I have a nice story about hosting Thanksgiving. This year I’m headed down to Oregon to see my ol’ Momma. She’s 72-ish, and it’s nearly her birthday after Thanksgiving.
She doesn’t cook much, but I love cooking. By visiting her, I’m soooort of hosting, but I’m also a guest. I’m going to make a nice chicken (following Chef John’s ‘tribute to Julia Child’ recipe, which I’ve yammered on about here before: https://foodwishes.blogspot.com/2009/07/chicken-for-julia.html)
We’re also going to make potatoes, roasted vegetables, and maybe Mom’s mom’s (RIP) pumpkin chiffon recipe, even though I’ve never had success with it in the past.
It should be really nice, even though it’s kind of a lot of work.
BTW! My latest fun thing to do is:
Quarter 4 yukon gold potatoes, bring to a boil
Lower to simmer, hold there for 15+ minutes, until they’re very pliant to the ministrations of a fork
Let cool. Those you don’t want to eat immediately, refrigerate.
Knife into ~1/4" slices, preferably with a knife
step 4.5: start coffee
Heat a pan on med-high with oil 'til hot and toasty
Lay the slices down all cozy
Let cook for ~5 min
Flip, add some salt and spices (like fenugreek…who doesn’t love fenugreek?) then cook for another ~5
Should be nicely browned on both sides.
While it’s cooling in a pan, maybe scramble some eggs real quick-like
@tinamarie1974@UncleVinny if you have a smoker there is nothing to it but it will definitely “kick it up a notch” when you use it. Just put a 9x13 pan with a half inch of oil in the smoker while you are smoking something. I just did some while i was smoking the jalepenos I picked before our first hard freezer killed the plants last week. I make them into Chipotle powder…
Restaurants do a really good job at planning, preparing, marinating, chopping, baking, frying, boiling, grilling, clearing, cleaning, washing, drying, and setting for the next customer.
In a past life, back in my 30s and single, and couldn’t make it to be with family, I invited a number of friends in the same situation over for a not-too-fancy meal, including a couple of on-again, off-again girlfriends. I didn’t expect either to show. Both did. I sat them away from each other, and kept their wine glasses full. I stayed busy hosting, and didn’t make myself available for much conversation. Eventually, after cleanup and filling the dishwasher to do its magic, I kept announcing my headache and my busy schedule for the next day (actually watching football at a sports bar with a different group, my soccer team). Everyone got the hint pretty quickly, thanked me for a pleasant evening, and left relatively early. I had a couple of nice whiskeys before and after walking my dog, and then went to bed.
Now it all started two Thanksgivings ago, two years ago, on Thanksgiving,
When my friend and I went up to visit Alice at the restaurant
But Alice doesn’t live in the restaurant, she lives in the church nearby the
Restaurant, in the bell tower with her husband Ray and Facha, the dog
And livin’ in the bell tower like that, they got a lot of room downstairs
Where the pews used to be, and havin’ all that room (seein’ as how they took
Out all the pews), they decided that they didn’t have to take out their
Garbage for a long time.
We got up here and found all the garbage in there and we decided that it’d
Be a friendly gesture for us to take the garbage down to the city dump
So we took the half-a-ton of garbage, put it in the back of a red VW
Microbus, took shovels and rakes and implements of destruction, and headed
On toward the city dump. Well, we got there and there was a big sign and a
Chain across the dump sayin’, "this dump is closed on Thanksgiving, " and
We’d never heard of a dump closed on Thanksgiving before, and with tears in
Our eyes, we drove off into the sunset lookin’ for another place to put the garbage
We didn’t find one till we came to a side road, and off the side of the side
Road was another fifteen-foot cliff, and at the bottom of the cliff was
Another pile of garbage. And we decided that one big pile was better than
Two little piles, and rather than bring that one up, we decided to throw
Ours down. That’s what we did
Drove back to the church, had a Thanksgiving dinner that couldn’t be beat,
Went to sleep, and didn’t get up until the next morning, when we got a phone
Call from Officer Obie. He said, “kid, we found your name on a envelope at
The bottom of a half a ton of garbage and I just wanted to know if you had
Any information about it”
We are hosting Thanksgiving dinner this year, including some visiting extended family. Over half of the party (all the extra invitees) are vegetarians. Fortunately they offered to bring a couple dishes, and we realized that most everything we normally serve except the turkey and dressing is veggie anyway. And everyone gets along, with no drama, so it should be fun.
@macromeh yeah, it’s not that hard to “veganify” most of the meal as long as they don’t have a conniption about meat being at the table. Thankfully my daughter and her family are good about focusing on the family around the table and not the bird on the table…
@chienfou The relatives are Indian (except for my wife’s brother who married into that branch of the family). So they grew up vegetarian, it is not a big deal to them, and they are very accepting and tolerant of us meat-eaters. (Unlike many of the vegetarian late-comers that I have met, who seem to be obsessed about it and eager to preach to anyone who doesn’t share their choices. There’s no fanatic like a convert. )
I’m hosting this year, I guess. I gave my mother in law the option of doing it at my house instead of her’s since we have more space and she would get overworked with the pre and post cleanup. So I don’t have to do much extra cooking than what I usually do (fry one turkey, cranberry sauce) but I will add some appetizers to my list. It’s the extra cleanup that I hate the most. We also host the traditional pierogi making the following day and that is probably a bigger mess than Thanksgiving.
