So everyone is waiting on the “best advice” blog for the Thanksgiving table..  

Yes, we place a huge emphasis on the food.  Which surprises me because it’s also one of the only times of year where the menu is pretty much “set” for us..  so why all the pressure when we can accurately predict 87.5% of what we’re going to be cooking/eating that day?  It’s not an episode of Chopped or anything..

This isn’t a rhetorical question, I actually want to you think about it and answer yourself.  

At least three quarters of you answered that you didn’t know.

Now wash that chill-pill of perspective down with a stiff drink and put on your thinking caps-

Tomorrow… do you want to impress yourself?  Do you want to challenge yourself?  Do you want to impress your family?  Do you know why you’re eating the set menu you’re probably in the midst of preparing right now?  Do you even like turkey?  Does anyone else at your table?  Will you be considering if this was this worth the plane ticket?  Will you wonder why do you keep forgetting you want to stab Uncle Bob?  Repeatedly?  Will you again be dissatisfied with the dichotomy of days worth of work vs. 20 minutes of eating time?

All valid, albeit analytical and pointed questions.

Any and all of those questions might be swimming in your mind, along with a host of others which are probably slowly plucking and eating away at your soul like some perverse game of Chinese water torture.  Fear not, I have something to submit to you in answer.

It doesn’t matter.  At all.

Food is one of our five basic needs, and it’s the most prominent and genuine way to show the people in our lives we love them.  It’s why we cook the big meals and the old recipes, listen to stories, and lock the sharp knives away.

If you’re in the kitchen tomorrow, just relax.  Even the youngest of us know the difference when food is prepared with love and intention-

Cook what you love, not what’s expected, and share the experience with your family.

If you feel the need to cook what’s expected, cook it with love and a smile, and share it with your family.  The worst meal made with love tops the best meal made with cold, clinical precision any day.

So in answer to several queries here are my three absolutely, positively most stellarly important pieces of advice for the Thanksgiving table:

1.  For the love of God don’t foil tent your turkey while you’re resting it (half the time it’s cooked, obviously), and fuck up that beautiful crust you’ve worked so hard to get..

2.  There’s always Chinese, in case the first tip is the least of your problems 😉

3.  Cook what you love, and love what you cook.  If you do, everything else will fall into place.  Promise.