Slow Gravy Days

/ roughwighting

Image by Агзам Гайсин from Pixabay Gravy is rich and thick. Good gravy, anyway.

Back in the beginning of our holidays together, my guy cooked the entire turkey meal, including stuffing and gravy. When our kids were young, they observed him reach in the turkey cavity and bring out the giblets, which he cut up after boiling them in a pot of water. Then, in a pan of melting butter, he sautéed the giblets with onions and celery and slowly, slowly added the juices from the roasted turkey.

Watching faces alight with wonder, my guy allowed each child to add a tablespoon of flour. As they stirred to thicken the homemade gravy, he’d admonish, “Slower. Slower still. Gently stir.”

But that was then. And back then, the gravy was delicious (although I always picked out the giblets).

https://pixabay.com/vectors/sauce-jar-food-glass-tomato-red-575634/Now, we celebrate the holiday meal at our daughter’s home. She and her husband have three children, two full-time jobs, and one energetic 2-year-old puppy.

They buy their gravy from a local farm store.

It’s okay. But it’s not thick, slow-stirred, homemade gravy.

I prefer my gravy slowly stirred with love and patience and guidance. I don’t want to be rushed in my life.

I want the slow steady days of roasting a thought, a story, a dream all day, boiling the innards of my being through meditation and writing, hugging and laughing, rocking on my porch in the sun.

gravy, cooking, grandchildren, slowing down life

The gravy in my life as my guy teaches grandson how to carve.

I want to slowly add the thickening – a good book, a long lingering kiss from my guy, a hug from a grandson. These are the ingredients that make the gravy in my life simmer from a thin sauce to a sumptuous and lavish one.

The gravy in my life can’t be store bought.

Instead, give me the slow steady days of thoughtful simmering.

The older I get, the more I realize that each homemade gravy day is a blessing.

Christmas tree

Blessings to you and yours – may you enjoy a slow gravy holiday. 

 

136 thoughts on “Slow Gravy Days”

  1. Love this post Pam and love you! Miss you so much and will be thinking about you this holiday season. Hope you plan to pour the gravy on thick!

    Liked by 5 people

  3. Derrick wrote the exact words I was going to write. It is lovely.
    We can’t have every day like that, but you are right, those are the special moments when we take time to immerse ourselves and slowly simmer, making the flavor richer and more intense. I might think caramelized onions–cooking till they become concentrated and sweet.
    Have a wonderful holiday season!

    Liked by 4 people

  4. Especially during the holidays, it’s nice to be reminded to take things slowly and savor the process (the journey) of making gravy as much as the delicious result (the destination). Wishing you and your guy and the whole clan a very merry Christmas and a blessed new year. xo

    Liked by 5 people

    • Even when I was raising my kids Christmas day was the slowest day of the year for us. Started the fireplace, opened the windows (because in California it wasn’t that cold ha ha). Then we turned on the Christmas tree lights and stayed in our bathrobes all day long. I savor that memory and try to keep the spirit of the slow days in mind always.

      Liked by 4 people

      • A beautiful memory, Pam! We’ve never had a fireplace so I’ve often wondered what that would have added to the ambience of the day. When I was little, we would spend a good part of the day outside in the woods, ice skating on the frozen water in the swamp behind our house. One year Papa made a little ice rink on the lawn in the yard…

        Liked by 3 people

  7. I loved this, Pam! It seems FOMO has caused everyone’s gravy to become thin and runny. Now that I’m officially retired, I hope to have more gravy days with my parents. Wishing you and your family a peaceful holiday season. xo

    Liked by 4 people

    • You are officially retired!! Somehow I missed that. Congratulations. I am so happy for you and I’m happy for us because we’ll get to read more of your books as you write every day. Right? 😏 But yes, more importantly you’ll have more time to spend with your loved ones, watching that gravy thicken every day. Xo

      Liked by 2 people

  10. I’m with you on how gravy should be made, both metaphorically and practically. Except I throw away the giblets. My mom, bless her heart, didn’t like gravy and seemed to have missed the gravy making gene. I learned to make gravy as an adult and I survived.

