How did you do Thanksgiving?
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Our Thanksgivings have usually been pretty simple.
The girls, assorted boy friends/husbands and an occasional grandkid.
I have always made EVERYTHING for dinner. Turkey, spuds, veggies, gravy, stuffing etc.
When we had the house, and a real dining room, we'd put everything on a sideboard, and let everyone go at it buffet-style. In the condo, we have a peninsula, and our practice has been the same. Fill up your plates, and join us at the table.
This year, I finally said, "I'm done! Someone else host. I'll make something (turkey and gravy) and everyone else bring their sides. Dinner is at someone else's house!"
D4 agreed to host today, and all went really well. The kids, and SIL's parents joined us. Food was spectacular.
But...
It was a "put it all on the table and pass it around" type of meal rather than buffet-style.
So, what did y'all do?
- All the food at the buffet - fill up and sit down!
- Put is all on the table - pass it around!
Personally, I prefer the buffet-style.
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Buffet.
MIL cooked. You can't get it all on an eight-foot table.
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I stopped by just long enough for the wife and I to eat. And I mean, fifteen minutes.
MIL is 82 and can still cook. Today was a roasted turkey, a pot roast, both gravies, rice, cornbread dressing, sweet potato crunch, mustard greens, green beans, steamed cauliflower and carrots, corn on the cob and yeast rolls. The greens, beans, carrots and corn came out of my garden this year.
Dessert was lemon pie, pecan pie and a chocolate cake.
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The Mrs. is immunocompromised. We contemplated some kind of meal with her family, but in the end decided it would be an inconvenience for them and still be risky for her to do something with the whole herd.
We did our own bird at home. It was quite pleasant; however, we are not able to compete in Aqua's great quotes contest.
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Salmon head/chin stew
Pork ribs, barbecued
Shrimp, braised in tomato sauce mix with diced vegetables
Honey roast pork
Celery stir fried with tofu skin
Pasta, hot, with red sauce and chicken meatballs
Pasta, cold, with white sauce and some shredded vegetables
Mixed green salad with cranberry, croutons, and honey mustard dressing
Spinach and arugula salad with cranberry, crunchy noodles, and thousand island dressing
Roasted chicken (no turkey)
Stir fried vermicelliThose are the items on the main spread, ones that I can recall anyway. I’m not going to list the appetizers and dessert items.
No gift and no exchange of gifts.
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At the table..
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No tg dinner this year, we’re in Paris. When I do them the food is on the table. Growing up it was on the table except one or two items that didn’t fit and someone who could reach the sideboard would pass them when necessary. So it was always family style, not buffet.
We were never the family with 1000 sides at TG. Probably three sides, four max. Two pies types growing up but they came out later.
Only non-witches get due process.
- Cotton Mather, Salem Massachusetts, 1692
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Yes even the expats do TG
We made most of everything. Turkey. Stuffing. Gravy. Yams. Salad. Daughter brought a pie.
All on table but we set up a little
pokerservice table next to the dining room table where we can deposit stuff that doesn’t need to be immediately close at hand, to make more room and less clutter at the table.We had lovely evening. Nailed the turkey just right, and the gravy was not too thick, not too thin, little bear just right.
drinks were two types of beer, a double bock and a wheat, sparkling brut for the obligatory toast to everyone’s continued health and happiness, and a red Zinfandel to match the bird.
Unfortunately no football on Israeli tv. Just a few NBA games.
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We were at D4's house yesterday.
I made turkey and gravy - carved it at home, and drove it to her.
SIL made a turkey breast in his smoker, also mashed potatoes and a salad.
His mom (who always makes too much food) made stuffing balls, beans, and a casserole with sweet potatoes, onions and something else.
Cream cheese pumpkin pie and cookies for dessert. -
Yes even the expats do TG
We made most of everything. Turkey. Stuffing. Gravy. Yams. Salad. Daughter brought a pie.
