Momentous Thanksgiving table d’hote

It is thanksgiving day, Neeta has to prepare a tasty thanksgiving dinner to impress her future mother in law Kyle. She is the fiance of John.

John a tall gentleman in his early 30s. Neeta, an Indo American is so particular in giving her mother-in-law the best thanksgiving dinner to impress her. She is so unrestful as it is her first time to meet Kyle.

“So are you ready for the examination?” John started to pull legs of Neeta.

“John! Don’t do this, I am so excited to see mom, wait should I call her mom or Mrs.Kyle?” Neeta popped the question to John with so many anticipations.

“Come on! My mom would love you! No need to shudder your fear. Breathe yourself! you can call her as you like. And by the way, she is going to come only for dinner” John tried to comfort her.

Hearing him she got a bit relieved but cannot stop bothering about Mrs. Kyle. After some discussion, they left to purchase things to prepare for the feast. Once they reached the market, Neeta involved herself in picking up things and she was so sure about not to lower her bars in front of Mrs.Kyle. 

Neeta is an independent working woman who cooks well, yet no experience in making a feast. Amidst this, the doctrine she got from her mother bolstered her to gather the best ones. Every piece of their pick like ham, chicken, eggs, vegetables like broccoli, etc, are of creme de la creme in the market.

“Madam! No tight belt in the budget to impress your mom-in-law?” John cannot believe his eyes with the shopping that Neeta did.

“Well, I have to pass on the exam right?” Neeta replied with a grin. But her heights of self-reliance were so high. She intended to blow away Mrs. Kyle with her thanksgiving dinner. Later they halted themselves at a restaurant for lunch.

Around 3 PM Neeta started preparing for the Thanksgiving dinner. It was said that Mrs. Kyle is supposed to arrive around 8:30 -9:00 PM.

Since it is a feast, thinking of avoiding any complications, she started organizing things for the meal. After all, she wants to wow her mother-in-law.

She attempted to make a perfect broccoli cheese soup. It was said to be Mrs. Kyle’s favorite. They purchased a bunch of fresh broccoli. It was the green variety one. She providently cleared the decks and minced them as fine and neat as possible. She intended to make it sufficiently green, cheesy, luxuriously smooth with no flavors of flour and heavy cream.

Once the thought of perfectness tickled her, she destined to call on John for his comments. 

“John…! Can you provide a helping hand by trying the flavor of my soup please….” she eagerly asked him.

(John came to taste)

“Ahh….. Neeta? What happened? It is so salty and the pepper content is too high! (He coughed) please pass on the water dear” with these devastating comments John indulged himself in the glass of water handed over by Neeta.

Meanwhile, Neeta looked so sad, time ran very fast and she was yet to make the major part of the meal. It was already 4:45 PM now and she got frazzled with the horrible soup. While having this conversation and brainwork on the handiwork of the soup she overcooked the spaghetti. These tasted like bitter medicine for her.

“I cannot…. I am not going to impress mom here, she is….. She is going to get mad at me to make her thanksgiving day dinner so bad…..!!!” by uttering these words, Neeta broke down into tears.

John cannot bear her tearful eyes. He feels bad that his woman is feeling so down, just for the fact to impress his own mother. 

“Oh! Come on Neeta!! No use in panicking at this moment. I, by the time, mentioned that be like you, to impress mom, do not be extra cautious to make it hit. You are so successful in your work, in a very good position. Cooking is an art, I am damn sure you will make it the best thanksgiving day dinner for her. Do not lose your hopes, until I am there by your side. Let us try to fix this”

John hugged and tried to comfort her.

“But will I be able to make it on time? For the past 2 hours, I was creating only this mess…!” Neeta is so disheartened with this fact.

“Oh! Come on babe! We can together try to nail down this. Luckily, we bought extra stocks. It's more than enough” John encouraged her to proceed with the meal preparation.

They started with appetizers and prepped them with bite-sized vegetable pizzas. The look is so tempting and mouth-watering, also made some Mexican pinwheels with spinach and artichoke dip.

Then John helped her in making a perfect cranberry, pineapple tea and chilled it. This took them until 5:30 PM. Still, they are left with the major part of cooking and Neeta hurriedly started preparing the turkey.

“No worries, you can do it. Trust me mom is going to love you and she is going to accept you” John tried to put brakes on and broke the ice in her.

Neeta smiling at him and with stupendous provocation she ended up with a juicy and wholly smoked turkey. She made sure to serve the same well.

By 8 PM Neeta also completed her preparations with soft and fluffy pumpkin dinner rolls and pie crust for the dessert. When Neeta finishing up her preparation, Mrs. Kyle arrived at their place.

While setting her foot in, heeding the mess in the kitchen Mrs. Kyle got a bit uncomfortable and directly came to her son asking “John! Do I have to clean the mess created here?”

“Mom that’s ok, we just made all-around Thanksgiving dinner for you, so not a deal, myself and Neeta would clean it up later” saying this, John started introducing Neeta to his mom. “Mom this is Neeta, my girlfriend, very soon we are going to get married”

Neeta with whole excitement, hello mom….. “ (Mrs. Kyle gave a sharp look at her) “sorry, good evening! Mrs. Kyle.”

Neeta got unhappy with the way she got portrayed to Mrs. Kyle. John patted her and said “ don’t worry, you have done a great job and mom will love you”

(at the dinner table)

“So, John when you started cooking?” Mrs. Kyle put through the wringer in the dinner table in front of Neeta.

Panic struck Neeta the moment when her mother-in-law did this inquiry She felt bad to make John help her.

“Mom, just for today, since you stop by here after a long time I thought of helping out Neeta and make things that suit you. She prepared all these and I just assisted her” John got nervous about his mom’s behavior.

Hearing to John Mrs. Kyle had a glimpse of the menu that was on the table. She got up and came to Neeta.

“Dear, I was so worried about John, he was always unpredictable and didn’t even care about the household scutwork, but today, you made him on the hook to act with care on this special occasion. The menu you have prepared, also so apt for the occasion. Being an Indo American, I magnetize by the hardships you took to learn things and I am sure your dinner would be great. I like you a lot, and so happy that John moved on with you” saying this Mrs. Kyle hugged Neeta and kissed her forehead.

After this earshot, Neeta was overjoyed and asked her mother in law “ can I call you mom?”.

“Of course! Who else has that right other than you, I just tested your patience and I am dazzled with the way your parents raised you” Mrs. Kyle said and turned to John, “take care of my daughter in law, she is a gem”.

It turned out to be a perfect Thanksgiving dinner for them, Mrs.Kyle cherished and honored with the way Neeta handles things and accepted her as her daughter-in-law. It was a happy ending.

Morale: Do smart work than hard work to have great results and on a lighter note, help your mom in the kitchen to stay out of the wreck in front of your girlfriend :P