey.

By past holiday standards, this year’s Pineda Thanksgiving was strangely uneventful - nay, downright boring (in a good way).  Mom and dad decided to drive up from Richmond on Thanksgiving morning, so we had all day to relax in our jammies, watch the parade and prepare for the obscene gluttony to come.

This year’s theme was “A Food Network Thanksgiving.”  Yes, we actually had a theme.  We’re cheesy like that.  What do you expect from a family of thespians?



My from-scratch pumpkin gnocchi with spinach pesto.

 Val, per usual, was in charge of the turkey, so she tasked the rest of the siblings to prepare a side dish by one of the food network chefs.  Over achiever that I am, I combined a couple of different recipes to come up with my final dish - pumpkin gnocchi with spinach pesto and pine nuts.  Sounds impressive, no?  Going for those extra credit points (can you tell I was a total nerd in high school?), I also decided to prepare a dessert - Chuck Hughes’ chocolate stout cake.



Having worked a half day at the Morg (i.e. Morgan Stanley) Wednesday, I headed to Jersey that same night looking like a bag lady.  I wanted to make everything fresh, so I lugged all my ingredients on the bus with me.  At least I was able to snag a double seat for myself. 

All was calm when I got to Juan and Val’s.  Even the turkey was relaxing, brining casually in a giant cooler in the kitchen.



My stout cake fresh out of the oven.

We got up Thanksgiving morning just in time to watch the Broadway shows embarrass themselves on the Macy’s parade telecast.  Not that any of the participating shows are that bad (with maybe the exception of Spider-man), but seeing the performances out of context without sets and in the middle of a street aren’t exactly optimal viewing conditions.  I’m sure Joe Schmoe in Idaho was wondering why anyone would pony up 130 bucks to see a bunch of dancing nuns.  It’s all about context.  They should scrap the live performance element altogether and just show a pre-taped clip from the stage of the theatre.  It’s not like the performance is really “live” anyway, since the cast is lip-synching to a track. 

When mom and dad finally arrived, we broke out the chips, dips and cheeses and started our slow descent into Thanksgiving madness.  By the time dinner rolled around, our appetites were completely ruined and I could barely manage to force down a bite of turkey and just a fork-full of gnocchi. 

Ah well, that’s what the holiday is all about, isn’t it?  Eating until you need your stomach pumped and then sleeping it off?  Anyway, my gnocchi was a big hit, even though mom couldn’t pronounce it, and the

stout cake was delish. 

A close-up of my lip-smacking chocolate stout cake.