Thanksgiving Leftovers - Good Enough for the Science Fair

I am pleased to report my findings on a highly scientific experiment conducted in my kitchen this very afternoon. In order to fully explain this scientific experiment, I must first provide the predicate upon which it is based, with said predicate also appropriately requiring a switch to third person. (Throat clears; predicate begins.)

Those who know Alice Haddow will concur that she often has great difficulty keeping a schedule. This is not to say she is irresponsible; she, in fact, often demonstrates tendencies 180 degrees the opposite.

The results of the often-required juxtaposition of an overdeveloped sense of responsibility with a complete inability to maintain a schedule typically wreaks havoc on Alice Haddow and those around her. Case in point: Thanksgiving. Citizens of the United States treat this as a holiday to be celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November. After years and years of trying to meet this schedule by cooking a dinner intended to be complete by said Thursday, Alice Haddow finally gave up a few years ago and began dialing the telephone number to International Country Club for Thanksgiving reservations. She did this much to the chagrin of her son-in-law Emron, who has vowed never, ever, ever to eat Thanksgiving dinner anywhere other than the confines of a home, assuming, of course, he is located in the United States when turkey day rolls around. If he is outside the country, all bets are off, although Mexico this year did not seem too large an obstacle for a Prattastic in-home meal.

Nonetheless, years of feasting at the ITCC buffet, unfortunately without Emron, not only nourished Alice Haddow's sense of responsibility but it also let her off the hook with regard to meeting a schedule. She was, after all, dutifully paying homage to the holiday while simultaneously limiting her scheduled obligations to getting dressed in time to leave for the 3 p.m. sitting. Thanks to an invitation from Uncle John and Aunt Kathy, the Haddow family experimented this year with the buffet at Fairfax Country Club to find similar, but improved (because the food was better), results. The only downside to either choice of location boils down to one thing after dinner is done: ZERO leftovers.

Enter this year's big experiment: How to enjoy turkey day at a country club and get some leftovers to boot. This is an experiment one cannot possibly conduct without Dinner Done in Centreville, Virginia. Having noticed an "Everything but the Turkey" ad, Alice Haddow telephoned Dinner Done to inform them she would be picking up their entire EBT kit on Wednesday afternoon, the day before Thanksgiving. Alas, this meant that Alice Haddow must again meet a scheduled obligation, but as long as the obligation remained minimal, Alice Haddow convinced herself she could get to Dinner Done sometime before closing time at 9 pm on Wednesday.

The plan: Eat a feast in Fairfax on Thursday; enjoy pie from Pie Gourmet on Thursday night; on Friday pop the EBT from Dinner Done into the oven for some fast but very delicious "leftovers."

The only glitch: Keeping the schedule. Alice Haddow couldn't get around to cooking the EBT until Sunday, but even then it was well worth it. Knowing she could not possibly predict in advance when the EBT would come out of the oven, Alice Haddow invited three of the coolest girls in the Langley Ward to show up and enjoy them with her sometime--say--between 4 and 5:30 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. The girls arrived at 4:15 p.m., apparently happy to act as guinea pigs in this grand experiment.

Alice Haddow was pleased to conclude the experiment with a big thumbs up from everyone. Henceforth, Thanksgiving for the Haddows will include not only a trip to a CC on Thursday but an EBT kit from Dinner Done as leftovers for Friday (or whenever Alice Haddow can get around to cooking it). Any sons-in-law who insist on turkey in a home simply need to show up three or fewer days after Thanksgiving to enjoy juicy turkey with cranberry sauce and raisin-almond stuffing, buttermilk mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, corn souffle, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin chiffon cheesecake, put together, baked, eaten and cleaned up in six hours or less.

Ummmmmm. A deliciously successful experiment. No schedules required. Alice Haddow would offer it for submission to a local science fair, but then she'd have to write it down on the calendar and remember to get everything done on time.

No, thank you.