Daily Archives: November 29, 2013

Remember Hand Turkeys?

"Remember Hand Turkeys?", journal page by Kerry McFall

“Remember Hand Turkeys?”, journal page by Kerry McFall

I saw a Hand Turkey created by a grownup as I was browsing through the website “Illustration Friday” – it was marvelous, and considerably different from the gradeschool efforts of my children, and yes, back in The Day, I even made them myself.  It was the ideal fun topic for the sketchbook I’m working in for the Sketchbook Project, and since I didn’t have to cook anything (we dined out – such luxury!) I actually had time to finish it.  I filled my “turkey” with memories of Thanksgiving food, mostly the traditional McFall fare from my childhood.  Probably the most unusual dish was the “marshmallow salad”, made the day before the feast from marshamallows (of course), canned pineapple tidbits, canned Queen Anne cherries, and a magical mixture of heavy cream and lemon that was boiled and poured over everything, rendering the marshmallows into a gooey foam surrounding the sweet fruit.   Green bean casserole was a 60’s classic, involving of course Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup because what casserole didn’t?  Only in recent years have I realized that a turkey does NOT have to go into the oven at the crack of dawn for a 4:00 p.m. dinner.  In fact, if you avoid such historically-dictated behavior, you will have a juicy turkey at dinner, not the dessicated remains of unrecognizable poultry.  You will also have a breach in the family harmony because your mother will not speak to you for several years, but some things require drastic measures…