A New Holiday Tradition

I'm happy to share with Every Meal A Feast readers that, yes, our Thanksgiving turkey turned out perfectly -- once again -- thanks to our Ronco "Showtime" rotisserie. Is life good or what?

I also wanted to share one of those... magical moments. Wednesday afternoon, the day before Thanksgiving. I'd worked in the morning, then had the p.m. off to get ready for our Thanksgiving, which meant cooking. So I made Grandma Polk's sweet potato casserole. That got me thinking about Grandma Polk, who passed away 15 years ago, which got me thinking about my siblings, so I called them. Guess what they were doing? That's right: Tracy in Athens, Texas, was... making sweet potato casserole, as was my brother, Toby, in Knoxville, Tennessee. That felt so, well, cool. Here we were separated by thousands of miles... yet connected via cooking. In fact, I want to try to replicate this at Christmas or at least next Thanksgiving: my clan all cooking the same dish at the same time, and hooking up via phone (as well as email, etc.) while we're doing it. It's not the same as being together for the holiday, but hey, it was pretty @*&^%$ close.

Here's Grandma Polk's sweet potato casserole recipe:

2.5 pounds sweet potatoes (or yams), boiled and mashed

Add:

1/2 stick melted butter

2 cups milk

1/2 tablespoon nutmeg

1/4 tablespoon cinnamon

3/4 cup sugar (I use honey)

1 scant teaspoon salt

Mix well, then bake in a 350 degree oven for 45-60 minutes.

And let me be the first to wish you a Happy Holiday this holiday season.