    Our metaphorical gravy was spaghetti sauce. It’s the first thing I ever recall making with Mom. It was a whole family project which began with growing and picking the tomatoes. Then peeling the tomatoes and stewing them down with peppers and onions. And during the cold of winter, pulling out frozen tomatoes and adding bits of this and that with much stirring and tasting until it became spaghetti sauce. I stood on a chair at about age 4 during all of this, the next generation making sauce from scratch because store bought was never good enough. I never had children of my own but I’ve taught friends how to make sauce. How to taste it and adjust the spices to what you like. Even, I think, to learn what you do like. It is a blessing and a blessing that fewer and fewer people want to take the time to learn.

    Liked by 5 people

    • I know many Italian friends in which gravy means spaghetti sauce to them. Homemade of course. Your memories with learning how to make homemade spaghetti sauce with your mom are beautiful. I keep thinking that life will balance out and before you know it more people will value the amazing virtues of making their gravy and their life slow. 💗

      Liked by 1 person

  15. I learned to make delicious gravy at my Grandmother’s house. It was certainly a process to get it just right. We all need to slow down and enjoy this holiday with the people we love here and in heaven!!! My mother passed away the day after Christmas and for me it’s especially poignant as she loved Christmas! Merry Christmas to you and yours!!

    Liked by 3 people

  17. I hope you enjoy ladles full of slow-cooked gravy during the busy, happy chaos of the holidays, Pam. These days with our loved ones are to be cherished. Merry Christmas and wishing you a beautiful, creative new year, slow-stirred with love.

    Liked by 2 people

  21. The love that we pour into gravy lasts forever, as it sits in our hearts Pam. Thanks for sharing such lovely memories. Enjoy the holidays and Christmas with your loved ones. Wishing you and yours a wonderful festive season. 🤗

    Liked by 3 people

    • “Gravy Love” – I like that. Remember the song “Muckrat love”? Captain and Tenille, I think. Bet the song would have been even better if “muskrat” was changed to “gravy.” 🙂 Happy Holidays to you, my friend. ❤

      Liked by 1 person

  23. Loved this, Pam–may all your years be filled with “slow gravy-making” days. Such times and moments need to be savored slowly and with enjoyment.
    Happy Holidays to you and yours, Pam. May 2023 be filled with good health and many happy moments!

    Liked by 3 people

  25. Homemade is always best! I love the comparison to life. Perfect. I have many more slow gravy days now. But I was once in your daughter’s shoes so I understand the need for efficiency. Have a fabulous Christmas, my friend! xo

    Liked by 3 people

    • And to add to that with a triter remark, I can never eat storebought cookies. NOTHING like my homemade ones (same with store tomatoes compared to those from the garden). 🙂 To life lived with homemade patience and love. ❤

      Liked by 1 person

  30. New and improved isn’t always better. Giving food and ideas a little extra time to simmer is the only way to go. I like that your guy is giving the grandson a lesson on carving the bird.

    Liked by 3 people

    • “New and improved” is usually a misnomer, huh? 🙂 Ah, for the good ole days of slow-cookin’ – literally and metaphorically. And thanks for the comment re carving lessons. We have photos of this occurring for the last five years. The boy is learning! What my guy worries is that soon “the boy” will want to take over the carving duty. ❤

      Liked by 1 person

  31. What a perfectly apt metaphor. Slow cooking and slow living have a lot to commend them. Allowing the holidays to simmer at a slower pace is the best way to enjoy them, and to flavor life. A blessed Christmas to you and yours!

    Liked by 3 people

    • Slow living – that could be a good title to a book. I see it now, a career woman moving to a small coastal community and realizing that she’s never taken the time to walk on a beach, or to listen to the seagulls, and she suddenly decides to live in the small cottage and write a novel. 😉 (I just made that up – it’s not me but sounds good.) Merry, merry Christmas!

