By Stefanie Gans
Hello turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy—and something green!
As Thanksgiving turns away from its flawed origin story it instead becomes a day to celebrate family and friends, to remember to be thankful and grateful for what we have, to be nice to everyone and to honor the fall harvest and all the good things to eat.
It’s a day about inviting strangers over for dinner and a day to (maybe?) not make something outlandish: “There are 364 days a year that are not Thanksgiving, and if your family or friends or coworkers have a specific set of dishes that they want to make and eat on this one specific day, I’m not entirely sure why you’d want to change that. Traditions can be cool!”
At my Thanksgiving, we’ll be serving Alison Roman’s buttered stuffing, and certainly tearing the bread, not cutting it. We’ll try out these crispy-mushy Brussels sprouts from Bon Appetit. We’ll make some sort of kale salad heavily dressed in Dijon mustard. Sweet potatoes will be roasted with a little curry powder, and certainly not topped with marshmallows. Not every tradition needs to be continued.
And on Friday, while you walk the mall, Cookology is open in Dulles Town Center and Ballston Quarter. Drop the kids off for a baking lesson or a sushi session while you sneak in some shopping or destress from a day of consumerism insanity with a Cuban night of bites and sips. Rum, anyone?