HOW TO MASH POTATOES (11/06)

I have mentioned several times how the Wimberley Magic weaves it's spell on John, causing his stress to ooze away, but I'm just now beginning to see the effect it has had on me. Although I have learned lots of tricks to make entertaining easier over the years, and have become as loose as a goose when hosting my siblings and closest friends, there is one group that always left me quaking in my boots - the in-laws. Now don't get me wrong. I happen to adore mine. But the clan includes a couple of the finest cooks you will ever come across, as well as a vegetarian, and Mr. Where's-the-Beef. Since I grew up in a family that got their vegetables out of cans, and their mashed potatoes out of a box, you can see why I might have felt intimidated. For more than 30 years, not a holiday has gone by that someone didn't bring up the time when they caught me using a recipe to make mashed potatoes, or tell me they have a great recipe for boiling water if I'd like to borrow it. Well, this year something amazing happened - I was completely calm and relaxed the entire time they were here!

Since buying this house, I have been trying more and more to cook and eat with seasonality - using what's in season, and grown or produced locally. I've developed a few basic recipes that respond well to changing out ingredients according to what's on hand, and I use them so often, I no longer need to have a written recipe for every single thing I prepare. So this year, I decided that we would celebrate the holidays with seasonality. I made it my goal to keep it simple, keep it fresh, and keep it local. I also gave myself permission to do what I do best, and delegate the rest.

Now, my John really doesn't like to cook, but there are a couple of things that he is willing to do. One of those is grilling. So, on the night Mike and Priscilla arrived, I let him grill some steaks, and I just tossed together my favorite seasonal salad with a homemade vinaigrette dressing, and I roasted some cute little fingerling potatoes, broccoli and carrots with fresh garlic cloves and a toss of olive oil. Yummy, but oh so simple. Priscilla's parents, Jack and Alma, were driving in from Louisiana, and didn't arrive until lunchtime on Wednesday. I had two different soups in the freezer, which I had made earlier, so I just heated those up for lunch and served them with that local Tex-Mex favorite, guesadillas. I stuffed mine with havarti cheese (I know, not local!) and some of my uber-delicious spiced pecans (made with brown sugar and Cholula hot sauce), then served them with a dab of pear preserves for a nice fall twist. Another thing John doesn't mind doing is cooking bacon and eggs (because that's the only way he ever gets them!). Although I usually set out a fancy breakfast buffet when I have guests, I finally realized that since the guys actually prefer plain old bacon and eggs, and John doesn't mind fixing them, I'd be nuts not to let him.

On Thanksgiving morning, while John was fixing breakfast, I pulled out paper and pen and started to make my usual detailed schedule, listing every single thing we would eat that day, and when each item needed to be mixed, or heated, or whatever. Then something came over me, and I just thought "Screw it!" I wadded up the list, then announced "Here is our cooking schedule. When John has the breakfast mess cleared away, we will put the turkey in. When it is ready, we will eat." And that was it.

Alma had brought wonderful fresh shrimp from Lafayette, and made her special remoulade sauce to go with them. She also made her Cajun-style sweet potatoes, and brought some homemade pralines. I put Priscilla in charge of making cranberry sauce and the dreaded mashed potatoes (let them tease HER for a change), and I sent the guys to pick up the pies we had pre-ordered from Wimberley Pie Co. They were so tasty, I will probably never make a pie from scratch again!

That left me with nothing to prepare but my turkey with enchilada gravy and tamale stuffing. I took it out of the oven when the thermometer reached the proper temperature, but when John cut into the dark meat, it was still a bit pink. In previous years, that might have sent me into a tizzy, as everything else would have to sit around getting cold while we waited for the turkey to get done. Instead, I just let John go ahead and slice the white meat off the turkey, then we put the rest back into the oven, turned it off, and let it finish cooking in the residual heat. That turned out to be the best mistake we ever made, because, for the first time ever, that white meat was just as tender and juicy as the dark usually is, instead of the typical dry and stringy!

We couldn't have asked for more perfect weather, so we served our feast out on the porch, and the only thing missing was our kiddos. Alexis wanted to save all her vacation time for coming home at Christmas, and since we didn't want her to be alone, we let Austin fly out to be with her in San Diego. When we spoke with them on the phone, it sounded like they were having a grand old time. The high point of the entire week was when I fixed my special salad and roasted veggies to go with John's steaks. Priscilla noticed right away that I wasn't using any recipes, for once. Then as we were eating, not only did they fail to make suggestions for how I could improve everything, for once, they actually asked me how to make everything, because they really liked it! When all was said and done, Prisi said "Guess we are going to have to quit teasing you, huh?" Well, it's about frigging time.