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Today I bought a roasting pan. I'm cooking
Thanksgiving dinner and thought I'd start planning early. Good thing, because when I got the roasting pan home (it's huge), I couldn't figure out where to put it. It was too big for any of my cabinets, and storing it under a bed just didn't feel right. The logical place would be in the drawer underneath my oven, but it was STUFFED! To be honest, It was actually over-stuffed with stuff I hadn't thought about in years - Bundt pans, lasagna pans, cupcake pans in every size and shape, fish molds, Pyrex bowls, heart-shaped pans, popover pans, broiling pans......SO MUCH STUFF! Where did it come from? How on earth did I amass this much stuff? I blame it on Williams-Sonoma; it all looked so beautiful in the catalogue, and I actually believed I needed each new thing as I acquired it (and maybe I did at the time), but alas, I reluctantly conceded that all the stuff was getting in my way. The drawer was jammed, and I couldn't even remember what was inside.
I decided to take stock. This is, after all, the time of year to take stock. I pried open the dysfunctional drawer and surveyed each and every item as an archeologist examining layers on a dig.......my life laid out before me in extraneous kitchen clutter. Some of it represented 'newly-wed me', and some of it 'stay-at-home-mom me'; there was 'Martha Stewart me', 'Julia Child me', and 'aspiring-baker me'. How could I part with any of these newly unearthed treasures? They seemed to hold a mysterious power over me, even though most of the things in that drawer hadn't seen the light of day in years. I knew I really didn't need most of it, but in that moment, I felt what I'm sure many of my clients feel as I help them sort through their belongings - and that's the emotional connection that our things are infused with - the memories, hopes and dreams. I steeled myself. "Be ruthless, not wreckless", I told myself, as I bid a fond farewell to the teddy bear cake pan I used to bake my daughter's second-birthday cake. (She's 19 years old now!). Adios fish molds, Bundt pans, heart-shaped pans and Halloween molds. Letting go of them was hard, but keeping them was harder. After all, that drawer had been so over-stuffed I couldn't open it, and therefore I'd avoided even trying. In fact, it made me tired just thinking about it! I kept only those items I knew I'd use frequently and reminded myself that just because I'd paid good money for something, it's real value lay in how useful it was to me. All those things I'd clung to with the belief they were still "perfectly good", I know now, had been perfectly useless, sitting there for years on the off chance that I might "need" (need????) them some day. I gave them a second life and carted them off to Good Will. Now there's plenty of room for my new roasting pan, and even room to spare. The sight of my well-ordered drawer leaves me feeling positively giddy, and I'm inspired to cook the best holiday meal ever.
So as you prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving this year, I hope you'll take time to take stock, as I did.....of the things in your life that are weighing you down, of the things that matter most to you, and of the riches in your life. I hope you fill your home, your life, your soul with things you love and need, and that you're happy and grateful always for having enough. Wishing you the happiest Thanksgiving ever!
'Til next time, be well, be safe, be organized. xxx's,
Nancy
TIRED OF SLAVING IN THE KITCHEN OVER THANKSGIVING DINNER????? Here's a great time saver if you're serving 10 or fewer people. Try Mark Bittman's recipe for 45-minute roast turkey. I tried it last week, and it was the best turkey I've ever prepared - moist, evenly cooked and delicious.
Watch the video and see how it's done! (If you're intimidated by removing the backbone from the turkey, your butcher can do it for you.)
This is a picture of me serving my 45-minute turkey last week. Notice how happy and relaxed I look in the picture?
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