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| Steam.....from the COOKIN'!!!! |
1.
Which
do you like better: hosting Thanksgiving at your home, or going elsewhere?
We
have never hosted Thanksgiving dinner thanks to FOOTBALL and the fact that we
don’t have TV at our house. End of story. I would LOVE to host but people don’t want to
come to our house because either they want to host at their house and/or they
can’t watch football at ours. Feh
2.
Describe your perfect
bite?
A fork full of turkey, mashed potatoes, and a bit of stuffing all dipped
in cranberry sauce
3.
White meat or dark?
OPT? Other People's Turkeys? Dark.
I barely like turkey as it is and I find that white meat equates to
eating a wool sock.
4.
Do
you buy a fresh or frozen turkey? Organic? Free-range?
Mile’s usually wins a frozen turkey each year at
work. Just the usual run of the mill
turkey that we smoke and use for soup. I
would really like to brine, smoke and cook up an organic free range hen sometime.....I may have my chance on Christmas Day this year. We are putting our feet down and refusing to go to anyone else's house. They can come to OURS for once. There's no friggin football on.
5.
Stuffing with giblets
or without?
I like pulling out the giblet bag and
obnoxiously shoving them in the kids faces.
I used to give them to the dog…..
6.
Sweet
potato pie or Pumpkin pie?
Miles makes a killer pumpkin pie that even I like! And then we pair it with my famous cranberry/apple pie. Tradition!
7. Anything you won’t eat at the Thanksgiving meal?
Turnips.
GGUUHHH, my family always used to make mashed turnips. One of the few foods that will make me puke.
8.
Carve Mr. Gobble at
the table or serve on a platter?
At the
table for chrissakes…a la Clark Griswold.
9.
What
side dishes are a must-have in your family?
MASHED-FUCKIN-POTATOES or Momma aint happy.
10. Do you stick with a particular menu from year
to year, or do you mix it up?
Up until
about 4 years ago, when we started going to the T’s house for Turkey/Football
day, we mixed it up every year. Since we
had not yet experienced a brined/smoked turkey, the family was HATIN’ on turkey so
we made some alternative dinners!
We did fondue with homemade won tons, shrimp, and veggies….with the
traditional Thanksgiving sides a couple
years in a row. One year we roasted some
cute Cornish game hens and made stuffing with oysters. Maybe a ham once……..
11. Are leftovers a blessing or a curse?
Turkey Soup on a cold Alaska night is always
a blessing! Just throw the mashed
potatoes in and make it thicker!
Cranberry/turkey sammiches…What’s so cursey about that?
12. Formal table or Chinet?
Paper plates? Really?
Not unless we had, like, 50 guests. My
momma taught me better than that. Lazy,
wasteful, tacky and did I say LAZY?
13. Your menu: If I got to host?!?!
Organic free range hen.
Miles would brine and smoke it.
My amazaballs oyster stuffing
MASHED-FUCKIN-PO-TA-TOES that Miles makes to perfection
My phenomenal cranberry chutney
My Brussel sprouts with craisins and Gorgonzola, a new family fav
Miles's homemade bread with Willa’s homemade butter
White wine, a Gewurztraminer
or pinot grigio….and, of course, red wine. Marziano
Abbona San Luigi Dolcetto di Dogliani, Piedmont, 2010
14. Extended family, friends, both or just the
immediate family for dinner?
I would really enjoy having both! My mom and Pops and some good friends! And folks who don't have families to celebrate with....
I would really enjoy having both! My mom and Pops and some good friends! And folks who don't have families to celebrate with....
15. Is Thanksgiving a religious or secular holiday
in your home?
Neither, but it’s a
spiritual day. Even if I just have to
grab at the few quiet moments to inwardly give thanks and breathe in the wonder
of it all….everything we are blessed with….
It’s also a chance for me to help
my children(well, it's just Willa now) find the grace in giving pause to be thankful. A time of openly sharing what means the most
to each of us, to acknowledged the TRUE origin of this holiday, to hold in
reverence the native peoples of this land that have suffered at the hands of those
who would conquer and destroy. It IS a
spiritual day….despite the eats, drinks, and screaming at the tube.
16. After dinner, do you go to the latest movie
or watch football on TV or just a turkey induced snooze?
Football before,
during and after…..feh. As much as I
HATE when the chicks hang with the chicks and the guys hang with the guys at
social events, this year while our men occupied the man cave, the women folk
and children gathered about to play Scattegories. We had a GREAT time, lots of laughing and
silliness and some seriously creative answers!
So glad I stayed upstairs to play.
And I DID get in the obligatory after-turkey nap.
17. Do you watch the Macy’s Parade?
Haven’t watched it since I was a kid! But EVERYTHING is so commercialized and corporatized anymore.....
18. Christmas decorations up before or after?
The
weekend after Thanksgiving is traditionally when we fuck up our backs hauling
up the decs from the crawlspace. By
Sunday evening the tree is up, lit, and ornamentized and the rest of the house
sporting our wacky mish-mash of holiday fare.
19. Black Friday shopping or sleep in.
Fuck.Black.Friday. You have to be a real douche to buy into that
shit. And even douchyer to go out on Thanksgiving! What’s the popular meme this
year? ““Black Friday: Because
only in America, people trample others for sales exactly one day after being thankful for what they already have.” Disgraceful.
Curmudgeonly rant over.
20. Favorite Thanksgiving memory?
So many! The year
Miles dropped a pan of green bean almondine on the floor and implemented the 5
second rule-dude’s FAST!-and then later almost caught the dinner table on fine. …not so much Miles’s fondest memory. I thought it was a knee slapper, though! And when we had T-Day dinner at home, we
always had a blast at the post-gorge neighborhood sledding party! Sad now that so many of the kids are over 18….and
that the hosts of the sledding party have moved. L sigh……
21. Picture taker or memory maker? BOTH! My
This years Thanksgiving was almost complete...with a cold bright morning to trek over to our friend's house in, a hearty workout on the ski trails, hot showers, Baileys and coffee, happy chatter, snuggling with my hunny, kids playing, cooking, eating, football, games and the yearly performance put on by the kids. The only thing missing was Dylan. Our first Thanksgiving without her. Willa burst into tears at the dinner table when our friend mentioned Dylan during grace. She really struggled not to. I saw the corners of her mouth quiver downward like they do when emotion is making it's way up...she turned her eyes to the ceiling in an attempt to stave off the tears while Todd spoke. She glanced over at me and I offered a knowing smile....and that was it. I walked Willa to the bathroom where she buried her head in my chest and let out what she had held in since her sister left. I hope it was cathartic and clearing for her. I hope Dylan knows how fortunate she is to have so much love around her. And that she is missed.
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| Halibut and shrimp turkeys for the vegetarian in the group! |
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| The formerly obligatory, eye-rollable, VERY chaotic and off-the-cuff yearly T-Day performance by the kids was actually enjoyable this year! I can't believe they put together a really cute musical about 3 little turkeys AND included the token boy under 10 in the creativity! The girls also choreographed a lovely dance to Katy Perry's Legendary Lovers. Willa isn't your typical play dress up and shake her booty kind of kid....but the dance was so sweet...the kids so innocent...it was a struggle to hold in tears. |
The rest of our Thanksgiving weekend was spent skiing in wonderland, seeing the Nutcracker ballet in Anchorage, playing games in front of the warm fire, making cookies, putting winterlights up outside, finishing up the inside decorations, and watching Christmas movies. And snuggling. Lots of that.
My favorite Holiday movie....absolutely timeless and lovely and relevant today.
