A: Improvisation

Q: What do jazz and Thanksgiving have in common?

I didn't grow up with jazz; bluegrass, folk, rock and/or roll, even classical, but not jazz. I came to it late in life, during grad school and beyond, mostly thanks to my lighting design mentor at CalArts, my then-not-so-soon-to-be husband (we met in 1987, moved beyond "just friends" shortly thereafter, and married in 1999: you do the math), and my work with the Jazz Tap Ensemble (right up to the time of starting my second career).

Now I know that there's plenty of improv in rock, bluegrass and the like, but somehow improvisational cooking reminds me most of jazz. Maybe because I learned more about forms and rules in relation to jazz improv, whereas I'm relatively less "schooled" in other types of music, and improv cooking works as long as you know the forms and rules.

Anyway, this year's Thanksgiving meal was the kind of cooking I like to do best; guided by recipes, but on familiar enough ground that I can feel free to do my thing. And it was especially good that I was feeling adaptable on this one, because although I delivered what I had planned, there was a miscommunication between G-man and I on what time the meal was to start. We had talked about anything from 2 to 6 PM, and I left it up to him to finalize with Bill and Ron.

I'd heard DH say "afternoon" when I asked, and I assumed it was the 4 or 4:30 time we'd talked about. At 10:30 this morning, with the marble pumpkin cheesecake in the oven, I was feeling all relaxed when I checked in on that start time -- oops, 2:30 NOT 4:30. We hustled together and got the bird (parts) in the oven, and I think we served a bit after three o'clock. Not bad. Of course, when the compliments came in on the food -- "That's why we make you wait; so you'll like it no matter what 'cuz you'll be starving."

But back to the menu; most of the items were inspired by one or more "real" recipes, as noted...

• Gingered Carrot Soup (from the Williams-Sonoma Mayo Clinic Cookbook, except I added a pinch of curry powder, and we went for "half-n-half" instead of non-fat evaporated milk)
• Spinach & Granny Smith Salad, with green onions, toasted pecans & a little raw grated ginger
  
• Carrots & Celery Sticks with ranch AND blue cheese dressings, for my son with the incredibly narrow sense of what constitutes an edible vegetable these days
• Slow Roasted Herbed Turkey Breast & Thighs with Gravy (a "mash-up" of the Cook's Illustrated slow roast turkey in pieces and a Barefoot Contessa recipe)
  
• Roasted Delicata Squash with Hot Jelly Glaze (Martha Stewart Living) - and I threw in a few fingerling potatoes I had sitting around as well, which were surprisingly good
• Fennel, Italian Sausage & Cranberry Multi-Grain Dressing (improv: I've been making it for a few years, and this one featured brown & wild rice with wheat berries & rye - not bad!)
  
• Cranberry & Apple Gelatin Salad (from the good old Joy of Cooking, although I used to call my MIL every year for the recipe until she took pity & hipped me to its origin; made sugar free thanks to Splenda and the folks at Jello)
• Sugar Free Pumpkin Marble Cheesecake with Praline Crust and real sweetened whipped cream (this was a keeper, at least three recipes used as inspiration, with a low-carb crust of ground pecans, butter, a hint of cinnamon, and Splenda -- delicious, so I'm glad I did write down what I ended up doing as it might be repeatable!)