I spent so much time writing the last couple of blog articles that this week you get a rerun! It's a good rerun - one of my favorite articles.

In past years, I have written about the true meaning of Thanksgiving, giving thanks. This year, I'll just get down to what most people think about when they think of Thanksgiving: food. We know that Thanksgiving is a harvest festival, a time to give thanks for the bounties of nature... or for having enough food to survive for another year. Thanksgiving is also a time for family and friends to come together around the table.  A sense of community is established. There are traditions around food.

When I was growing up, we always had Thanksgiving dinner with my mother's family. Tomato aspic or shrimp cocktail to start with. Turkey with sage stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, Danish purple cabbage, green beans (frozen, never canned), cranberry sauce (canned, not fresh). For dessert, it was either homemade pumpkin pie or homemade mince pie (my favorite). My grandmother set the dining table with the finest linen, the best china and crystal and silver. Everyone dressed up. It was an occasion.

Later, when I was grown up and married and living in Los Angeles, my first husband and I got together with friends who were also far from their families. We had potlucks that melded many traditions. Yams with marshmallows, creamed onions, green beans (canned) with cream of mushroom soup and those little French fried onions, macaroni salad and rainbow jello from the Hawaiian contingent, Danish purple cabbage from me. Most of us still dressed up, but we often ate off of paper plates and sat on the floor.

Time went by and people moved or died, children were born. In laws, new friends, old friends, a changing tapestry of faces. And of foods. But no matter where I am for Thanksgiving dinner, I make sure that there is always Danish purple cabbage.

My Grandmother's Danish Purple Cabbage: "Melt 1 heaping tbs shortening with scant cup brown sugar. Add 1/2 c vinegar & 1 c water. Shred 1 large cabbage, add to the above. Cook on low heat for about 2 1/2 hrs. Add salt & pepper, adjust amt of sugar or vinegar if necessary."