Operation Potato

For the first time in my life (I think at least ... not sure about year 1 and 2), I wasn't in upstate New York for Thanksgiving. No long car trip spent tucked between tins of scones, Christmas presents for the cousins, and luggage made bulky by snow gear; for that matter, no snow or miserably cold almost-but-not-quite-going-to-snow weather; no English muffins after a night spent sleeping on Grandma's special sheets; no Macy's Day parade; no crowding around the table and passing dish after dish after dish down the line. Odd years, that table would be in Campbell with the Andersons; even years it'd be in Lewiston or Colden with the Russells. But always with family.

The closest I got to that this year was a skype conference call with the Russell clan - a long shot from the real thing but definitely the highlight of my day. I'd known that this would be a lonely Thanksgiving though, so I woke up yesterday with a plan. If I couldn't have family, then I'd least have the second best part of Thanksgiving: mashed potatoes.

So I got up early and, armed with my dictionary, sat down and translated a recipe for Prisca. She's a bit of a magician when it comes to cooking, so I was pretty sure Operation Potato would be a success, but I had a few doubts ... what if she's never heard of mashed potatoes? what if she buys cassava instead of potatoes? what if my translation makes no sense and instead of writing "peel the potatoes" I wrote something like "make the potatoes naked"? I mean, we're talking about my favorite food here - not something to be taken lightly!

Prisca rose to the occasion though - I came home to find a hot pot brimming with perfectly mashed potatoes ... and a tasty lentil curry that was quite a nice surprise side dish. I whipped up a batch of cornbread and a salad, poured myself a glass of passion fruit juice, and ended up with a pretty nice Thanksgiving dinner! As for the potatoes ... they weren't quite as good as my Grandma's, but then again, nobody's mashed potatoes are quite as good as my Grandma's, so that was to be expected. Plus, as I was sitting down to eat, it occurred to me that there is no potato masher in my kitchen ... or any other sort of similar utensil ... and yet these potatoes were as smooth as possible - not a single lump! Like I said, she's a bit of a magician :-D