5 replies

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CFinWV

@larrymac - please put me on your do not call list: Mine is pretty similar, though my menu is a little fancier because it's fun:

1) Cornish hen and some roasted veggies in the oven
2) Make sure WoW servers are up
3) Books or other projects in case I don't feel like playing

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Slave For Turtles

@CFinWV: Horde or Alliance?

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seth_lerman

@larrymac - please put me on your do not call list:

But what's to drink?

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larrymac thinks testing should have occurred

@seth_lerman: Probably a nice Spanish red of some kind; garnacha if there's any on the rack.

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hi

@seth_lerman: Water w/ swedish meatball icecubes?

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DirectMailFan

Well, that's pretty thorough!

But given these times, I suggest that we considerthose less fortunate than ourselves (veterans, homeless, seniors) and donate some time by helping out at a \"soup kitchen\". At Thanksgiving & Christmnas the last three years, I've spent a few hours 2 or 3 days before helping to prepare, then serve, a very nice meal.

Or, you can always buy a little extra (canned goods, especially) to donate to whoever is conducting a drive to put together food baskets at a food bank.

3 replies

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pecan 3.14159265

@DirectMailFan: My newfound problem is that I don't have easy access to a car, so I have to find nonprofits nearby that I can just haul a bag of cans to. So far, I haven't found anything that doesn't require switching trains, but I just spotted a donation box at my apartment complex! Whoo!

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Etoiles

@pecan 3.14159265: That's my problem with all of the charity drives and such we have at work: I come in by Metro, with a 1-mile walk on the front end and I change trains in the middle. There's only so much crap I can haul on my back through DC rush-hour...

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pecan 3.14159265

@Etoiles: I admit that I get really, really annoyed with people who take up a ton of space, especially the people who have the roller bags that are only big enough for a laptop and some papers. They have to roll that everywhere and hit ankles and shins and run over feet? Arggh! I did my share of annoying though, cause when I moved, I took some empty boxes from work and broke them down. I carried six flat boxes on the metro. It was insanity.

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Etoiles

@pecan 3.14159265: It's a lot easier (and much more common) to be carrying all kinds of crap on the NYC subway than on the DC Metro. When I bought a 5' high roll of bubble wrap and carried it home with me on the 1 train, no-one even blinked an eye.

The stupid rolling briefcases are the WORST, though. It's like walking behind someone trailing a tripwire through a crowd. At least a backpack you can stick on your feet while riding and on your back while walking!

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lucky929

@Etoiles: I would have blinked from sheer unfettered jealousy of that much bubble wrap.

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Slave For Turtles

@DirectMailFan: The school here does a big food drive, which they organize as a contest per class. The class with the most items wins, but easily half the food donated are ramen noodles packs. It's very disturbing that the boxes of soy milk and cereal that my children bring are frowned upon by their peers since the money could have been \"better\" spent on ramen to help their class. Wrong message there, but my kids understand.

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lucky929

Reading that list is enough to make me want to just make reservations at the nice place around the corner.

2 replies

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magic8ball

@lucky929: I don't even own a tablecloth, and I can't remember the last time I cleaned behind my couch. I ... I feel so inadequate.

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lucky929

@magic8ball: Seriously. I can't remotely cook. I only go under my couch if I've lost something that may have rolled under there. I use Facebook to invite people to things. Martha Stewart actually wants to punch me in the face.

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Oranges w/ Cheese hates what Christmas has become

My mom has a dry-erase board that she used pretty much exclusively for large things like this.

You start from serving time and work backwards based on prep time, cook time and defrost time.

The list mentions cooking time for whatever item and oven temperature. ITs pretty cool!

6 replies

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@Oranges w/ Cheese has 2 cats! ahahaha.: I do the same thing, although I like to work mine out on my computer (sitting surrounded by my cookbooks), make it a spreadsheet, and then stick it to the fridge. I can check off every step as I go.

I put the stuff my husband has to do on the whiteboard.

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pecan 3.14159265

@Oranges w/ Cheese has 2 cats! ahahaha.: I welcome the madness! I love cooking and the more insane the prep work is, the more satisfied I feel with pulling it off.

