The day after Turkey Day is usually a good one. Leftovers, you see. Between my friend and I, we had piles of food to eat yesterday, but there were eight of us to eat it. Turkey and ham, mashed potatos, sweet potato souffle, stuffing, Waldorf salad, green bean casserole, cranberries, gravy and lots of other assorted goodies plus dessert; pumkin and apple pie with home made whipped cream. Every year I make more and feel less like eating it all. Thankfully, my friend Suzi had us over or we would have had twice as much leftover. I can't help but think about how careful my mother was with everything when she cooked. Sure, we had some leftovers then, but not as much as we have every time now. This Thanksgiving, my husband wanted me to make dinner for just the two of us, but I couldn't face the colossal waste involved with a feast like that.
Raised in the Great Depression, my mother never wasted anything. Thanksgiving was always wonderful, but when she made Waldorf, (which she always did) she never just threw a bunch of raisins in, or lots of walnuts. Very carefully, she planned out how much to use so as not to be wasteful. It always tasted so good! I can duplicate it, but it's one of the few "specialties" of my mother's that I am able to get just right. I can't make pinto beans taste as good or fried potatos, but Waldorf, I do fine with. I know I never wanted for anything when I was growing up, but she instilled the idea that, someday, some how, I might be very glad to have pinto beans or whatever else she was cooking that day. I get kind of a creepy feeling when I'm cooking and I just go ahead and throw in extra spices or other ingredients, just because it's there or just because it is easier than saving some small amount. In fact, I never used to do that; it's only lately that I have become more wasteful. I know the world around me is big into wasting more and more and faster, on such a big scale. It makes me nuts! Convenience is a big factor, but it really isn't an excuse. Something is always in the back of my mind, worrying that it's wrong to take food for granted, that it's wrong to assume that someone owes us something. Big, fat Americans, growing larger as the decades roll by. What would it take to make us take stock of the world around us and amend the gross over usage of everything we get our hands on? Well, we can calmly fork it in, while the T.V. rolls film of dying, starving people in all corners of the earth. We can worry and fret about how to loose weight, then we run to the store for bags full of potato chips, candy and ice cream.Yeah, kind of depressing, isn't it? Sorry, back to the leftovers! No, really, I mean literally, back to the kitchen. Bye!
