Photo: courtesy of Brian Samuels' Photography/ A Thought for Food

No doubt many of you are sitting down to finalize your Thanksgiving menu this weekend, flipping through magazines and cookbooks, scrolling blogs for inspiration. And no doubt  there are many of you, in equal measure, who will not be doing that this weekend; your family has always eaten the same traditional dishes and will always do so for generations to come.

I am deeply jealous of those of you who welcome innovation and variation. I am also deeply jealous of those whose families only stick to one menu; you have perfected the components of a delicious, mouth-watering feast.

Although my family consists of more than one good cook, for some reason our traditional Thanksgiving means reverting back to the same, over-used, slightly bland, slightly watery side dishes of my great-great grandfather’s childhood. There is only one person in my entire extended family who even likes simple turnips and carrots, but if it’s not on the table, the entire family revolts. (My mother’s very displeased trip to the nearly closed grocery store one recent Thanksgiving morning is proof of how serious I am).

But seeing the beautiful presentation and yummy preparation of these peas on Brian Samuels’ A Thought for Food blog gave me an idea. Would anyone in the family say anything if we did a slight variation on the side dishes? Wouldn’t everyone be secretly relieved? Will I actually be able to enjoy the feast  in its original form this year, and not immediately make it into a leftover sandwich?

This year, Thanksgiving is at my parent’s house, and my mother and I are already collaborating. We may not be able to sneak turnips and carrots off the table, but we will definitely be sneaking in these Peas with Orange and Mint from A Thought for Food, and other clever side dishes from our local Boston bloggers.

And for that, this Thanksgiving, I would like to say a huge THANKS to the Boston food blogger community!