Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, November 25, 1994 TAG: 9412070058
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The frozen-turkey section was empty - it was much too late for buying birds - but the deli was hopping as shoppers stocked up on last-minute items Thursday at the Cave Spring Corners grocery store.
If modern Americans aren't as prepared as their ancestors were for a bountiful feast, at least they're resourceful.
The nearest supermarket can provide you with ready-made stuffing, freshly baked pies, even a steaming hot turkey - even on Thanksgiving afternoon, when other, better-prepared families are sitting down to a holiday meal.
Bill Spoerl and his son, Tim, ducked into Kroger about 1 p.m. to pick up just one item: a turkey baster. Bill's sister was cooking the Thanksgiving meal, but she'd had to drive to Charlottesville to pick up a relative whose car had broken down.
So Bill and Tim were left in charge of the 20-pound turkey.
They couldn't find a turkey baster at her house, so, with the bird in the oven, they hopped into the car in search of Kroger. They're from out of town, though, so it took them 20 minutes to find it. With 99-cent baster in hand, they were ready to attend to the turkey.
But there were still potatoes to peel.
Marilyn Henry didn't have to rush quite that much. She let the supermarket do most of the dirty work.
The deli had a cooked-to-order turkey and a pumpkin pie ready for her. With a few more items in her basket, she was ready to serve a feast for five to her brother's family.
She said they had bought an already-cooked turkey last year and it was so good, they decided to have another this year. Besides, it beats getting up at dawn to stuff a thawed bird into the oven.
"I don't have to spend the whole day in the kitchen," she said. "I can enjoy the holiday."
Henry's trip to the grocery store on Thanksgiving afternoon was planned, not panicked, she said. But others weren't quite so calm, rushing around with brown-and-serve rolls under their arms, a sack of potatoes in their baskets. And the deli had sold 180 precooked turkeys by early afternoon.
Joe Proctor and Randy Wilson were on a quest for a staple of their Thanksgiving feast - oysters.
"Thanksgiving can't come without oyster dressing," Proctor said.
The pair was weighted down with last-minute supplies and a coconut custard pie - their second choice, but the cream pies were gone.
Wilson was visiting from Louisiana and had brought some alligator to go along with the more commonplace turkey.
'Gator probably would have been eaten at the first Thanksgiving, too, if the animal had been a New England native, Proctor figured.
"The Pilgrims didn't have any fancy stuff for Thanksgiving," he said.
Of course, "they didn't have any Kroger, either."
by CNB