Everyone Eats 🦃
Small talk takeaways from a weekend with 20 family members
My Thanksgiving gathering is large. My grandmother, at 96, still hosts us in her retirement home, Loomis, in Western MA.
There’s my family — 6 with partners, my uncle and his family of 4, my aunt and her family of 4, and my mom’s brother’s family also joins us. Five out of 8 came this year—that’s 20!
The evening always goes by in a flash as I try to say hello to everyone and briefly catch up. The whole weekend feels like a whirlwind of hellos and goodbyes, with occasional special moments listening to my grandma and learning more about her and our family.
Many of my short conversations touched on food, likely because I’m obsessed with it, but also because everyone has something to share about their food preferences and habits.
On the 5-plus-hour drive home yesterday, I considered some of these conversations and wanted to share them here:
I chatted with my aunt about air fryers, and she said my uncle has one, but it stinks so bad, like plastic she makes him use it in the garage
I talked to my cousin about where he likes to get takeout where he lives in Bay Ridge, and I learned of the famous Greek restaurant Omonia, where he loves their sliders.
I learned from my dad that my grandma drys her lettuce out in the dish rack!
I heard my mom tell my grandma how versatile beans can be - this was thrilling.
I learned from my sibling’s gluten-free girlfriend, that when it comes to gluten-free bread, you can’t think about it as bread but as a separate category.
I learned my dad has finally come to love olives through a prepared chicken dinner from Trader Joe’s
My grandma loves to eat peanut butter Ritz crackers as a bedtime snack.
I learned I am a fan of Jersey Mike’s, and that my husband, Theo, likes thinly sliced ham, and his mom used to get it for him.
I learned people love pie on Thanksgiving and even though the shortbread I made was delicious, it wasn’t what the people wanted! Tradition is tradition.
My grandma loves Whoppers from Burger King but has found a massive difference in quality between the local BK and the one 25 minutes away.
I re-heard the story about when my mom first met my dad’s parents. My grandma was cooking a feast of crabs (since they lived in Maryland) for a large party but made filet mignon separately for my dad since he is averse to most seafood.
I love to get a window into people’s lives and history through food.
I hope you all shared a delicious meal, perhaps with beans on the table, with loved ones, and learned about each other’s lives.
Gems of the Week ✨
I made the chocolate shortbread recipe from Camilla Wynne’s book Nature’s Candy. I decorated it with candied clementines, pomegranates, and walnuts.
We are listening to a book about Dolphins called Voices in the Ocean: A Journey into the Wild and Haunting World of Dolphins by Susan Casey - it’s incredible.
If you create social media content, check out Shannon McKinstrie's Good Content podcast. Her episodes are short and offer actionable tips.
I finally went on one of the tours at the Tenement Museum - please do this!
I finally made a really good loaf of bread - more to be revealed on this, but I feel motivated to keep baking bread!
Broccoli Rabe and White Bean Gratin ✨
The big reveal! In last week’s newsletter, I offered 5 bean dishes to bring to Thanksgiving. I ended up making both the bean stuffing and the broccoli rabe gratin, which were both excellent.
I highly recommend this recipe from The Kitchen.
Broccoli Rabe is one of my favorite vegetables, and something about the parm and bread crumbs just really worked.