's motd Monday Nov 24, 2008

[Guest guest]

THANKSGIVING WEEK

Monday, 24 November 2008

Well, hello to of you all, you cute little Pilgrims! I must start out by saying that Thanksgiving is not a one-day event for me. Oh, no...it's a week-long event! Hey, that's the way I came to think about Thanksgiving in my home at 926 St. Louis Street in New Orleans!

Oh, my father would begin planning our Thanksgiving feast on the Monday before the holiday! If he were still with us, that would be today! First, he would gather up recipes from his favorite cookbooks. Then he would actually sit at the kitchen table and handwrite the entire Thanksgiving menu. And he never let us see the meal he was planning. We all had to wait until Thanksgiving morning. Oh, he was so secretive! And of course, my father knew the curious little kid I was, especially when it came to food! "Don't you disturb anything in that kitchen, Dicky! I mean it, Don't go into anything. If you do, believe me, I'll know it!"Oh, I used to drive him crazy! After planning his menu and making a list of all the groceries he would need, my father would head down to the French Market to do his shopping. And would you believe that the romantic old French Market is still there in New Orleans French Quarter after all these years?

It really is a fabulous place. It has meat and seafood stores. It features tons of locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables. And you can find the most wonderful breads people make at home and sell there. The French Market is always a busy place and really is just a sight to see. My father would go there with his shopping list in hand and just have a ball!Not only was he an excellent cook but my father was one of those people who could eat anything he wanted and not gain an ounce. (I didn't inherit that part of the family gene pool!) I'm telling you, he stayed at the exact same weight his entire life. When he got older, I used to love to wrap my arms around him and just lift him up off the floor. Oh, he would just laugh so hard when I did that!No one was allowed into the kitchen on Thanksgiving Day while my dad was working his magic. He was in that kitchen cooking and assembling all of his mouthwatering dishes. My Mom, Lenny and I would sit patiently in the dining room waiting for my father to bring out those delicious dishes of food. Finally, the wait was over and he'd bring out platters of food, two at a time! Now I'm not going to tell you all the dishes he served us because you'll start getting hungry and I don't want that! Hey, don't go getting yourself all worked up with a big appetite this week. Oh no, no...no! You've got to plan your eating this week just like you do any other week.You don't get any more fat grams and calories during this "gobble-gobble-gobble" season, you know. No! You have to stay on program all week long, do or die! So do me and, more importantly, do yourself a big favor by planning your meals carefully this week. Just like my dad did for us!Make out your grocery list and stick with it. After all, won't it be nice to get on that scale the Friday after Thanksgiving and see that you have actually lost a tail-feather or two!Love,