Her Turn by Katherine Ashenburg

Author:Katherine Ashenburg [Ashenburg, Katherine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Knopf Canada
Published: 2021-07-27T00:00:00+00:00

WEEK SEVEN

November 23–28, 2015

The problem with the holiday turkey-stuffing-gravy-mashed-potato-etc. dinner was that it was the most complicated meal of the year, and you only did it twice a year so you forgot how to pull it off. Christmas was marginally easier than Thanksgiving because you were only a month out of practice, but after that you forgot for the next eleven months. How to keep the turkey hot while it rested long enough to carve gracefully, accompanied by the other dishes—all hot—was a Rubik’s cube Liz rarely solved. Then she seethed at the table, picking miserably at the room-temperature turkey or the too-salty gravy. But this year, she had plenty of cooks. Freya and Paul were bringing Prosecco and some finger food for the living room. Red Ann insisted on making the squash, which she could then reheat in Liz’s microwave. Better that than outsourcing the mashed potatoes, which never reheated evenly. Kara, the new neighbor, was making her grandmother’s cranberry sauce and a salad “without too much kale.” Everyone was tired of kale. And of course, Henry was bringing two double-crust apple pies. Liz had a fresh container of vanilla ice cream in the freezer for them. By the time dessert came around, the kitchen would be a shambles and whipping cream would be beyond her.

Kara did not eat gluten and Dani, Red Ann’s little girl, did not eat anything with a face. Peter’s friend Leo was allergic to shellfish. Had Liz remembered to tell Freya and Paul to avoid pastry and shellfish in their hors d’oeuvres? She doubted there would be shellfish because, although not a strict vegetarian, Paul was happier not eating flesh. She woke in the night counting the vegetable dishes for the vegetarians—the honey-glazed carrots, the squash, mashed potatoes, salad. And for the last year or so, although Liz did not approve, the stuffing had also been vegetarian. Peter was adamant that cooking it inside the turkey encouraged salmonella, so now they roasted it in a pan, which dried it out. Liz fell back asleep and dreamed of trying to fit in all the pans in her oven: for the turkey, carrots and stuffing. It wouldn’t work, plus the carrots had to cook at a higher temperature than the turkey. So the carrots would have to roast ahead of time, then be reheated at the last minute.

Peter and Leo arrived home on Wednesday evening, in Leo’s car, and Peter told his friend there would be no sleeping in: they would be put to work. On Thursday morning, looking virtuous, they pulled out the leaf in the dining table and began setting the table. The papier-mâché turkey Peter had made in art class in sixth grade came out once a year and went in the center. Peter was past being embarrassed by this childish relic, but every year he said, “I can’t believe you moved this from Seattle.”

Leo teased him: “I didn’t realize you were a sculptor. Why are you wasting your time in philosophy?”

Liz stopped Leo from putting the dessert forks to the left of the plate.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.