EPIPHANY OF OUR LORD CATHOLIC CHURCH
  • Home
  • About
    • History >
      • Altar Relics
    • Meet the Staff
    • Map: Find us!
    • Calendar
    • Bulletins >
      • Article Submission
      • Pastor's bulletin article
    • New Parishioners
  • Liturgy
    • Latin Mass Schedule
    • Sacrament Prep
    • Altar Boy page
    • Music
    • Vocations
    • Extra Stuff >
      • Divine Office
      • Fraternity of the Sorrowful Passion of Christ Prayer Book
      • Help! I cannot find the right Mass in my missal! I don't know when to sit, stand or kneel!
      • Understand the Bible!
      • Formed.Org
      • Old talks you missed!
  • Community
    • Photos >
      • Confirmation 2025
      • Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre Mass 2024
      • Confirmation 2024
      • First Communion 2024
      • Archbishop Cordileone - March 2024
      • Bishop Schneider's visit
      • Cardinal Burke visit
      • First Holy Communion 2023
      • Confirmation 2023
      • Sr. Winny's Projects
    • Adults >
      • Adult Catechism Class audio
      • Council of Catholic Women
      • Knights of Columbus
      • Holy Face of Jesus Prayer Group
      • Fraternity of St. John the Apostle >
        • FSSJA - Martinmas 2023
      • Men's Club (Holy League)
    • Youth >
      • Anima Christi High School Youth Group >
        • Anima Christi Prom 2023
      • Sancti Amici Middle School Youth Group
      • American Heritage Girls
      • Catechesis of the Good Shepherd
      • Catholic Enrichment Week (CEW)
      • DOVES
      • Troops of St. George
    • Spiritual Motherhood
    • Parish Business Directory
  • Give
    • Online Giving
    • Things that need doing

He only shuts up when he is writing!