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): I have to start planning for that next week. I'm arming myself with my computer, tons of cookbooks from my bookshelf, and the Nov/Dec issue of Cooks Illustrated, which demonstrates (IMO) the easiest turkey recipe to date. A friend of mine swears by the oven bags, but I prefer crispy skin.

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Toffeecake

@pecan 3.14159265: My mother-in-law uses oven bags every year. The turkey usually comes out kind of dry, ick.

Does anyone else fry their turkey? Soooooooo good, especially with a little Tabasco or Cajun butter.

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pecan 3.14159265

@Toffeecake: One of my favorite Alton Brown cooking rigs was a ladder and pulleys to lower and raise a turkey into hot oil for frying. That way you could be a safe distance away and not get burned.

Both my mom and my MIL use a huge roaster. They seem to really like it.

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CompyPaq

@pecan 3.14159265:
Turkey Recipe: Take a ~15 pound turkey, rub with extra virgin olive oil, sprinkle on garlic powder, paprika, and favorite herbs. Put in pan, cover, bake at 350 for about 2 hours. Uncover, bake for additional hour. As long as you check up on it every 40 min or so to make sure you aren't overcooking it, it comes out crispy and moist.

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pecan 3.14159265

@CompyPaq: Do you baste the turkey? I'm thinking about how much time I'll need if I were to use stuffing inside. I'm considering just doing the stuffing in the oven outside the turkey.

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CompyPaq

@pecan 3.14159265: Usually I don't because the fat under the skin and the olive oil keep the turkey \"self-basting\" as long as its cooked at low temp like 350. I do stuff my turkey and usually it doesn't affect the time too much. You just have to keep half an eye on it to make sure its cooking and not over cooking.

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pecan 3.14159265

@CompyPaq: What about internal temperature? I'm using a digital thermometer for the turkey breast...I figure if the turkey breast (the thickest part) is done, everything else must be as well.

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CompyPaq

@pecan 3.14159265: Actually I find that the breast cooks faster than the dark meat. I check to see if the joint between the leg and the thigh is loose because that indicates that that part is cooked.

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katia802

@pecan 3.14159265: Better to cook stuffing in the oven separate from the turkey. No chance of the stuffing not getting to the correct temp to kill bacteria that way. I always stuff my turkey with peeled and cored apple chunks and/or whole onions, helps keep the bird moist.

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Cat_In_A_Hat

@katia802: My mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother have been stuffing the turkey with an apple, onions, herbs and spices as well for decades. BEST TURKEY EVER! And agreed, to avoid contamination from the raw turkey, I recommend cooking the stuffing separate. You can use the turkey flavored pan drippings and pieces of turkey to make your stuffing after the turkey is completed and your stuffing will be nice and crispy on top from baking in a pan.

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@pecan 3.14159265: You are missing out on the bacon! Skin sooooooo crispy!

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K-Bo

@Oranges w/ Cheese has 2 cats! ahahaha.: My mom has a little paper she makes changes to based on what goes right and wrong each year, and how many people will be there. It starts on Monday, and lists everything that can be made ahead of time and just warmed up that day through everything that has to be done at the very last min. It also has when she should set the table ect. Very detailed, but when you are stressed out over a big crowd coming over, that helps make sure you don't forget the seemingly unforgettable things. It's taken about 28 years, but she's finally got it near perfection, and barely makes any changes to it now.

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Bluth_Cornballer

I call shenanigans. Nowhere on that list does it mention mom swearing because the potato casserole is still cold in the middle, uncles arguing over the dark meat, or me complaining that I have to sit the kids table in the next room even though I'm in my 30s.

3 replies

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Waiting for the next Ren Fest

I have never understood the \"kids table\". This is a family holiday, not a bachelor party. I have done Thanksgiving at my house for the past 10 years and I (a guy) do ALL the cooking, for 16 this year.

When it comes to seating, I run a couple of folding tables from the dining room table and around a corner into the living room. Yes, some of the kids like to sit near each other, but they are interspersed with the adults, not sentenced to Siberia.

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K-Bo

@Bluth_Cornballer: glad I'm not the only one complaining about the kids table. My brother and I are the youngest in the family, even though we are 27 & 23 (yeah, we are a bunch of rotten kids who refuse to make grand kids as my parents always point out) so we end up at the kids table. I live 10 min from him and see him every week. Everyone else I live 1 1/2 hours from and see every 1-2 months. I'm about to threaten that if my brother and I have to sit together at the card table, we are gonna set the card table up at my house and save the driving time.

