Lucy took a deep breath and savored the sharp scent of the burning herbs. She surveyed the field filled with friends and neighors and looked beyond to the budding trees that rimmed the field. She looked up at the blue sky, where a single dark cloud had formed directly overhead blocking the sun. Then she thought of Curt Nolan.
She remembered the day he died, how his sightless eyes had looked up at the sky. Today, if he was up there, perched on that cloud and looking down on the human comedy in Andy Brown's pumpkin field, he must surely be smiling. As she watched, a gleam of bright light broke through the cloud. It split apart and the sun shone brightly once again.
A Lucy Stone Thanksgiving
Lucy Stone has cooked the same Thanksgiving dinner for years. In fact, it's the same dinner she remembers her mother and grandmother cooking when she was a little girl. Lucy has inherited her mother's china, and her grandmother's crystal and linen, and uses them to set the table. She takes great pleasure in taking them out for the holidays—she even enjoys ironing the linen tablecloth and napkins!
The menu is simple: New England home cooking based on recipes from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook. Lucy has the eleventh edition, which was published in 1965, and doesn't think much of the newer versions.
For a centerpiece, Lucy arranges colorful fall leaves on her best white damask tablecloth and piles fresh fruit and vegetables on top. The arrangement varies from year to year, depending upon what's available, but she likes to use apples, pears, and Concord or Fox grapes, punctuated with tiny pumpkins and squash. She doesn't use tropical fruits such as oranges and bananas, believing that only native grown New England produce is appropriate for Thanksgiving. A scattering of mixed nuts in their shells completes the arrangement, which the family nibbles on after the meal. When the children were younger, Bill used to make little boats out of the walnut shells, continuing a tradition from his own childhood.
Five kernels of dried corn are placed at each place setting. That was the daily ration allowed to each of the Pilgrims during their first difficult winter in Plymouth Colony, and it is a reminder of the hardship they endured so they could enjoy the freedom we take for granted today.
Appetizer
Lucy tends to agree with her mother, who always maintained appetizers were too much trouble and only spoiled people's appetites, anyway. Sometimes, though, she does serve shrimp or oysters before dinner.
Shrimp are served chilled, on ice, with cocktail sauce and lemon slices.
Oysters are served raw, on the half shell, also with cocktail sauce.
Soup
What? And make more dishes to wash?
Main Course
Roast turkey with bread stuffing (Sensitive about her weight, Lucy now mixes chicken broth, instead of water and butter, with either Pepperidge Farm or Arnold stuffing.)
Giblet gravy
Mashed potatoes
Sweet potatoes or yams (the canned kind, heated in the oven while she makes the gravy)
Creamed onions (white onions from a jar in white sauce)
Petite peas (frozen, not canned)
Condiments (These are served in crystal dishes Lucy inherited from her grandmother.)
Cranberry sauce (whole berry)
Celery with pimento stuffed olives
Sweet pickle mix (the kind with cauliflower and tiny onions)
Dessert
Mince pie (Lucy always uses a jar of Grandmother's brand mincemeat.)
Apple pie (Macintosh or Cortland apples)
Pumpkin pie (A good way to use up pumpkins left over from Halloween)
Coffee, fruit, and nuts
Turkey Day Murder Page 21