Thanksgiving as an East Coaster Out West
After my boyfriend and I moved to California from the East Coast, where we’d grown up and celebrated many a Thanksgiving with our families, we wanted to import our holiday traditions along with us. The easiest (and most delicious) place to start: food. So our first year out, we thought we’d do our favorite family dishes, and the greatest project of these was to brine the turkey.
It seemed simple enough according to the internet (fool that I was), so brining was the last thing I did before bed late on Wednesday night. But there was a fatal flaw in the store-bought brining bag. Designed like a giant Ziploc, it proved too faint for the task once it was sloshing full of cider, water, oranges, and turkey. Thinking it was sealed, I lugged it into my arms, and that’s when the whole brew overcame the bag and splashed over me in great waves.
Now covered in juices and errant orange rinds, I struggled to save it. All dignity abandoned, I heaved the great briny beast into a clean garbage bag, transferred the remaining brew, and secured it seven times over with hair elastics.
Both the bird and I were sufficiently pickled for the night, and the turkey went on to become the star of the meal. But the feast wouldn’t have been complete without my mom’s traditional stuffed mushrooms, my father’s perfectly sharp carving knife, and long calls home. Family trumps turkey each and every year.
––Hope
This Thanksgiving, the StoryWorth team is sharing some of our favorite holiday memories. The story above was written by Hope Tammany, our Growth Marketer & Community Lead.
Feel free to respond with your own Thanksgiving story!
