I Cooked a Thing

So there I was.  Thanksgiving was around the corner.  The first since I stopped eating animals, and I had two main concerns.  The first was that I could bring food people want to eat.  The second was a delicious Thanksgiving dinner for myself.

Every year I attend two different dinners.  The first is with my family.  This is very casual.  Our family is small, and many have other commitments.   We all come when it's convenient, and leave when we need to.  I had already given my mother vegetable broth, and asked her to use it anywhere she would normally use chicken broth.  No one noticed any differences.

I came in the morning armed with supplies, and set about the task of making gravy.  I purchased three varieties of gravy mix I found at Mississippi Market.  Two were onion gravy, the third was mushroom.  Both just called for adding water, and simmering on a stovetop.  But I wanted to jazz them up a bit.

For the mushroom gravy, I was able to find mushroom broth.  I used half water, and half that.  For the onion gravies, I used half vegetable broth.  But I finely chopped an onion, and sautéed it in butter first, then started making gravy in the pot.  They all tasted great, in my opinion.  But how did everyone else compare them to the turkey gravy they were used to?

The world will never know.  Everyone saw my mushroom and onion gravies, hot and ready to serve, then took a look at the jars of turkey gravies they're used to, and picked mushroom or onion.  No one said they were awful, and no one said they were great.  No one ate them to make me happy.  They just thought it was a fine option.  Success!

The next day was Thanksgiving with friends.  People announced what they were bringing, and I said "Onion and Mushroom" gravy, capitalizing them on purpose.  I wanted to make sure people wanting turkey gravy had chance to bring what they like.  And no one did.

No one thought it was unusual I brought onion gravy, and no one thought it was unusual I brought mushroom gravy.  The only comments I got were from people thinking it was rather fancy to bring two different kinds of gravy.  And everyone thought my gravy was fine.  It was just fine.