For most people, thinking about Thanksgiving conjures up images of traditional American fare beautifully arranged on fine china and memories of the unpleasant, overly full feelings following the extreme overindulgence of the day that only a nap seems to relieve. My family, however, never quite got on board with the whole turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy, green-bean casserole and pumpkin pie deal.
I suppose my family has never had the most traditional eating habits. As children, my brother and I never realized that not everyone had elk stew for dinner or that most people did not have tacos made with the meat of the deer their father took down with a bow and arrow. So I actually should not be surprised that we became bored pretty quickly with the conventional turkey Thanksgiving dinner.
Of course, in the early years of my childhood, even when we did go through the motions of the customary Thanksgiving spread, we could not fully partake in the suburban way. My father insisted that we prepare a wild turkey rather than the plump, juicy store-bought turkeys wrapped in plastic printed with Butterball's cheerful yellow and blue logo. Not until I tasted an oven-roasted turkey at one of my friend's houses years later did I discover that turkey should not be dry, tough and chewy.
We were lacking in the sides department during those "traditional" years, as well. My grandparents would survey the buffet line with wrinkled noses and stifled-but-still-perceptible gazes of disapproval when they saw my mother's take on the cream of mushroom, French fried onion-topped, green bean casserole - saut
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