America's Thanksgiving Day has a long history, back to the earliest days of this country. While many Presidents (including George Washington) promoted and endorsed the holiday with proclamations, it was President Abraham Lincoln who started the current unbroken string of proclamations by every President who succeeded him. His proclamation was made on October 3, 1863:
I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.
Debbie and I have much to be thankful for this year.
First and foremost on our minds is the fact that we and our home survived the horrible fires of three weeks ago, completely unharmed.
Our beloved animals – eight cats and three dogs – are all healthy and happy.
Our health is excellent, aside from the unavoidable side effects of our advancing age.
I make a good living in a job that I greatly enjoy. We've never known hunger, poverty, or lacked for anything truly important.
We live in the greatest country on earth – despite it's abundant flaws, there's nowhere I'd rather live. Not one of the hundred or so countries I've visited has ever even tempted me.
And we are very thankful on this day for the soldiers and sailors who are in harm's way on this day of thanksgiving, voluntarily engaging this country's enemies in mortal combat. Those fine, brave men and women seem to percieve the existential threat posed to our country by Islamic fundamentalists with far greater clarity than many Americans who are safe and snug in their homes today. Every time I meet one of these soldiers or sailors who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan (and that happens fairly often here in San Diego, as we have many military bases here), I try hard to find the time to get to know them a bit. Most of all, I make a it a point to thank them for their service. They stand between my loved ones and Al Queda (and its ilk), and for that they have my eternal gratitude…and they should know it. I hope you'll do the same…
Debbie and I just finished our Thanksgiving feast, which was spread out over several hours. It was just the two of us today – a delightful, quiet holiday together.
Being certifiable weirdos, we didn't have a “normal” Thanksgiving meal. No turkey, gravy, dressing, pies, cranberry sauce, or corn for us. Nope, none of that stuff. Instead, we had a seafood feast – and what a feast it was!
As an appetizer, we had fresh Atlantic sea scallops. Debbie has developed this into a fine, and refined, delicacy: broiled briefly, in a shallow pan, with butter, garlic, and dill. They are so good you'll think your brains fell out!
We drank champagne through the whole meal – Moet Chandon White Star. Excellent tipple.
For our main course we had a specialty of mine: Atlantic Lobster a l'Americaine (using a recipe from Julia Child). We started with three 2 lb. female Maine lobsters, shipped live from the wonderful Young's Lobster Pound, in Belfast, Maine (we got the scallops there as well). All three of them had roe, so we had plenty of coral and tomalley to flavor the dish. The sauce is a reduction sauce that starts in a manner that still seems odd to me, though I've made this dish many times: you saute the shells (with some vegetables), and then boil them. The resulting sauce might as well be called “essence of lobster” – saturated with lobster flavor, and emitting an delightfully lobstery perfume. The sauce is finished with a tomalley/coral/butter paste and my favorite spice: fresh tarragon. The cooked lobster meat is sauteed briefly (with some shallots) in butter, then folded into the sauce. We served it over simple boiled rice.
For a vegetable we made a favorite: asparagus tips sauteed in butter. Simply glorious.
Now we're done – we've even cleaned up the impressive mess in the kitchen. We're full; beyond being simply sated, we are uncomfortable. Almost in pain. I'm drinking a cup of tea in the fond hope that it will settle down the battle in my belly.
Dang, that was a good meal!
And we have leftovers… Half the lobster meat is in the refrigerator, destined to become lobster rolls tomorrow. About half the sauce remains as well; don't know what we're going to do with it, but whatever it is, it will be wonderful!
Blogging will now be interrupted as I slip into a cholesterol-induced coma…
