Mixing Families in Washington, D.C.
Story by Nicole
Thanksgiving 2013 took place in Falls Church, Virginia, after the severed promise of a terrible snowstorm. Jason and I arrived on Wednesday night, and everyone spent the first evening relaxing and getting to know one another (Jason’s parents met Christina and Maia for the first time when they showed up on the doorstep on Wednesday morning after driving all night from Boston, Massachusetts). Thanksgiving preparations began.
Thanksgiving eve also marked the first night of an unusually early Hanukkah. Jason’s family debated the correct songs to sing while Nicole and Maia looked on, both amused and intrigued.
The next day began with learning to bake challah from Marc’s tweaked family recipe, which was altered to gain the flavor and texture that he remembered from his childhood. For more about the challah, you can see the challah photo essay.
The rest of Thursday was spent in cooking and occasionally running out to the Korean market for forgotten items. Jason managed to find a project when he noticed that his parents’ dishwasher was still covered by the plastic film used to protect the metal during shipping, and his slightly obsessive insistence on its removal paid off in extra shiny appliances.
Shortly after the bread was finished, Maia began working on the pumpkin roulade, a sort of sponge cake roll with whipped cream-based filling.
The batter beating resulted in a loss of structural integrity in the mixer whisk, a dilemma solved (temporarily) by a combination of electrical and scotch tape.
I decided that Thanksgivng, amidst the chaos, was the best time to begin writing this blog. None of those words were included, in the end, but they were typed with sudden spurts of speed and focus.
At 6:30, the beautifully brined and baked turkey was finished.
Later in the night we enjoyed Maia’s roulade, which had experienced whipped cream failure in the fridge. In the moment of clarity following the moment of anxiety, Maia pushed the mushy cream to either side to encourage the running that was already occurring and topped the roulade with fresh spots of whipped cream.
