Thanksgiving Plans 2021 (Whatchya gonna do?)

[mamselle]

There are four in residence up on the hill behind my place...

M.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

We plan to forage for turkeys and other 'necessities' for our feast this weekend.

I'm seeing you, gun in hand, watching the turkeys clucking their way through your yard as you decide on which one you're going to "forage".

Ha! Well, I didn't specify the method of foraging. We plan to forage at a food store down the road.

[sinenomine]

My solo Thanksgiving tradition is to pick up edible goodies — often involving salmon, lobster, or crab — and enjoy them when I please, while watching movies. I've never tracked costs, and the pandemic doesn't affect my recharging, alone time. I had planned on a stretch of no work for the Thanksgiving break, but a recent unexpected promotion has caused me to get behind on some writing projects, so I'll be dealing with those as well so I can make deadlines.

[mamselle]

Bisque is a great way to use up seafood leftovers....crunchy, buttery French bread or toast points go well with it, too...

:--)

M.

[Juvenal]

Limping bird.  My built-up suburban NY Metro area campus has, lately, become a place where wild turkeys show up.  As I left "my" (I'm retired; "emeritus") building on this past rainy Friday, one with a gimpy leg was sheltering from the rain.  I stepped out and shouted, "Chestnut stuffing" and it scarpered.

My usual TG venue (thirty years) is down to ten or fewer (it's been twenty-plus for years); with this and that and one thing and another, it looks to being just that ten will be at table (and one of them a less-than-one-year-old tot).  I will make my usual contribution (creamed onions), but less than in the past.

Once TG is over, and as Advent looms, what's looming for self is--well, some surgical things involving the waterworks.  Yuck.

"All I want for Christmas is a quiet prostate."

[mamselle]

I have a photograph of a well-known Law School with twenty-four turkeys grazing on the lawn.

That's not including the wild birds....

;--}

M.

[Harlow2]

I have a photograph of a well-known Law School with twenty-four turkeys grazing on the lawn.

That's not including the wild birds....

;--}

M.

Ha!

We are a small group and haven't even worked out who yet. Salmon, not turkey but definitely stuffing.  Undoubtedly there will be a hike, and we occasionally forage for cranberries the scooper-uppers missed in the bogs. Will get to see the college freshman finally!

[clean]

Seven more Preparation Days! 
The weekly shopping ads should now be out! 
Are you ready to face the crowds? 

Have you begun to plan your Black Friday Strategy?

[apl68]

Currently buying baked goodies at the Friends of the Library bake sale.  So despite being too busy lately to cook anything, I'll be able to supply the desserts when I head home!  There's a reason why they traditionally hold their bake sale shortly before Thanksgiving.

[onehappyunicorn]

Visiting family for thanksgiving, I am the one who cooks the most so I'll probably be doing most of the cooking.
We are going to deep fry a turkey this year and have a rib roast.
I'll make some berne brot rolls, a chocolate mousse pie, homemade stuffing, and gravy and mashed potatoes for sure. I'll probably do a cranberry mango sauce (I prefer chutney but almost no one else cares for it), candied bacon, deviled eggs, and I am thinking of making eggnog ice cream. My mother likes the awful candied yams from a can with marshmallow topping but I did a sweet potato souffle last year that she really liked so I may do that again.

[mamselle]

Love chutney!! Send me some.

I just did a simple-munchy version yesterday, with corn, a tiny bit of soy sauce, a bit of orange marmelade, and maple syrup.

Plus the usual bits of pimento, some rubbed black pepper, etc.

I usually use apricot marmelade instead of orange, but ran out of the apricot; the orange worked fine.

Had some heated for dinner last night; used some as a cold dip for Breton wafers with lunch yesterday.

Hmmm...not much left now, I wonder why...

__________
I don't do F.A.T., either the retail or the Tinker Toy kind. I worked retail for many years as a side job, no interest at all in being in a store then, and the people who do the F.A.T. Rube-Goldberg-like things usually have all the people on their team they need, anyway, so...no need.

The last F.A.T. at its original site was a couple years ago, of course: 

   https://mitmuseum.mit.edu/fat

But there are others.

   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rube_Goldberg_machine


__________
On another note, I realized what I'd really rather be doing.

One year I and a friend went to NYC and spent the weekend hitting all the galleries, libraries, and parks. (I also found a swing-dance venue for Saturday night, and still managed to get up in time for the St. John the Divine service in the AM).

What I haven't done since I don't know when (maybe when I got my first grant to go to France for research) was to be in, oh, I don't know, Paris, Belgium, the UK, anywhere else, and pick and choose what I do when as I wish.

The year-of-the-grant I was staying in our school's facility for students abroad, and the director asked me to smuggle in cans of cranberries since they didn't have those there. I couldn't find any (and wouldn't have had any space in my suitcase, anyway, with all the books for four months) so he was a bit disappointed, but at least he didn't throw me out...

What would be fun would be to re-create as much of a Thanksgiving as I could for my cousin and her friends in Liege.

THAT would be very interesting....hmmm.....have to ponder on that.

What would you do/where would you go, to do something like that?

M.

[hmaria1609]

More folks will be hitting the roads for Thanksgiving:
https://wtop.com/thanksgiving-news/2021/11/thanksgiving-travel-1-3-million-dc-area-residents-to-head-out-for-holiday/
Includes the best and worst times to travel at the end of the article. Scroll down past ad breaks to read the full article. Posted on WTOP Radio 11/17/21

[apl68]

More folks will be hitting the roads for Thanksgiving:
https://wtop.com/thanksgiving-news/2021/11/thanksgiving-travel-1-3-million-dc-area-residents-to-head-out-for-holiday/
Includes the best and worst times to travel at the end of the article. Scroll down past ad breaks to read the full article. Posted on WTOP Radio 11/17/21

I'm very fortunate in that I can get home for Thanksgiving via the most direct route without ever venturing onto a major highway.  The roads might be somewhat busier than usual, but that's not saying too much.  It's a sparsely-populated region, and we don't even have anything that carries major interstate traffic.

[downer]

I will hang out in the city. It can be really nice walking around the Village when there are few students around. And I'll eat with some friends.

[lilyb]

The only time I decided to do turkey for Thanksgiving, I brined the turkey which almost slipped out of my hands when I was lifting it from the brine. I grabbed onto the bird, but there was brine all over the kitchen floor. Since then, it's good company and good conversation on Thanksgiving, but no fussing or cleaning up.

Any opinions from Langue or others about whether brining the turkey is worth it? I am still trying to decide whether to undertake this extra step.