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lucky929

@K-Bo: My cousin and I (both 22) spent last year on the kitchen island by ourselves, as the kiddie table is full of my aunt's grandkids. We had to steal food from the main table.

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umbriago

1. Keep the cats out of the oven.
2. Warm up TV for the annual national TV appearance of my beloved football team from childhood, the Detroit Lions (seriously).
3. Make sure I have plenty of ice and clean cocktail glasses.
4. Head off to wherever I was invited to a couple of weeks before, since they always feel sorry for the single guys.
5. Let cats back into oven.

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Quake 'n' Shake

They missed a step:
- Have your wife change combination on gun safe. She can't tell you the new combo until her family has left.

Every year, I want to kill my in-laws for delaying the main course because they want to cook a half-dozen side dishes that they neither need nor will finish. I wind up hauling the leftovers to the trash the following week.

3 replies

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Cat_In_A_Hat

@Quake 'n' Shake: It's this very reason why I leave the turkey to my mother and make my own side dishes that I know I will enjoy and others can try if they want. My mother makes between 4-6 side dishes that she usually will end up eating for more than a week and the rest of us are tired of after one day (mom was born a southerner so her food is made with a lot of love calorie wise). By the time we eat everything has been sitting and has to be reheated. My birthday also usually falls on Thanksgiving or the day before/after, so in addition to all the sweet goodies that go along with the holiday meal, an unecessary birthday cake is usually bought as well that half ends up being eaten and the rest sits in the fridge so long it ends up getting tossed.

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pecan 3.14159265

@Quake 'n' Shake: You don't do Thanksgiving leftovers? I understand if the side dishes don't taste good, but I love Thanksgiving leftovers if they taste good.

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Quake 'n' Shake

@pecan 3.14159265: I was referring to the side dishes when I said \"leftovers.\" hell yeah I keep the turkey and potatoes and gravey around.
But the crap side dishes that my wife's family cook are horrible the first time around, let alone the left over.

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Etoiles

Ours is easy: I'm cooking the full spread, but just for two of us. No decorations... we'll probably eat it on the couch, wearing flannel jammies. ;)

November 13, 2009 4:37 PM

3 replies

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subtlefrog

@Etoiles: We do the same - not the full spread, but yummy food, in warm jammies, on the couch. Oh Yeah.

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lucky929

@Etoiles: My dad does that on Black Friday- we have mini-Thanksgiving for my parents, dog, and me. Less hectic, more quiet and nice.

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Etoiles

@lucky929: With us, we're both only children, and we're 450 miles from both of our families (in opposite directions) and he has to work anyway. So we get to be thankful for some quiet time together. ;)

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lucky929

@Etoiles: I prefer it to the zoolike big family thing, honestly. It's just nice and quiet. Also, since we go to my uncle's, my dad feels sorry for my dog being home alone on Thanksgiving. We got the dog in lieu of a second child, and it shows.

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JulesNoctambule

I'm already readying the selection of pies. We'll have the usual -- pumpkin and pecan -- and at least two others, which is between lemon chess, buttermilk, Key lime (because the whole family loves it) and a fruit pie as yet to be determined.

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Jon34511

What is Thansgiving? Sorry I couldn't help myself :)

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I go to my mom's. :)

But when I host big things like this, I start with serving time and work backwards to figure out when to start each thing (and look at what can be done ahead).

When I'm feeling very nerdy I put them on a spreadsheet so I can see what's going on with each dish and what temperature the oven's at and things like that.

3 replies

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hi

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): Hi Eyebrows. This is off-topic. Was it you who said the h1n1 vaccine was different this time around and is safer than what they had in the 70's? I said people will get Guillain-Barre syndrome after taking the vaccine just like they did in the 70's. Do you remember this discussion months ago?

Well what I said back then is now starting to happen. Expect more to come out:

[www.msnbc.msn.com]

November 18, 2009 4:52 PM

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hi

[www.monstersandcritics.com]

@hi: More: A woman healthcare worker in France gets GBS 6 days after taking the vaccine:

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Ragman

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): I have mine all typed up in my recipe binder. First step is always get the turkey roasts into the fridge 5 days earlier so they're FULLY thawed. Nothing screws up the schedule like partially frozen turkey! The day before we cook sweet taters, boil eggs, bake cornbread, etc.

