Don't read this if you're on a 'no added salt diet'

The renovations at CCI are completed and they received unexpected reviews. In my naivete, I expected people to walk in and say "WOW!" Foolish me for always living in my dream world. What actually happens is, people walk in, look for a table, sit down, and after awhile say, "OH, when did you change the floor?" Then eventually they notice the table covers and last they notice the paint. This evolves into idle chit-chat and "it looks nice." Never any disparaging remarks on the previous look; and so far, no negativity on the new look.

Before

  

So, Thanksgiving and Black Friday are over and most of the country is working on Cyber Monday and Christmas. I'm still thinking about Thanksgiving. Ralph and I cooked and we celebrated at my house. There were five of us. Byron, my mother's husband, brought rutabaga and a mixture of creamed onions and Brussels sprouts. When he walked in with it, I said, "You shouldn't have." He replied, "The only way for me to have my traditional Thanksgiving food is for me to bring it myself." I repeated, "Really, you shouldn't have."

Yes, I remember he always served rutabaga, but the creamed onions and Brussels sprouts mixture? WTH is that? The only creamed food I've ever eaten is creamed corn. My Grandmom Tweedie always served it because I think it was her favorite. I draw the line at creamed corn. I can't eat creamed onions and Brussels sprouts and I didn't. Yes, I'm an ingrate.

I didn't realize he was all about tradition, so in keeping with the holiday tradition started by Byron at my mother's house, just before everyone was finished eating, I announced, "We have home made pumpkin pie by Mom and I'll bring that out in one minute." You know what? Apparently, they don't like that tradition and unlike Byron, I did not bring out the pumpkin pie just then. I waited for perhaps an hour. New tradition? Who knows. The term 'new tradition' sounds like a contradiction in terms. I guess that means we're stuck with the old traditions until the change occurs repeatedly.

Everyone said they liked and enjoyed the meal. Ralph and I made the turkey. Ralph made the stuffing. I made the cranberries and roasted sweet potatoes. Well, the sweet potatoes were supposed to be roasted, but due to limited oven space, they were more like baked sweet potatoes. In any event, I heard no negativity.

Now, negativity is a weird thing. I said I heard no negativity about the CCI renovations and now about the meal. I'm learning the hard way that just because I haven't heard it, doesn't mean the negativity isn't out there.

                                      
Before the meal. Hostessing holiday dinners is not my forte. I forgot to plan for hors d'oeuvres.
                                                           
Ralph was fixing a dish of left overs after work on Friday. I was only in the kitchen for a minute and I noticed he didn't take out the container of baked sweet potatoes. I mentioned it. He said, "I thought the sweet potatoes were your favorite." Right. This from the person I have to hide my favorites from or put them in a dish labeled 'Carrie's-don't eat.'

Since when does he care about 'my favorite' when if it's something he likes, he's eating it no matter what. So there it is, negativity about the sweet potatoes on the day after Thanksgiving. And as if that wasn't hurtful enough, he called me on my cell phone and left a message saying "the cranberries are better! I think they needed the extra day to sit and absorb the flavors." Better than what? I thought they were great on Thanksgiving. Whatever.

My mother is usually the highly critical one. I didn't hear a peep out of her, but then I didn't talk to her the next day. And because as you can see I don't do well with food criticism, I'm not sure I really want to talk to her.

This is not CCI. I can understand restaurant customers criticizing the food, but my son about my home cooking? He doesn't even like cranberries and he was pushing for candied sweet potatoes, so I think that is the real problem. I know, denial isn't just a river in Egypt.

In any event, I discovered sea salt a few months ago. The only food I ever salted was baked potatoes and corn on the cob. These days I salt pretty much everything.....yes, this coming from a registered nurse who works in the cardiac cath lab. If you're a patient, do as I say, not as I do.

My recommendation is if you don't like my food, use the sea salt. It's always there on the table at meal time. If the food is good, it will make it better. If it isn't good, the sea salt will make it good....well, sorry cranberries, you're on your own. I don't recommend salting the cranberries. They are one of those foods that one either likes or doesn't like.....Or, add sugar, that might help. I always use half the recommended sugar in the recipe, which is an improvement. I used to use one-quarter the recommended sugar. I think I got that from Deb...who hasn't seen the completed CCI renovations. Is she going to voice the renovation negativity that I haven't heard thus far?

It's OK, I'm strong. I'll cry into my pillow for a few minutes and then 'carrie-on' in true Carrie style! Right, I'll blog about it! LOL