We are down on the forgotten coast of Florida. Drove thru the remnants of last year’s hurricane Michael devastation to spend the week with family. Will be a blended holiday… Some vegan some carnivores. Brought a smoked turkey breast i cooked last week and vacuum packed. Will drop it into boiling water to reheat it to go with the Tofurkey… Weather is good so lots of sand time
We are going to my mom"s house to eat but I just found out this morning that I need to make the turkey due to an accident with her fridge and the turkey breast she had thawing.
@tnhillbillygal if it’s not thawed yet you can thaw a frozen butterball lickety-split by floating it overnight in a bathtub full of tap water. Good luck!!
I didn’t realize that kids in Texas (or at least, this part of Texas) are off school this week. We should have gone to H-E-B earlier in the day - or maybe month - because it was a shitshow at 3:15 yesterday. I still managed to grab ingredients for a “cook it ourselves, gorge while watching football” Thanksgiving since we’re away from friends/fam for a while.
@Targaryen That, and we were at an H-E-B Plus! so it was extra-busy. We have to go back to the store today and we’re going to try to get there at the stroke of 10:00 AM (can’t buy wine in TX until then )
@ChompyGator do strippers last longer than poles or vice versa? Never been and don’t really want to but I assume strippers get breaks and time outs. Obviously shift changes. Poles are probably up 24/7? Also hopefully strippers move on if they dislike the job. The poles stuck where it is. That would be an extremely odd metric to know.
I have a nice story about hosting Thanksgiving. This year I’m headed down to Oregon to see my ol’ Momma. She’s 72-ish, and it’s nearly her birthday after Thanksgiving.
She doesn’t cook much, but I love cooking. By visiting her, I’m soooort of hosting, but I’m also a guest. I’m going to make a nice chicken (following Chef John’s ‘tribute to Julia Child’ recipe, which I’ve yammered on about here before: https://foodwishes.blogspot.com/2009/07/chicken-for-julia.html)
We’re also going to make potatoes, roasted vegetables, and maybe Mom’s mom’s (RIP) pumpkin chiffon recipe, even though I’ve never had success with it in the past.
It should be really nice, even though it’s kind of a lot of work.
BTW! My latest fun thing to do is:
step 4.5: start coffee
There’s your breakfast!
@UncleVinny love me some potatoes for breakfast.
@UncleVinny I am having a frittata with rosemary potatoes for breakfast today. Saw a french cafe and decided to treat myself!
@tinamarie1974 sounds delectable! Bon appetit!
@tinamarie1974 @UncleVinny we do that with smoked olive oil… Definitely the best way to brown potatoes is to pre cook them.
@chienfou @tinamarie1974 smoked olive oil! I never heard of such a thing…a new dimension’s been added to my life.
@chienfou @UncleVinny me neither…clearly I need to investigate
Also breakfast was delicious, but the dessert I brought home looks better lol
@tinamarie1974 @UncleVinny if you have a smoker there is nothing to it but it will definitely “kick it up a notch” when you use it. Just put a 9x13 pan with a half inch of oil in the smoker while you are smoking something. I just did some while i was smoking the jalepenos I picked before our first hard freezer killed the plants last week. I make them into Chipotle powder…
@chienfou @UncleVinny I will have to give it a try next time I am smoking meat! Thanks!!
Restaurants do a really good job at planning, preparing, marinating, chopping, baking, frying, boiling, grilling, clearing, cleaning, washing, drying, and setting for the next customer.
In a past life, back in my 30s and single, and couldn’t make it to be with family, I invited a number of friends in the same situation over for a not-too-fancy meal, including a couple of on-again, off-again girlfriends. I didn’t expect either to show. Both did. I sat them away from each other, and kept their wine glasses full. I stayed busy hosting, and didn’t make myself available for much conversation. Eventually, after cleanup and filling the dishwasher to do its magic, I kept announcing my headache and my busy schedule for the next day (actually watching football at a sports bar with a different group, my soccer team). Everyone got the hint pretty quickly, thanked me for a pleasant evening, and left relatively early. I had a couple of nice whiskeys before and after walking my dog, and then went to bed.
Now it all started two Thanksgivings ago, two years ago, on Thanksgiving,
When my friend and I went up to visit Alice at the restaurant
But Alice doesn’t live in the restaurant, she lives in the church nearby the
Restaurant, in the bell tower with her husband Ray and Facha, the dog
And livin’ in the bell tower like that, they got a lot of room downstairs
Where the pews used to be, and havin’ all that room (seein’ as how they took
Out all the pews), they decided that they didn’t have to take out their
Garbage for a long time.