A few years back I picked up an 18 qt roaster oven on BF sale. Not only did it knock an hour off off the cooking time, it frees up the oven to get the other stuff cooked at the same time. Now cooking the dinner takes less than 2.5 hours, where it used to take about 5 hours (even with pre-cooking). Even better that the turkey doesn't have to sit for over an hour before eating.

That roaster oven and our Kitchen Aid stand mixer are the BEST time-savers when it comes to holiday cooking.

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Also? WOW that is way too much thought put into \"decorations.\" I just use the fall-colored-ish table linens and slap some flowers in a vase. DONE!

5 replies

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Toffeecake

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): My mother-in-law told me she wanted me to crochet her a cornucopia for her Thanksgiving decorations. She was going to pay me for it, but I finished it in July and just gave it to her for her birthday.

I don't get to host fancy things at my house because the downstairs is still unfinished from when we bought it a year ago. It was a foreclosure, so we had to deal with the mold problem by ourselves. We're not even finished putting the walls back up, and we still need a floor and a few doors. I get bummed around the holidays because I think, what's the point of putting up decorations around here?

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Kuchen

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): My mom used to decorate like that. Knitted pilgrims, squash centerpieces, it was kind of ridiculous.

The extent of my decorating is going to be putting the baby in the onesie with the turkey on it (if it still fits her in 2 weeks). I don't even remember where I put the tablecloths when we moved, and I'm not going to look very hard. My parents basically invited themselves over and told me I was making dinner, so they get half-assed decorating.

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@Kuchen: Heh.

I basically like the way my home is decorated and while I change a few things with the seasons (welcome mat, from door wreath or lack thereof, table linens that I have an unholy affection for and own too many of), I'm not really sure why I would need to \"decorate\" ... my house is already decorated.

I do have special Christmas stuff like nativity scenes and the tree and the stockings, but ... I dunno, I don't really \"get\" all-out seasonal decor.

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pecan 3.14159265

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): One of my friends just breaks out four candles in orange, cream, red, and green colors. Then for Christmas, she just takes away the orange and the cream and she's got dual use for the red and green ones.

Our fall/Thanksgiving stuff is already packed away, and Christmas is already up because we're so busy the next few weeks. I'll need a week just to figure out exactly which things I will want to be making, and how I'm going to transport everything to my parents' house.

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junkmail

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): Way too much work. I just kick the throw pillows off the couch where I'll be sitting watching the game and call it a day.

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JulesNoctambule

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): Seriously! You can hardly see any table what with the food, so we don't bother.

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Oranges w/ Cheese hates what Christmas has become

I'm gonna be in michigan for turkey day this year.. we might even be in Toronto, I dunno. Most likely though I'll be cooking and BFinMichigan doesn't have many kitchen tools...

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bohemian

I am still on the fence about even cooking anything. I gave up on going to the pseudo family function since my sister in law has lost her mind. Two years ago we grilled steaks at home. Last year we made turkey and all the sides including green bean casserole from scratch.

This year maybe doritos and mixed drinks?

1 replies

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lucky929

@bohemian: don't sell yourself short. at least go for the frozen pizza :P

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khfurletti

So when I first read this I thought, \"Wow, that's very thorough and a little frightening\" Then I started thinking about my own prep routine and realized it's about 75% of this list. I started my guest list and menu last week. Must... stop... being... obsessive...

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CompyPaq

I never understood the uproad over cooking a thanksgiving meal:

Turkey: 5 minutes of prep, 3 hours of cook time. Start it in the afternoon, it will be ready for dinner.
Stuffing: 10 minutes of prep, can cook alongside turkey
Mashed Potatos: 5 minutes of prep, 10 minutes cooking, 5 minutes finishing
Green Beans: 10 minutes prep, 10 minutes cooking

This is maybe 30 min of hands on cooking.

4 replies

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DoubleBaconVeggieBurger

@CompyPaq: Well, you've only accounted for 3 sides. And where's the gravy? There's rolls, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes... usually one other thing. I don't get too stressed out about it but it does take some coordination for everything to come out of kitchen at roughly the same time and temperature.

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@CompyPaq: Not that many people cook, let alone do a main course and side dishes!

