ABIQUIU LIFE, Thanksgiving Rehearsal Dinner

By Hilda Joy 
Feeling sorry for persons who had no place to have Thanksgiving dinner and wanting folks who did have plans for the holiday to get together with others at her home, the late Dawn Sanders on the Sunday before Thanksgiving hosted  her annual Thanksgiving Rehearsal Dinner. 
 
People came up from Albuquerque and down from near the New Mexico-Colorado state line. 
 
Dawn roasted two enormous turkeys, and talented cook Rick Quintana peeled many pounds of potatoes which he cooked in an outdoor  turkey fryer and then mashed with generous amounts of butter.  One party morning, I went to Dawn’s after Sunday Mass and a stop at Bode’s for a green chile bacon breakfast burrito and coffee. I asked Dawn and Rick if I could help in any way.  Rick said, “Oh yes - start squeezing” and sat me down before a bowl and a large baking sheet jam-packed with individual cloves of olive oil-roasted garlic to lace the mashed potatoes—best ever. 
 
One year, Dawn roasted one turkey and baked a large glazed ham.  Before she  discovered and moved to Abiquiu, Dawn owned a deli in Albuquerque that introduced the spiral-cut ham to New Mexico. She developed three distinctive white-sugar glazes for the hams she sold; one, of course, featured green chile and jalapeño peppers. 
 
Dawn moved to New Mexico from Texas, where she successfully practiced dentistry for more than 20 years.  She was the only woman in her dental college class and was pregnant to boot. 
 
Upon moving to Abiquiu, Dawn  apprenticed herself to a well known micaceous clay potter and became expert at this challenging art form. In addition to making traditional pots, she created unusual pots.  Dawn  had many careers.
 
I first met Dawn at one of her Thanksgiving Rehearsal Dinners as  a guest of Wanda Roach, one of Dawn’s best friends.  Introductions completed, I handed Dawn two pie plates of bourbon-laced sweet potatoes topped with toasted pecan halves.  “Oooh,” she enthused, “but only one for the table - I am refrigerating the other for myself for later.”  I knew immediately that we would become close lifelong friends. 
 
Now, that large dining table was filling up fast. I found a hot plate for the sweet potatoes. Every guest, 50 to 60 or so, contributed something to the feast,  Guests who did not cook brought wine or boughten pumpkin and apple pies.  Wine and desserts were set up in the spacious back kitchen.  Dawn had and needed two.     
 
When it was time to eat, guests were asked to take what they wanted from the table and then walk through a passageway to the front kitchen where Dawn served the turkey.  “Light or dark?” asked our gracious hostess.  Rick dished  out the mashed potatoes and, if requested, ladled on rich gravy from a pot keeping warm on the stovetop.  Then guests searched for a seat in Dawn’s sprawling house.  Many years, it was warm enough to eat outdoors. 
 
Dawn never asked for any particular food, but magically every year the meal was balanced, starting from appetizers.  Guests went out of their ways to bring really good dishes and somerimes offered recipe cards to be copied.  The big hit one year was an Italian olive oil cake.  I copied the recipe and made the cake.  And one year, my Brussels sprouts with bacon and dried cranberries disappeared early.  A guest said, “I always disliked Brussels sprouts, but these changed my mind about them.  
 
One year, I brought a guest, Lou Wise, now back in Oklahoma.  He was charmed by Dawn and admired her reason for bringing so many people together in such a unique and meaningful fashion.  When Lou left, he took Dawn’s hands and said, “Dawn, you must be exhausted.  Leave the pots and pans in the sink.  I’ll come over early in the morning and scrub them and do whatever else needs to be done to get your house back in order again.”
 
“Coffee will be on.”
 
An insite into ABIQUIU LIFE
 
Hillda M. Joy