Our Thanksgiving dinner invitation list included favorite poets Lewis Carroll and Robert Frost. Neither accepted, but places were set.

Set, just in case of late arrivals.

Hoping for Mister Carroll’s presence, for days prior to Thanksgiving lines from “Oh, oysters come and walk with us… along the briny beach”…  chanted frequently around our cheery home.

It didn’t work.

It didn’t work, even though we ordered a fresh pint of the delicacy from The Dough Hook and informed our poet friend of the menu: Oyster Stew.

The only sign of Mister Frost on Thanksgiving morn was a dusty residue of white stuff on the lawn.

And, his no-show changed our recipe plans for the stew.

We diverged down the road taken instead of the one that made all the difference, opting for a quicker recipe from “Better Homes and Garden New Cookbook – Limited Edition.”  We found eariler that “The Joy of Cooking” recipe took longer and required a double boiler.

That said, here’s how we – or should I say, I – prepared fresh oyster stew for Thanksgiving. Neither my mother-in-law, Wanda Suter Pannabecker, nor her lovely daughter, Mary Beth, accepted a serving.

Both, apologized - as the soup ladle passed their plates – mumbling something about allergies to shellfish.

I know better. It was the half-and-half.

None-the-less, here’s the oyster stew recipe chosen and consumed:

Icon Poet Oyster Stew
¼ cup chopped green onion
1 tablespoon butter
1 pint fresh, undrained oysters (shucked)
½  teaspoon salt
2 cups half-and-half
1 cup fat free milk
Handful of fresh cut parsley
¼ teaspoon pepper

Place onions and butter in a large skillet. Heat until butter melts. Next, drop in the salt and oysters – including the liquid. Stir.

Let it boil and then turn to simmer. Let it cook for 5 minutes and don’t forget to stir from time to time.

Pour in the half-and-half, the milk, parsley and pepper. Allow it to heat up again. Then serve with some oyster crackers.

Optional: Recitation of “The Road Not Taken,” and “The Sun Was Shining On The Sea.”