Orphans' Thanksgiving

In university days I was too far from home to make the 22-hour train ride just for little old Thanksgiving. Instead I'd host a potluck for all the other "orphans" who were from far away.

The menu was typical university frugal-hippie carbo-mix up: tofu lasagna, and someone would bring either that broccoli salad with dried cranberries or the spinach salad with candied walnuts that was making the potluck rounds at the time, store-bought bread or coleslaw or pasta salad. There was little in the way of traditional Thanksgiving fare -- a turkey would have been too big an expense. But Dave insisted on making a pumpkin pie from scratch...starting with a whole pumpkin and no recipe. His first attempt was a wet, fibrous, eggy disaster but by the end of our undergrad degrees, he was making decent pies.

Thanksgiving still feels more like a friends holiday than a family one. Happily, I've got a few more pennies than I did in those days, so this year we roasted a naturally-raised ham. The guests are still "orphans" (though I hesitate to call them such). The Brit of course, and our charming LadyBrit friend, as well as my second cousin who is too much fun to be family.

But may I recommend ROAST HAM as the easiest, most bang-for-buck, affordable and effortless roast of them all. It's ready whenever you are and goes well with anything  you can throw at it -- from cheese to nuts to eggs the next morning. I would challenge anyone to name a vegetable that didn't work brilliantly as ROAST HAM's wing-man.

Roast ham, whipped carrot & rutabaga, boiled new potatoes with dill butter, roasted cauliflower with cumin seeds, spicy cranberry chutney, tomato chutney, lots of wine, then pumpkin pie (tinned pumpkin: I'm not as ambitious as Dave was), whipped cream and brandies.