Gravy

This Thanksgiving I wanted to do some cooking, so I stopped by the grocery store on Thursday morning on my way to my mom’s house to pick up a few things. As I was walking through the isles I was stopped by a guy who said, “Scewz meh, cud ya tuhl me whur uh cud fine smm gurayvee”.
Having a hard time sifting through his thick southern accent, I asked, “Excuse me”.
To which he repeated his question, “Uh sed, cud ya tuhl me whur uh cud fine smm gurayvee”.
“Gravy? Umm, I think you might find some canned gravy by the soup, but I’m not sure”. I then looked down at his handful of items and realized that this guy was trying to piece together a Thanksgiving meal. I felt a bit sorry for him, thinking that maybe he didn’t have anywhere to spend Thanksgiving or perhaps that his wife was punishing him by making him cook it this year. But whatever the background story, it was abundantly clear that he didn’t know how to cook. For a moment I thought I should explain to him that you generally don’t buy gravy, you make it, but then I thought that it would probably take several days of cooking shows to get the point across, so I simply said, “Good luck”. He reminded me of one of those guys on the Carl’s Junior commercials that is poking a package of ground beef with a befuddled look on his face trying to figure out how to turn it into a burger.
I’m not sure where I picked it up, probably through my parents and brother, or through simply following a recipe, or through trial and error, but this year I’m thankful for knowing how to cook. That, and a whole bunch of the other things I generally take for granted; like knowing how to iron, check my oil, do my own laundry, fold my clothes, make my bed, vaccum, clean the bathroom, mow the lawn, change a tire, fix drywall, replace a light, paint a wall, wash my car, shine my shoes, pay my bills, prune a shrub, tie a tie, shave, install a video card, install a car radio, swallow a pill, ride mass transit, fill a propane tank, run a snow blower, assemble a piece of furniture, chop wood, hang a picture, wash a dog, jump start a car, and even how to make gravy.

Happy Thanksgiving! (Only a week late.)