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Etoiles

@CompyPaq: For us, the \"big deal\" is doing it in an apartment's galley kitchen. We finally have a real roasting pan and mixing bowls and serving dishes (thanks to generous wedding guests earlier this year) but still have only about 18\" of counter space. It takes creativity. ;)

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cash_da_pibble

@Etoiles:
Not to metion three cooks all trying to monopolize the oven.
\"Isn't your Green bean Casserole done? my YAMS need to cook!\"
\"I don't want smoked wild turkey. I want regular oven-cooked turkey!\"
\"What exactly makes a glazed ham glazey? Shoudl I just put syrup on it?\"

I pulled out my hair last year. Seriously.

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pecan 3.14159265

@cash_da_pibble: This is why I basically kicked everyone out of the kitchen this year and told my parents that I was going to handle making everything. That said, I'm going relatively low-maintenance on this. Potatoes, rolls, cranberry sauce/chutney, stuffing, green bean casserole and of course, the turkey. That's it. I contemplated yams but no one likes yams enough to eat so much. I'll probably only do one pie because no one likes pumpkin as much as I do and I don't want to bring back a whole pie.

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Slave For Turtles

So many good suggestions here -- meatballs, Wii, and books; dinner in PJs; Doritos and booze -- I'll be cooking dinner for us, a friend, and her family. Think anyone of them will notice if I escape and spend my day with you clever folks? ;-) I'll leave my cats at home (and out of the oven).

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ArcanaJ

I declared a halt to big family gatherings years ago. My mother already lives with us and that's stressful enough on regular days. No need for some giant menu either, turkey and some basic sides are plenty.

Let the extended family squabble over giblets and football, I demand peace and quiet (and pie) on Holidays.

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Where is the part about convincing the Australian husband that even though his people don't have Thanksgiving, his wife thinks it's very important and doesn't want to be a single girl on such an important family day? *sigh*

4 replies

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lucky929

@Kimaroo - Fortified with Kittydus Purrularis: isn;t the food and the party enough of a bribe? I could understand if it was a religious holiday, but a holiday based around food? Who could resist?

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@lucky929: His excuse is \"It's my day off\". He wants to stay home and play PC games.

It really boggles my mind because he loves food. I can't seem to get him to budge this year. It makes me sad.

I understand a little because he does work two jobs and has few full, solid days off. But there are few family functions that I really expect him to go to, and I'm done making excuses for him when my family asks me where he is. I tell them the truth.

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pecan 3.14159265

@Kimaroo - Fortified with Kittydus Purrularis: I understand not celebrating American Thanksgiving - but who in the world can turn down the beautiful tradition of stuffing your face with turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, and mashed potatoes? Come on!

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@pecan 3.14159265: I know, right?! It boggles my mind every year!!

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Toffeecake

@Kimaroo - Fortified with Kittydus Purrularis: Maybe Australians prefer to keep turkeys as pets?

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@Toffeecake: Nope. Lol

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Alexander

My checklist for success in Thanksgiving:

1) Plane tickets out of Dodge. SUCCESS!

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Powerlurker

Step 1: Drive to ski hill.
Step 2: Ski (weather permitting)
Step 3: Eat Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant.

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katia802

My sweet 6 yr old nephew invited us for Thanksgiving this year. He talked his Mommy into making the whole spread. First time in years, I get to sit in the livingroom playing Mario Bros with him while someone else cooks :+) First time in years I'm looking forward to the holiday.

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katia802

gah! please please add me to the list of people begging for an edit button!

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Ragman

I normally cook holiday dinners, both Thanksgiving and Christmas, since we have our parents come up for the holidays now. Couple of turkey breast roasts, ham steak, cornbread dressing, homemade mac & cheese, sweet tater casserole, steamed veggies, rolls, gravy, cranberry sauce. I don't really mind, b/c it's the only time of the year that most of this stuff gets cooked, and I love the recipes I have for them.

I also get to make the biggest mess in the kitchen and walk away after eating. :-D

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H3ion

Get extra shells for the shotgun so we can go out and get ourselves some turkeys. Or we could just go to Geek Squad.

November 13, 2009 4:37 PM

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subtlefrog

Yummy dinner on the couch. Then tickets to Cirque du Soleil. Yay!