My Family Thanksgiving

11/27/2022

 
From the Pastor:    My Family Thanksgiving

       Holiday traditions seem to be the most cherished of all family traditions. Although traditional activities and expectations are attached to each holiday, even those vary just enough from year to year to make the days both comfortable in the “normal” routine and open to new and exciting variations. This year I will share with you another peek into my family’s Thanksgiving traditions as they played out on paper if not in reality. Remember, as always, this week’s bulletin had to be printed before the office staff took off for their Thanksgiving break.
       This year the entire family was going to gather for Thanksgiving Day and it was going to be absolutely normal. All of the ginned-up hysteria about coldvid19 had long since passed. Nobody was going to be wearing Halloween masks, nobody was going to keep 6 feet between family members, friends, or pets, and nobody was going to sit at home in fear of social contact. Or, at least that’s what I keep hearing “getting back to normal” means. But when no one in my family is actually normal to begin with, normal can actually be anything but normal! Once again my little sister hosted the Big Dinner at her house. Brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, nephews and nieces, grandparents, and cousins were all jam-packed into the house and spilled out into the backyard. We all sat or stood (depending on age) around yakking and bringing others up to speed on what was new in life as we had a few drinks and ate about a dozen pounds of appetizers each. Aunt Irma was there, of course, but she kept darting in and out, constantly going to the guest house out back. She wouldn’t say what she was doing out there and, because she is always a little “off” we were all speculating wildly. Some thought she was taking quick naps. Others joked that she was inhaling something from her new local “cash-only pharmacy.” But some of the children, who are much more inquisitive than us lazy adults, actually went over to find out and came back with the happy announcement that she was busy cooking yet one more Thanksgiving turkey! I said, “one more” because there were already a few amazing turkeys being prepared by my brother-in-law. He had one for the oven, one spatchcocked for the grill. and another for the deep fryer. Those, along with about 7 huge side dishes, fresh rolls, 6 pies, and a couple of gallons of ice cream, were probably enough to make each of us burst our bellies in a round of gluttonous feasting, but that wasn’t enough for our great Aunt. If you remember, she has had a couple of years of not being quite “with it” at Thanksgiving and she figured that the best way to “prove” herself competent once again was to cook as well as she used to when she was in charge of such festivities. 
       Now, I want to explain to you that I am not making fun of my elders when I tell tall tales such as what I am about to spin. After all, we all love Aunt Irma, and all of her eccentricities come as part of that lovable package that makes her who she is. And I certainly do not mean to belittle her cooking skills, for I am always ready to go through the trouble of eating anything that anyone has gone through the trouble of cooking, whether it tastes as if it came from a professional chef or from a drive-through window. But some stories just beg to be shared...
       Aunt Irma was finally ready to announce that she needed a few strong boys to carry her turkey to the table. This was it. It was just about time to eat. The prayers were said and the food was set out. Aunt Irma explained that she had, during her coldvid derangement years, spent hours, days, weeks, and months listening to cooking shows so that she could pull out all the stops with the turkey she was having the boys bring over. (She had her TV set adjusted so that she only heard the audio because she was afraid of catching the ‘vid from the people on TV if she could see them. But some things really need to be seen to be understood, as you will soon learn.) Aunt Irma proudly announced that she had cooked the turkey via the Sous Vide method, in which food is immersed in a water bath and kept at a constant—the perfect—temperature so that it can never deviate from that perfect temperature. It cannot overcook, for the temperature never rises above whatever you set it for. It will never be undercooked, as long as you keep it immersed for a set minimum amount of time. It will, you are always assured by sous vide aficionados, be “just right.” Unfortunately, Aunt Irma was never able to see on her dark TV screen how the turkey is supposed to be sealed in a plastic bag before being immersed in the water. What the boys were carrying in was a huge pot filled with water with a turkey plopped directly into it, with the whole thing sealed in a plastic trash bag! Of course, nobody said anything but words of praise and thanks for the work she put into it.
       But, since sous vide is supposed to be a very “hands-off” method of cooking, why did she keep running back and forth between houses? Because she knew that the turkey skin would not be crisp and brown unless she used a blow torch on it. She tried several times, each time getting a more powerful torch and using a larger flame, and let’s just say that the guest house will be unavailable for a few months...

With prayers for your holiness,
Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka

​

Comments are closed.

    Author:
    ​Fr. Palka

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus
  • Home
  • About
    • History >
      • Altar Relics
    • Meet the Staff
    • Map: Find us!
    • Calendar
    • Bulletins >
      • Article Submission
      • Pastor's bulletin article
    • New Parishioners
  • Liturgy
    • Latin Mass Schedule
    • Sacrament Prep
    • Altar Boy page
    • Music
    • Vocations
    • Extra Stuff >
      • Divine Office
      • Fraternity of the Sorrowful Passion of Christ Prayer Book
      • Help! I cannot find the right Mass in my missal! I don't know when to sit, stand or kneel!
      • Understand the Bible!
      • Formed.Org
      • Old talks you missed!
  • Community
    • Photos >
      • Confirmation 2025
      • Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre Mass 2024
      • Confirmation 2024
      • First Communion 2024
      • Archbishop Cordileone - March 2024
      • Bishop Schneider's visit
      • Cardinal Burke visit
      • First Holy Communion 2023
      • Confirmation 2023
      • Sr. Winny's Projects
    • Adults >
      • Adult Catechism Class audio
      • Council of Catholic Women
      • Knights of Columbus
      • Holy Face of Jesus Prayer Group
      • Fraternity of St. John the Apostle >
        • FSSJA - Martinmas 2023
      • Men's Club (Holy League)
    • Youth >
      • Anima Christi High School Youth Group >
        • Anima Christi Prom 2023
      • Sancti Amici Middle School Youth Group
      • American Heritage Girls
      • Catechesis of the Good Shepherd
      • Catholic Enrichment Week (CEW)
      • DOVES
      • Troops of St. George
    • Spiritual Motherhood
    • Parish Business Directory
  • Give
    • Online Giving
    • Things that need doing