      Liked by 2 people

  33. I always look forward to a glimpse of the life you describe so beautifully, Pam. 😊🙏 This time, your ‘slow stirred gravy’ resonated so well with where I’m at in my life that words cannot describe the joy of reading your post. I wonder if we only begin to realise how valuable our time and experiences are when we are older and want to savour each minute? Merry Christmas, Pam, and happy writing in the New Year!

    Liked by 3 people

    • Ahh, thank you for your lovely comment, Glenda. Yes, I think it’s true that as we age, we appreciate the ‘finer, (ie, slower perspectives) on life and realize how fast it all runs by, and thus how we need to slow down each precious moment. Merry Merry, and yes, here’s to wonderful writing in 2023. ❤

      Liked by 1 person

    • You understand my daughter’s dilemma well, Robbie. She does an amazing job of continuing the traditions she learned while growing up, but some of them just have to be let go. Good news is that she allows my guy to roast the turkey at our house for holidays. The better news is that then we bring it to her house, where she and her husband host. :-)_

      Like

  36. What a beautiful post, Pam, and a wonderful metaphor. I also think it’s okay for your daughter to buy the gravy. Her plate is full. 🙂 And my feelings align with yours: “The older I get, the more I realize that each homemade gravy day is a blessing.”

    Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas and many homemade gravy days in the new year. 💗

    Liked by 3 people

  37. I so agree with you, Pam. There’s something about making the gravy (and all the rest of the trimmings of the Christmas dinner) that is part of a tradition, and is done with love. There’s nothing warm and fuzzy about buying gravy mix. In fact, I was a bit shocked and disappointed the first time I was invited out for a turkey dinner where the hostess had bought a packet of gravy mix.
    Have a wonderful Christmas with your family and friends, Pam.

    Liked by 3 people

  38. In these days of almost mandatory hustle and bustle, I really appreciated this post. You’re right, each day we have the time to savor the gifts in our lives is a good day. And as an aside, my love affair with gravy is the main reason I can’t become a vegetarian…..

    Liked by 2 people

  41. I love the idea of cooking with the children and teaching them the love and patience of cooking. There is a sign in my kitchen that says “the only reason I have a kitchen is because it came with the house.” I rarely cook anymore. Gravy these days comes from a package. I finally taught myself to make it and tried to teach the children. I make very good beef gravy but never have been a fan of cream or turkey gravy. Not sure why. But life is definitely like gravy. We rush through everything and it has not flavor. I’m trying to slow down and savor moments now too. Banana bread is waiting to be baked this morning and I’ll work on some gift making while it bakes. That’s how my days go but I love coming by here. You have me feeling mellow and ready to savor these moments. Merry Christmas to you and yours.

    Liked by 2 people

  46. Gravy is the best, Pam! And yes, slow-stirred for certain. The past couple years, I have taken mine the extra mile with a slow, simmered, homemade turkey stock that I make in advance. And for the drippings that collect under the turkey during roasting? Dry vermouth and apple cider. I’m telling you, that gravy… 💕

    Merry Christmas to you!

    Liked by 1 person

  50. I’ll go for Jamie Oliver’s vegan gravy, though it lists 14 ingredients. And I’ll pass on the turkey who is an unwilling victim. But I’m 100% with you on the metaphor for life Pam and the ‘slow, steady days of thoughtful simmering.’ Hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Hi Roy. I know, I know, I enjoy the mashed potatoes, the stuffing and the veggies and leave the turkey off my plate. Oh, and I swoon for some mashed turnips. Turnips get a bum rap. I wish I could think of a metaphor for turnips, but my mind is mush after the holidays. 🙂 Happy New Year to you!

      Liked by 1 person

  53. Pam, here’s to alwas slowly savouring every moment in our lives! ❤️ Life is too precious to do anything else – luckily you and your guy knew this early on and have lived accordingly. Your daughter and her family are still on the ‘fast’ lane but soon will find the slow, the small seemingly inconsequential experiences of life with loved ones are the most important of all and to hold these close to one’s heart. Love & hugs xx

    Liked by 1 person

Comments are closed.