Thanksgiving dinner for 26 went off here without a hitch. The turkey was juicy and fabulous, no fights or fires like last year broke out and I even remembered the cranberries. I attribute much of the success to proper pacing (at least I can pace something properly) and doing as much as possible beforehand.
Hit:
Lime in the Coconut Cake: A little complex to make (but so worth it! Most of this went home with guests, which was just fine by me.
Miss:
Mulled Cider: I’ve never made this before but I thought it was quite tasty. It was basically apple cider and red wine, splashed with maple syrup. I warmed that up, floated in some sliced apples, oranges, whole black peppercorns and let it steep on the stove for about 10 minutes. Very easy. But very few takers. Boo.
Snark Attack:
Holidays are prime time for family issues to erupt. Maybe it’s the dynamic involved in having certain personalities together, stress, past experiences, personal issues, jealousy, any number of possibilities.
I think I’ve said it here before, but the whole ‘mean’ thing and it’s origins fascinates me. I figure that by trying to understand where a person is coming from, I can better cope with, or shall I say shake off, mean/petty/passive aggressive/etc. behavior.
Here was the mean comment of the day, (nothing earth shattering but uncalled for all the same) about the coconut cake shown above while people were lavishing praise on it, the perp who shall remain nameless, said:
“The last time you made this cake it was pretty terrible.”
Offended? No. But since I subscribe to the “If you don’t have anything nice to say” rule, I thought it was weird. Plus, let the record show, this was the same person who, months ago, when someone was looking at my race bling, told me I needed to ‘get a life’.
Am I overly sensitive? Or was that mean?
I think the most important thing to keep in mind when dealing with mean people is that the way they’re treating others is a symptom of something going on in their own lives. It’s hard to do sometimes, but they deserve our compassion more than anything else.
