are you making any dish for thanksgiving?

(Nothing convoluted, it's just a mix to which you add a beer and stir.)

I was going to make cranberry nut bread, too, but I couldn't find fresh cranberries at my local supermarket, grr.

Lindsey likes a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, and I like to play around, so we sort of compromise -- cranberry sauce from a can this year (because there's only two of us; usually I make some from scratch and then have the canned stuff for the inevitable couple of people who don't like whole-berry sauce); pumpkin pie, straight-up nothing fancy; the usual starchi gras of mashed potatoes, dinner rolls, stuffing -- but I'm doing my black bean/mashed potato cakes instead of just regular mashed potatoes, and although the stuffing is a traditional one (chestnut and sausage), it's not the one either of us grew up with.

I'm going to brine the turkey, hopefully with fresh sage and fresh thyme -- I can't find sage consistently here, but I'm hoping they'll have it cause tis the season and &c. Gravy with a little sage and a little onion -- likely no giblets, I don't think L's down with them if I remember right.

I can't remember for some reason, because I can't picture it, whether turkeys usually include the liver in the giblets. Chickens do, but I can't picture a turkey liver. If they do, I'm going to see about doing little liver dumplings in broth with the leftovers -- but we'll see, I have a lot to do next weekend and we're going to go see Matrix Revolutions as well.

Can Nicole Kidman do anything wrong these days? Ignoring those nasty charges of being over-Botoxed (by dermatological demons such as Dr. Arnold Klein, one of Jackson's myriad Dr. Frankensteins), that is.

http://cache.eonline.com/Gossip/Awful/Images2003/kidman.032603.jpgI daresay...no. Too fab, I declare, as many naughty naysayers said Kidman would never amount to anything other than a ridiculously entitled Missus Tom Cruise. Fools. Since splitting with T.C., Ms. K. has been nothing but lusciously perfect. How did that happen?

And now Nic-doll's nabbing the American Cinematheque Award, just seven years after her ex-husband received the same classy nod. Dressed delectably in a stunning black Jean Paul Gaultier gown, with brilliant red flowers twisted up in her locks and twined in a corsage around her wrist, N.K. graced Friday's gala at the Bev Hilton, where the Golden Globes and most of Hollywood's more fun, elegant ceremonies take place.

With a "professional query only" rep in tow, Nic brought along kids Connor and Isabella as her dates. However, the Tinseltown offspring slipped in the back to avoid the crush of the paparazzi. Oh, yeah, what about Ms. K.'s too cute boyfriend, Lenny Kravitz? The hunky musician was mucho absent, as this night was all about the Nic--no lovey-dovey mush allowed admittance, I'm afraid. And rightly so (a painful declaration for me, to be sure). The woman has earned it. Right?

As for Thanksgiving:

I'm doing everything this year. Turkey, mashed potatoes, cornbread dressing, gravy, steamed vegetables, everything. Except dessert -- that remains the domain of the Momarino. And the berry slop-type thing that tastes lovely and wonderful and not too dissimilar from ice cream.

Interesting thing is that I'm cooking all this and we'll end up saving it for the day after. We've got a lot of family invitations as usual, so we'll probably make the rounds throughout the day and then on Friday eat what was cooked here at the house. We're big fans of leftovers.

I should check if my fellow ex-pats are having a turkey party in London this weekend... *tummy rumbling*

Come christmas though, I'm going to make a big batch of my favourite cranberry sauce recipe and eat it ALL to myself since the bf doesn't like it. Or stuffing. Not even my beautiful stuffing recipe! What is up with that?

and chocolate chip cookies.

not traditional thanksgiving food, but the theme is fave american foods...

i went shopping for french-fried onions yesterday, so i could make green bean casserole, but was foiled. so stuffing instead. hope it turns out ok, haven't ever made it before!

if you do a search on foodtv.com, they have several varieties, including a ginger version!

http://www.beeradvocate.com/cookbook/recipe/84/

www.cookingvegetarian.com/pumpkingingercheesecake.htm

is it the same as bicarbonate of soda? is that something people put in food and use to deodorize their fridge and sometimes use to brush their teeth?

i am a cooking loser. hope this all comes off well!

why can't you just get onions and fry them or do you have to get a frenchman to do it for you. Having said that I have seen fried onions in can in Sainsbury's, International food Hall and Flaneur.

This all boils down to the fact that I really wanted Key Lime Pie, and this is evidence that I am an "alien" who does not understand the spirit of the season.

Remember that it's a holiday with an origin myth, and that origin myth focuses on the Pilgrims in Massachusetts, and so the idea of the meal tends to reflect that -- hence the pumpkin pie, one of the only seasonal desserts for the area, which is often sweetened with molasses or brown sugar, both of them typical of northern New England; the mashed potatoes, since that's a winter-storage vegetable (as are sweet potatoes); the turkey, native to the area; and so on.

