Thanksgiving Day at the Donner Lake House
Thanksgiving this year at the house above Donner Lake, up at 5,800 feet with snow still sitting on the roof next door and the snowshoes hung on the deck fence beside the shovels. Through the pines you could see straight across the water to the snowline on the far ridge.
The brie wreath came out first — puff pastry ring with cranberry sauce, pistachios, and rosemary pressed into the top, rosemary sprigs tucked all around the plate. It didn't last long.
The turkey skipped the oven entirely. It got trussed on the kitchen island with twine and the kitchen shears, legs tied, then spitted onto the rotisserie out on the deck grill with a rub over the skin. Cooking it outside in November mountain air seemed optimistic, but the old dial thermometer went in next to it and the lid came down.
While it turned, the table got set inside: green damask cloth, the china with the gold V on the rim, the crystal, and — hedging against all that formality — paper napkins printed with a fat cartoon turkey slipped onto a couple of the plates.
