Orphan Thanksgiving

I'm hosting "Orphan Thanksgiving" next Saturday night. It's the time when I invite all my friends over for Thanksgiving dinner, and we have the best time -- good food, lots of laughs, and no family issues!

I do a conventional Thanksgiving dinner -- turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, something green like brussels sprouts or broccoli, maybe sweet potatoes or carrots -- then a good selection of desserts, including pumpkin pie. I might do a lemon meringue pie this year, though I admit that the last-minute effort with a LM pie can be daunting on Thanksgiving. Maybe I'll try a Pennsylvania Dutch-style milk pie (rather like a custard pie) or an apple pie. One thing about my friends, they eat what's put in front of them. They are all good eaters.

A trick I tried a few years ago, and swear by today: instead of roasting a whole turkey, I cut the turkey up (as I would a chicken), and roast it in pieces. First, you can remove pieces when they're done, and second, the whole turkey will cook in about two hours. It's brilliant. And who cares if there's no whole turkey, right? I usually add in a couple extra thighs to the roasting pan, too, because I love dark turkey meat much more than white meat, and there's never enough dark meat on a bird to suit my tastes.