In actuality, people might do ham, spaghetti, boiled crawfish, what have you, but unless they're taking part in their own regional/ethnic tradition (spaghetti for Thanksgiving is typical of Italian-American families in New England), they seem to act like they're part of an insignificant minority. The perception of the meal's always gonna be that homogenous one.

French Fried Onion Fun Facts

I'm planning on making a turkey/andouille gumbo and sweet potato fries. My supermarket offered me a free turkey but i'm probably going to hack it up and use it in the soup.

More exciting Tepsgiving updates within days, I'm sure!

"But we'll stay in a hotel" = slightly less dud.

Day After Turkey Day plans: Make our own dinner. We've bought split turkey breasts and turkey legs (because, c'mon, who DOESN'T like turkey legs?), instead of a whole turkey. I am making DAMN sure we have enough dressing to last a week or so (the only eggs in it are the ones I used while making the cornbread, so it shouldn't sour too rapidly). Homemade mashed potatoes. Sauteed brussels sprouts. Cranberry relish. I am SO angling for some sort of pumpkin dessert -- pumpkin cupcakes sounds like a good idea, though I would KILL for a pumpkin cheesecake. Rolls. I'm making all of this, because Cooking Is Fun.

OH WAIT! Duh. Dessert this year will be yams. Because I JUST RECENTLY started liking those things and so they haven't grown old on me yet. Except -- how exactly does one jazz up a (bracing self for the inevitable gasps) CAN of yams?

The deli round the corner from work has already started doing hot turkey and stuffing sandwiches and they taste glorious.

Pineapple would work well, too, both with yams and with ginger (when I made the "yams with marshmallows" thing for my ex's family, I included some fresh roasted pineapple so that it still felt like it was my dish).

YOU DO NOT CHANGE PLANS FOUR TIMES IN FOUR DAYS THE BUSIEST FUCKING WEEK OF THE YEAR. You do not assume that because you're invited for Wednesday night it's okay for you to show up on Sunday night, and you especially do not continue to assume it's okay after we've explained that not only are we overburdened with graduate school, but we both have a lot of non-academic work on our plates, AND I had already planned out every damn meal of the week in order to clean out the refrigerator in time to put the turkey in there, and none of those meals were accidentally portioned for five instead of two.

You most especialliest especially of all do not change your plans from "late Monday night or Tuesday morning" to "Monday afternoon" by CALLING US FROM THE ROAD WHEN YOU ARE TWO AND A HALF FUCKING HOURS AWAY AND I'M IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DISHES I'M DOING BEFORE STARTING THE LAUNDRY SO I CAN TRY TO GET FIVE THOUSAND WORDS WRITTEN BEFORE THE WINDOW OF YOUR EARLIEST ARRIVAL BEGINS, AND THEN GET HUFFY WHEN WE TELL YOU WE HAVE ERRANDS TO RUN AND CANNOT SEE YOU UNTIL FIVE O'CLOCK WHICH IS STILL TWO HOURS EARLIER THAN WE AGREED TO YESTERCUNTINGDAY THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

(Mainly because we had our family "Thanksgiving" meal a week ago because a)less traffic for driving to Long Island and b) easier for me to get days off work.)

Here's the menu for this Thanksgiving, these recipes are pretty close approximations of the ones I use.

Turkey: http://www.oprah.com/recipe/food/recipespoultry/20081118_tows_turkey (there's a video on the website, I don't know if it's the recipe as much as the tips and tricks shared that make this recipe so great, but we have had incredible success with this recipe and I would recommend it highly. We bake red potatoes and brussels sprouts in the pan with it and surround the turkey with them when serving.)
Oyster stuffing: http://www.recipezaar.com/Oyster-Stuffing-4366 (I use a loaf of sourdough bread and make the breadcrumbs myself)
Green bean casserole: http://www.recipezaar.com/Green-Bean-Casserole-47102
Creamy mashed potatoes: http://www.recipezaar.com/Make-Ahead-Mashed-Potatoes-34059
Maple candied yams with pecan crumble topping: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/maple-glazed_yams_with_pecan_topping/
Sourdough oven-ready baguettes with hot artichoke parmesan dip: http://www.recipezaar.com/Hot-Artichoke-Dip-33251
Spinach and persimmon salad: http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=637674
Port cranberry sauce: some people make it from scratch, I just get a can of cranberry sauce, add a cup of port, and boil it down a bit. Very very good.
Gravy: just the canned stuff plus some of the turkey "broth" added in.

It's been years since we've been responsible for dessert too...one of the families that comes to Thanksgiving dinner owns a bakery and they always bring some random Philippino dishes and fancy desserts. We usually cook a frozen pumpkin pie too just for a bit of variety. If I were ever in charge of dessert, I would make the sour cream apple pie again from the Silver Palate cookbook; I made it for a potluck once and everyone raved about it: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Silver-Palate-Sour-Cream-Apple-Pie-106665

Going to my sister's for Thanksgiving and as usual we're making Moroccan food. Sadly the local CC&R restrictions prevent us from ritually slaughtering a sheep in the garage.

