nostalgia wednesdays: sisterhood thanksgiving dinner

When I was a junior in college, my sorority did a "sisterhood Thanksgiving dinner" of sorts. Myself and one of the other executive board members were volunteered to do the cooking. Don't ask me how that happened, as we were some of the least domestically inclined girls in the group. Also don't ask me where we bought a frozen solid, fully cooked turkey. I honestly didn't know those existed. Point is, the odds were stacked against us here.

On top of all that, on the day of the Thanksgiving, she and I went in to the kitchen in the dorm, and realized the turkey was still frozen solid. We shared an "oh crap" look, and tried to attack the problem like the very analytical business majors that we both were. We came up blank. 

So we admitted defeat, and called the Butterball hotline. Yes, you read that right. Butterball has a hotline, and we called it. No shame here, people. The lady on the other end of the line laughed out loud at us, and informed us sympathetically that there wasn't much we could do at that point. So we cranked up the oven really high, wrapped the bird in foil, and cooked it for as long as we could before the dinner. Let's just say there wasn't a lot of turkey to eat...

I'm by no means making gourmet meals (or even regular meals sometimes...), but I've come so, so far since then. My diligence and skill still vary pretty wildly, but had you told me my junior year of college that I would recover from the sisterhood Thanksgiving disaster, and go on to serve Thanksgiving for several dozen in Italy, and prepare the entire meal for 25 friends here in DC, I'd have laughed at you while I was on hold with the Butterball hotline. 

I like looking back at those days, not just because they make me laugh at myself, but because they remind me that, for all the worrying I do about the future, I really have no idea what's to come. As much as I would've given you a skeptical look if you'd told me I would take up (and enjoy!) cooking, I'd have also never guessed I'd end up a) in DC, or b)in the line of work I'm in.  

And since that is far more cheeseball than I usually tolerate, I'm going to leave you with the promise of a couple good pumpkin recipes for the coming days!