Since I write a food blog, you would think I look forward to cooking on Thanksgiving, and I do. This year will be rare year; I’m not cooking. I have been pitching in since I was a kid. The history behind this is my Detroit roots. The Detroit traditions all have revolved around the Lions game which has been going on since 1934. Growing up, that game was a focal point of the day and of course as important as the turkey.

Now, when I was small, my dad worked for a bus company, Martin Lines, which ran shuttles to the game, so he worked until the game was over and the folks got home, so until 4. My mom worked at the Susie Q as a manager, so she was there until 5. Grandma Molly then took care of all the cooking until her death when I was 12. Now my sister had moved away, my brother Butch had Lions tickets, my brother Mike was working at the Susie Q, and my brother Tim was working at the bus company. This left me to do the actual cooking.

Now I was not a prodigy, some young Bobby Flay. Everything was prepped and ready to go into the oven according to the time on the list of precise times, down to when to open the can of cranberry sauce. We had a simpler menu: green beens instead of green been casserole, canned yams, heat-and-serve rolls. We had maybe 5 items on the table instead of the 10 we have now.

Then evolution happened. I replaced the canned cranberry sauce with homemade. Over the years I added two more dressings, a corn bread and a rice based. Then the canned yam were replaced with sweet potatoes, first with marshmallows (which we burned every year), then with a casserole containing bananas and maple syrup. Then we added mac and cheese for vegetarian Leslie (she makes the best Italian mac and cheese). So our menu continues to evolve. Mary makes the green bean casserole with the traditional ingredients although that has now evolved to bread and bacon-wrapped asparagus.

Now that Jack has become part of the family, he has taken some of the cooking from me. He does the turkey or assists with the turkey. He is also a great crash test dummy for all my experiments.

The one constant is my wife’s pumpkin pie. Growing up we lived with the myth of my mom’s pie crust being the best; we later found out she even hid the pie crust box. Well, my wife does make her own gingersnap crust which always gets rave reviews. It’s perfect every time.

This year I won’t be cooking a big dinner; we will be going out. Mary and Jack will be in Pittsburg, but Leslie will be coming for a visit, and we found a place to have dinner. I did cook a turkey for a Friendsgiving this week, so I won’t miss that part. That too has seen evolution where it started as an oven bird with faith in the little pop up device to the multiple electric thermometers and cooking the bird on the grill. The only one I haven’t done is a deep fried turkey. (My wife and the fire department won’t allow it.)

So to close, I hope you have a great Thanksgiving with all your food traditions.