By Pete Davis
I’m probably not the first person to make this claim, but Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. As a boy, it meant a 4 1/2-day weekend and a Cowboys game. In college, it meant a raucous reunion with friends and the annual touch football showdown. After I was married, I became part of my wife’s extended family’s traditional three-day family reunion affair, at which I had only to show up and try to hit a few golf balls. As my experiences with Thanksgiving have changed over the years, one theme has remained the same: I pretty much get to sit back and relax while others do all of the hard work.
Last year, I gave up the free ride and invited my entire family up here to Portland for the holiday. I was excited about the opportunity to host my parents and my sisters’ families from California, but a little nervous about pulling the event together. I had this weird “coming of age” feeling as I pondered becoming the Man of the House. Luckily, I had a good Woman of the House by my side, awesome shops and recipes at hand, and a great city to show off, so we took up the challenge.
Having never been responsible for the Thanksgiving bird before, I knew little about preparing one. I decided to go all out and do it Gourmet, Portland Style, so headed over to New Seasons for some tips.
I learned a thing or two about turkeys that day, the first being that you get what you pay for. Instead of serving the average, frozen-solid, block of bird for 39 cents a pound, we went all out with the fresh, organic, free-range, turkey. You’re looking at a lot more dough for your meat. Translation: I absolutely could not screw it up! I learned quite a bit about brining – work you do for your meal way before you even turn on an oven. I learned a lot about stuffing too: It’s best prepared separately, because the cavity should be filled with something called “Aromatics.” Love me some aromatics. (Please see the New Seasons’ complete 4-step recipe for perfect turkey on page 14 ).
It’s one thing to prepare a fancy dinner, but there’s a lot more to consider when playing host to out-of-towners for three days, especially when three of them happen to be teenagers. We knew that outings were going to be key. For the unlicensed teens from a small California town, it was an opportunity for a real urban experience. Bus trips to downtown? Great fun; not such great fun to take the wrong bus home and have to wait in the freezing cold for a ride home. For the more seasoned adults, there was the turkey trot, a tour of Powell’s, brisk walks in the neighborhood, and movies and suds at the local McMenamin’s. For our big night-after-Thanksgiving family outing, we decided we’d hit up the “member’s only” preview of Zoo Lights.
Thinking this small crowd would be a great way to see the lights, we headed out at dusk on the 30-degree evening for some multigenerational fun. You were probably there too. “Member’s only” actually meant pretty much everyone in the Portland area; not exactly an exclusive club. This enormous crowd meant lots and lots of waiting: for the shuttle from the overfill parking lot, for the mandatory hot chocolates, and mostly, waiting for the Zoo train. My California-living family members collectively have never been so cold – they borrowed every coat we have, they bought hats, and mittens and scarves. And still, very cold.
In the end, I realized I had much more to be thankful for than I thought. Just as I had taken all of the trappings of Thanksgiving for granted before, I realized that I have also been taking life in Portland for granted. Seeing it from my families’ eyes underscored how much there is to do and see here in town; our visitors from California were rightly impressed. (Despite the endless complaints, the cold trip to the zoo even made the family holiday letter!) But most of all, I was thankful that someone finally got to sit back and relax while I put on the show.
Pete Davis is a Portland father, software salesperson, and part-time business manager with NW Kids.
