Thanksgiving on Bank Street

This was Thanksgiving at our house or maybe I should say our neighborhood.

All is well in Minneapolis. I had a great time cooking Thanksgiving dinner again this year. I tried out some new recipe's this year. The ones I liked the most were the sweet potatoes and the pumpkin pie. I love pumpkin pie and I think I finally found the best recipe for it. I could eat the whole pie, I have not felt that way since I was a child. Still searching for that perfect way to make the cranberries, I just can't seem to get that one right, either they will not jell or they are boring. I want to put some zip in them somehow but I can't find the way to do that.

Howard of course made the Turkey, it was moist as usual even the breast, he is a master at that. Joan was our only guest this year for dinner, but she is always a fun and is willing to try my experiments so I was pleased when she like the yams.

My next door neighbor Dee, is 78 and has very very bad knees. She was a flight attendant and cruise director in her working life, so this woman has been all over the world flying first class, and eating at the captains table more times than she can count, she has lived a life of glamour.

My business partner says she looks like an aging movie star or beauty queen with her really long false eye lashes, perfect makeup, lots of jewelry, coiffed blond hair and she always dresses to the nines. As neighbors we had a tough start mainly because we didn't understand each other. We finally buried the hatchet, thanks to Howard and now we are best of friends.

Today at about 4PM she called and said "Jaarrrrry come over here now!!! and get this food and take it back to your house, I want it out of here." So what am I supposed to do? She is a funny cantankerous woman but I like her, most of my best friends are really strange in some way, so it is not unusual that I would like her. She is so real even when she tries so hard not to be.

Anyway, so I go over there and here she is sitting in the dining room, with three other people. All around 75-80, two of them with advanced Alzheimer's (not kidding here they really do) so they have no idea what day it is or where they are and Dee, true to herself has out ever dish in the house. She has all the silver chafing dishes out, the gold flatware, all the fine China, the candles are blazing away, she has out the Crystal and all the fine linens and here they sit with enough food for 25 people and no one is eating, they had too much champagne I think.

She had Turkey, Brussel Sprouts in mayonnaise and Parmesan cheese, Rutabaga, carrots and yams in honey sauce, baked corn casserole, Turkey dressing and stuffing, Cranberry sauce, Homemade rolls, Pumpkin pie (store bought) Green Bean casserole, on and on and on....she even marinated fruit and nuts in brandy and Grand Marnier for two weeks for this little party. She cooked for 2 days and no one will eat.

I laughed at her so hard my stomach hurt. She tried to get out of her chair to swat me but she was too tired so finally she could do nothing but laugh herself. She tries so hard to be a tough old broad (her words not mine) but she is so kind and tried so hard to do nice things for these folks and they just don't get it. It would not have killed them to go overboard a bit in their praise. It was a grand effort on her part to put this together. So what am I going to do? She is sitting there between almost crying and laughing and telling me to get this food out of her house. I tell her my fridge is full so I have no place for anything. I can't just leave her like that and I think to myself, how in the world is she going to even clean this up? With her knees it will take two days and she has already put two days into this endeavor. I can't imagine that she will be able to stand anymore. So I start putting stuff in Tupperware and cleaning up the mess.

She had used pots and pans over every surface of the kitchen. On top of that she has more pill bottles and mail and magazines and just stuff all over the place than my Mom and Dad had at their house. She is a shopper, so she goes to Costco and buys in bulk, can you imagine a 78 year old that lives alone, has almost no company, she has no family here and she buys walnuts in the 5 pound bags, two at a time? She has more Tupperware than anyone I have ever known, she could throw a Tupperware party and fill all the orders on the spot. Anyway on top of all this she has every dish dirty, sitting on top of it all.

With in minutes after I arrive the only other person who does not have Alzheimer's offers to take the two Alzheimer's patients either to their homes or back to their nursing homes. So I told Dee to sit in the chair and keep me company and I would clean up the mess. She plopped down in the chair and said "Jaarrryyy I need a drink, get me a vodka and sprite." She reminds me of Bette Davis now. I have to tell you she made my whole day. She sat there and chatted away as I cleaned up the dishes and put them all away.

She was so appreciative of what I did for her in just an hour it was all worth it.

So that was Thanksgiving here this year, how was yours?