When I was a kid, the Thanksgiving festivities included a trip to Morrison’s Cafeteria where the yearly order had been placed for a full spread – turkey, stuffing, rolls, etc. I do not ever recall my mother ever cooking a turkey or the fixings for the holidays. The only gourmet cooks in our house were the ones on the television.
Morrison’s was a place where you told the people what you wanted from the selection behind the glass and they put it in a dish for you. At the end of the line you paid for your food and immediately a waiter would grab the tray – usually holding it way over his head – marching to the table to seat you. If there was a group, the waiter would have a tray in each hand. It was an impressive sight watching these men do their incredible balancing acts. In those days all of the waters were men of colour.
The restaurant is long gone but the memories of going there to eat and watching the waiters as they hustled (and hustle they did, it was hard to keep up with them to get to your table) was like watching a show. I was always amazed at how these men could move so fast and never spill a drop of food or beverage.
The only specialty in our house were my mother’s homemade biscuits and plenty of grilled cheese sandwiches.
Occasionally we would head north a few hundred miles to see the grandparents which meant a big spread of food at my grandmother’s house with a reunion of family members.
In those days nobody worried about leaving the food out, it stayed out all afternoon.
I remember one time that me and my cousin decided that we were hungry and headed for the spread of food. We discovered the bowl of ambrosia (I LOVE ambrosia), so we commenced to eating it. There wasn’t much left when we got through with it! 🙂
“Fancy” eating with Granma and Papa usually involved a trip to Shoney’s Big Boy restaurant.
I really like turkey and don’t wait until just Thanksgiving to eat…the same with corned beef. I eat it whenever I want it.