As I have mentioned before, we are believers in using leftovers, preferably in a different way than the original. Since we didn’t have as many people as anticipated for New Year’s Eve and I always have too much on hand anyway, it’s been a little trickier this time. I did give away three batches, but two of those were planned as part of the “having extra” anyway.

We did shrimp Alfredo one night and two different soups were created; the one I do as a low carb and Hubby made one for him which was definitely not low carb with a southwestern flair. His used the “Cowboy Caviar” as a base which is what took him in the southwestern direction. I found the remaining jalapeno from that and will roast it tonight for a variation on the Everglades sauce for fish. The regular ingredients are shallots, capers, key lime juice, butter, oil, and rum. I’ll use shallots, roasted jalapeno, lime juice, butter, oil, and Chaca – a Brazilian liquor instead.

The bag of peppers is the final vegetable we need to use so those will also be roasted tonight for a side. We also have salami and pepperoni left from a small deli tray which will get used in a matriciana sauce for Thursday’s pasta dish after I pick up some prosciutto. The nice thing about that dish is you can use multiple different meats in it or go with just basic prosciutto. The remaining frozen garlic bread loaf will last for a while as will the last pork tenderloin. We almost always have one of those in the freezer in the same way of having certain things in the pantry. A tenderloin is so versatile you can go in multiple culinary styles depending on the mood; very much like with chicken.

For reasons that have escaped many of us, here we are 20ish minutes (given no traffic) from Key Largo and with Biscayne Bay as well as a great deal of fishing that occurs out of the Everglades, yet the last dedicated seafood restaurant closed several years ago. Until recently, there was a Red Lobster – also a bit of a puzzle as they don’t do regional seafood. In all fairness, the non-franchise restaurants do carry local seafood and last year I wrote about the great couple that opened Krab Kingz. It is one of the crosses between fast food and sit-down because you order at the counter and they bring the food to your table. They do serve with mostly plastic ware and they don’t have coffee, but they also source as much locally as possible and only USA products for everything else.

With that said, we suddenly have three different seafood places preparing to open – two for sure that are some kind of franchise and the third I only learned of the other day. The Crafty Crab has been “pending opening” for quite some time but it looks as if it’s close now. The Juicy Red Crab is much more recent and also looks as if it’s close to opening. I think the name of the third is Noah Noah Seafood and I believe it is a stand-alone and might have just opened. It’s in the Hotel Redland which was one of our hangouts until Chef E didn’t manage to get through the COVID closure. It’s supposed to be seafood and Mexican which should be an interesting combination.

We will have to try them all of course. I made a comment to Hubby the other day and he said one of the “food writers” mentioned not long ago these crab franchises were the new trend.  I always hope new local businesses succeed, but to have multiple similar at one time might not be the best idea. We shall see.

Setting aside some of the chaos that can come with the holidays, food is of course a major part of Thanksgiving and it’s interesting to look back on the different places and families I’ve been with over the years.

Growing up in small towns in the deep South before the time of being able to access literally any kind of food, the tradition was turkey and ham as the meats. My maternal grandmother’s famous dressing as stuffing for us was something you saw in magazines. I think I’ve posted before that she didn’t use a recipe as is often the case with family dishes, and my sister spent years experimenting until she was finally able to match it. Mashed potatoes and candied yams with marshmallow topping, green bean casserole, rolls and giblet gravy (never been a fan of that). Cranberry sauce from the can and in addition to pecan and pumpkin pie, my grandmother did a cherry spice cake.

My first encounter with stuffing and “real cranberry sauce” were, not surprisingly, when  I was in Maryland. I didn’t encounter mince and strawberry-rhubarb pie until I was in Maine and no, I don’t care for either one. Butternut squash done in a mashed potato style was also new for me and I’m sort of neutral on that.

I’ve previously posted about Thanksgiving with my Georgia in-laws as the one I find truly astounding since somehow over the years the “sides” increased in number. In addition to the “regular items” their tradition includes potato salad, mac and cheese, broccoli salad, corn casserole, field peas, collard greens, yellow squash casserole, and I may be leaving something out. You simply can’t fit everything onto one plate. The dessert variety is almost as plentiful.

There have been multiple Thanksgivings spent overseas and when in a place with a fairly small commissary (grocery store on post), waiting until the last minute often meant not being able to get at least one staple – like no crescent rolls or maybe no frozen pie crusts to help out those of us who don’t do them well from scratch.

Anyway, this year, we’re going again with folks from the dive shop and we’ll take the fried turkey as our contribution. Host has new smoker he’ll be using for that one.