We got up here and found all the garbage in there and we decided that it’d
Be a friendly gesture for us to take the garbage down to the city dump
So we took the half-a-ton of garbage, put it in the back of a red VW
Microbus, took shovels and rakes and implements of destruction, and headed
On toward the city dump. Well, we got there and there was a big sign and a
Chain across the dump sayin’, "this dump is closed on Thanksgiving, " and
We’d never heard of a dump closed on Thanksgiving before, and with tears in
Our eyes, we drove off into the sunset lookin’ for another place to put the garbage
We didn’t find one till we came to a side road, and off the side of the side
Road was another fifteen-foot cliff, and at the bottom of the cliff was
Another pile of garbage. And we decided that one big pile was better than
Two little piles, and rather than bring that one up, we decided to throw
Ours down. That’s what we did
Drove back to the church, had a Thanksgiving dinner that couldn’t be beat,
Went to sleep, and didn’t get up until the next morning, when we got a phone
Call from Officer Obie. He said, “kid, we found your name on a envelope at
The bottom of a half a ton of garbage and I just wanted to know if you had
Any information about it”
@cadmore Two years ago, eh? So how many years are left on your sentence?
@mike808 Sentence? We started a “Movement”!
Ask me about the Pickle, now.
@cadmore I thought you said you didn’t want a pickle.
@cadmore @mike808 just shut up and sit on the bench
None of the above…I am planning to skip and find chinese food instead…muahaha
@amehzinggrace Peking Duck maybe? Don’t forget to chop off the head first.
@hchavers that sounds like cooking… can’t they just serve it headless?
@amehzinggrace, that’s my annual tradition.
We are hosting Thanksgiving dinner this year, including some visiting extended family. Over half of the party (all the extra invitees) are vegetarians. Fortunately they offered to bring a couple dishes, and we realized that most everything we normally serve except the turkey and dressing is veggie anyway. And everyone gets along, with no drama, so it should be fun.
@macromeh yeah, it’s not that hard to “veganify” most of the meal as long as they don’t have a conniption about meat being at the table. Thankfully my daughter and her family are good about focusing on the family around the table and not the bird on the table…
@macromeh Try this:
@macromeh @Targaryen Ha…you obviously missed my comment below…
@chienfou The relatives are Indian (except for my wife’s brother who married into that branch of the family). So they grew up vegetarian, it is not a big deal to them, and they are very accepting and tolerant of us meat-eaters. (Unlike many of the vegetarian late-comers that I have met, who seem to be obsessed about it and eager to preach to anyone who doesn’t share their choices. There’s no fanatic like a convert. )
@macromeh
/giphy true dat
I’m hosting this year, I guess. I gave my mother in law the option of doing it at my house instead of her’s since we have more space and she would get overworked with the pre and post cleanup. So I don’t have to do much extra cooking than what I usually do (fry one turkey, cranberry sauce) but I will add some appetizers to my list. It’s the extra cleanup that I hate the most. We also host the traditional pierogi making the following day and that is probably a bigger mess than Thanksgiving.
We are down on the forgotten coast of Florida. Drove thru the remnants of last year’s hurricane Michael devastation to spend the week with family. Will be a blended holiday… Some vegan some carnivores. Brought a smoked turkey breast i cooked last week and vacuum packed. Will drop it into boiling water to reheat it to go with the Tofurkey… Weather is good so lots of sand time
My wife (then girlfriend) and I hosted Thanksgiving our first year living together.
I loved it - I enjoy cooking and hosting. She hated it, but said she’s willing to try again an a year or two.
We are going to my mom"s house to eat but I just found out this morning that I need to make the turkey due to an accident with her fridge and the turkey breast she had thawing.
@tnhillbillygal if it’s not thawed yet you can thaw a frozen butterball lickety-split by floating it overnight in a bathtub full of tap water. Good luck!!
I didn’t realize that kids in Texas (or at least, this part of Texas) are off school this week. We should have gone to H-E-B earlier in the day - or maybe month - because it was a shitshow at 3:15 yesterday. I still managed to grab ingredients for a “cook it ourselves, gorge while watching football” Thanksgiving since we’re away from friends/fam for a while.
@LinnE Honestly, shopping is better done early morning or late night I find during the holidays. Generally less people.
@Targaryen That, and we were at an H-E-B Plus! so it was extra-busy. We have to go back to the store today and we’re going to try to get there at the stroke of 10:00 AM (can’t buy wine in TX until then )
@LinnE @Targaryen shopping at night is the best way to go. Idk what a H-E-B is though. (Although I’ve heard of them as a grocery store)
I go pick up Chinese food every year.
How often do we not get a new poll?
@ChompyGator about as often as we get a new stripper. Pretty rare
@ChompyGator do strippers last longer than poles or vice versa? Never been and don’t really want to but I assume strippers get breaks and time outs. Obviously shift changes. Poles are probably up 24/7? Also hopefully strippers move on if they dislike the job. The poles stuck where it is. That would be an extremely odd metric to know.