Can't have everything.

I have a slew of yams from my CSA basket and am thinking of a good dish for the Thanksgiving dinner I'm going to, but I just don't want to do candied yams. Any other suggestions? (The dish will need to travel for a bit and be reheated as needed, I'll be using a nice metal container for it.)

we will celebrate thanksgiving at hope and olive http://hopeandolive.com/ (owners are childhood friends of Scott's) and their family. Everyone's bringing something. I will sautee brussels sprouts leaves with chopped pistachios.

Ned - have you considered sweet potato/yam soup? Most recipes are sweet potato puree, cream, chicken broth and various spices. Delicious. And so are sweet potato fries, although I'm not sure how well they would keep. And there's always sweet potato pie/souffle.

I like my yams simple: roast them, peel, and whip with butter. Reheats beautifully and lets the lovely sweet earthiness of the yams shine.

thanksgiving is a month away. i can't decide whether i want to cook this year or get the take-out turkey dinner from gelson's. what are you doing this year -- if you're celebrating?

Spending it with my kids for the first time in 10 or so years!

As always, it'll be up to the matriarch. I always offer and she always says "just bring some deviled eggs." If Kroger has peppadews the week before, I might do a platter full of them stuffed with crab salad or shrimp salad.

having a v strange thanksgiving dinner this year -- my mother in law is doing a full on weird juicing diet as part of a homeopathic cancer treatment & can't eat any meat or starches or really anything that you would eat for thanksgiving. my sister in law has MS and is treating through a hardcore vegan/gluten free diet that she's stripped back to like, 4 things. Both have only started this routine within the past year.

However, out of the blue last weekend they both insisted to the rest of the family that they wanted to make 'normal' thanksgiving for the rest of the family the way they used to. Which is kinda cool, I guess. so my mother in law is making cheesecakes for the rest of us, and my sister in law is making mashed potatoes and stuffing. I've been asked to make the same zucchini sausage casserole I always make so i'm making that :) and my husband and his brother are in charge of making steak of some description because we're not super committed to turkey, lol.

But I came up with a cunning plan, and I have borrowed my MIL's diet handbook and am going to make her a special dessert that she can eat -- I know her well enough to know that once it comes to us sitting at the table eating the cheesecake she's going to start to get super bummed out that she can't have it (assuming she's not slitting her wrists while she's baking the damn things, lol...she's kind of a handful). she reallllllllllly misses 'normal' food still, it's been less than 6 months that she's been on this thing and it's still rough for her sometimes. so I'm making her a sweet potato/granny smith apple layered gratin. she was always a big one for sweet potato for dessert, which I could never stand. I'm hoping it turns out okay.

ugh that story turned out way longer than I meant to make it, haha.

a friend invited me to his thanksgiving potluck and i'm making collard greens slow-cooked with roast turkey drumsticks, and corn bread muffins.

^^ all excellent choices!

We shall celebrate in a large family group gathered at my sister's house. Our contributions shall be spinach provencale (a sort of a spinach gratin recipe from a mid-70s cookbook, The Vegetarian Epicure), a big green salad, and a bottle of Cote du Rhone.

I am making some potato thing that my dad makes. He tried to explain it to me over the phone in his "little bit of this" "some of that" chef terms so we'll see how that turns out. All I really remember is that I need to use Gruyère and that no other cheese will do.

i took the vegetarian epicure out of the library once! it rules.

I think that was my first cookbook I bought when i stopped eating meat and my first cookbook ever.

As always, I'm bringing the deviled eggs. I think I'm also going to make a passionfruit nectar cake based on the recipe for apricot nectar cake (which I used to think was my mother's invention but turns out to be pretty widespread).

I'm bringing the deviled eggs

ysi?

I'm in charge of the twice baked potatoes and the brussels sprouts. For the latter, I'm trying a recipe with pistachios and capers.

www.cholesterhaul.net/x897ala12

xp

noooo

My mother is hosting Thanksgiving, including roasting a turkey (plus shrimp for my sister). I was going to offer to do a hot vegetable, but since she went ahead and bought asparagus, I'll be making a salad. (Also, I've got a couple bottles of wine to contribute. Although my sister probably will be bringing wine, along with her trademark PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE. It's almost sad that my appetite hasn't been very strong lately.)

http://imgur.com/a/pstcG

It sort of tastes like the essence of a Subway sandwich. Like how the sandwich smells.

Lol

hosting this year, but keeping things pretty chill

made a classic sour cream cheesecake last night, making a pumpkin pie tonight, and busting out the green bean casserole tomorrow. i have tried scratch-baking it a few times but in the emd we all admitted that the canned version is preferred for pure guilty pleasure so canned it is lol

mr veg is barbecueing chickens & showing off his alabama barbecue sauce because YUM