Escape from the Jiggly Blob

My big post-Thanksgiving beef is about the quality of the food. All of the usual suspects were there: mashed potatoes, turkey, gravy, stuffing, etc. Our contributions were veggies: red cabbage (w/ apples, bacon, a little brown sugar and vinegar), and green beans w/ anchovy butter (the butter from a Jamie Oliver recipe usually for asparagus, out of season and hard to find). Our hosts were not veggie fans, so the field was wide open on this one, and I thought I'd raise the bar a little. The cabbage turned out great. I didn't maintain total control over the green beans, which were to be lightly steamed to maintain their bright color and crispness. I paid dearly for this--both the ideal color and texture were lost in favor of their being "hot". People did compliment the veggies, but kept asking questions about the butter, which was served on the side in ramekins--"what's in it again?". Just a bit too foreign....

This might be a crazy expectation, but it is too much to ask that the menu for our national feast days not include Jello? D and I had a sustained conversation about trying to push things a little bit with the quality of our feast menus. Life's too short for bad food, and if I'm going to pack in the calories during these meals, I want the food to be really excellent, you know? We're now talking about possibly hosting a Christmas meal, to show everyone how it's done. We'll likely be accused of being snobs for a portion of our family, but at least we'll eat well.