All on table but we set up a little
pokerservice table next to the dining room table where we can deposit stuff that doesn’t need to be immediately close at hand, to make more room and less clutter at the table.We had lovely evening. Nailed the turkey just right, and the gravy was not too thick, not too thin, little bear just right.
drinks were two types of beer, a double bock and a wheat, sparkling brut for the obligatory toast to everyone’s continued health and happiness, and a red Zinfandel to match the bird.
Unfortunately no football on Israeli tv. Just a few NBA games.
@bachophile said in How did you do Thanksgiving?:
Yes even the expats do TG
We made most of everything. Turkey. Stuffing. Gravy. Yams. Salad. Daughter brought a pie.
All on table but we set up a little
pokerservice table next to the dining room table where we can deposit stuff that doesn’t need to be immediately close at hand, to make more room and less clutter at the table.We had lovely evening. Nailed the turkey just right, and the gravy was not too thick, not too thin, little bear just right.
drinks were two types of beer, a double bock and a wheat, sparkling brut for the obligatory toast to everyone’s continued health and happiness, and a red Zinfandel to match the bird.
Unfortunately no football on Israeli tv. Just a few NBA games.
No football? Not popular enough to program?
“Cry havoc and let slip the DOGE of war!”
Those who cheered as J-6 American prisoners were locked in solitary for 18 months without trial, now suddenly fight tooth and nail for foreign terrorists’ "due process". — Buck Sexton
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No tg dinner this year, we’re in Paris. When I do them the food is on the table. Growing up it was on the table except one or two items that didn’t fit and someone who could reach the sideboard would pass them when necessary. So it was always family style, not buffet.
We were never the family with 1000 sides at TG. Probably three sides, four max. Two pies types growing up but they came out later.
@jon-nyc Oh so jealous! Which neighborhood are you in?
We did our meal around 1, buffet style (but there are just 2 of us). My family always did the traditional dinner time, but I hate the waiting around all day trying not to eat anything and then going into the meal starving. I like the early afternoon meal so much better. Similarly, drinking started early, but was spread out throughout the day so that it never felt like too much.
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@bachophile said in How did you do Thanksgiving?:
Yes even the expats do TG
We made most of everything. Turkey. Stuffing. Gravy. Yams. Salad. Daughter brought a pie.
All on table but we set up a little
pokerservice table next to the dining room table where we can deposit stuff that doesn’t need to be immediately close at hand, to make more room and less clutter at the table.We had lovely evening. Nailed the turkey just right, and the gravy was not too thick, not too thin, little bear just right.
drinks were two types of beer, a double bock and a wheat, sparkling brut for the obligatory toast to everyone’s continued health and happiness, and a red Zinfandel to match the bird.
Unfortunately no football on Israeli tv. Just a few NBA games.
No football? Not popular enough to program?
@jolly we do get football but for some reason they didn’t air the TG games.
I guess I could stream directly NFL if I bothered to subscribe to the NFL channel.
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@jon-nyc Oh so jealous! Which neighborhood are you in?
We did our meal around 1, buffet style (but there are just 2 of us). My family always did the traditional dinner time, but I hate the waiting around all day trying not to eat anything and then going into the meal starving. I like the early afternoon meal so much better. Similarly, drinking started early, but was spread out throughout the day so that it never felt like too much.
@optimistic said in How did you do Thanksgiving?:
@jon-nyc Oh so jealous! Which neighborhood are you in?
We did our meal around 1, buffet style (but there are just 2 of us). My family always did the traditional dinner time, but I hate the waiting around all day trying not to eat anything and then going into the meal starving. I like the early afternoon meal so much better. Similarly, drinking started early, but was spread out throughout the day so that it never felt like too much.
We never ate late. Dinner (that's mid-day for us) is between noon and one.
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@optimistic said in How did you do Thanksgiving?:
@jon-nyc Oh so jealous! Which neighborhood are you in?
We did our meal around 1, buffet style (but there are just 2 of us). My family always did the traditional dinner time, but I hate the waiting around all day trying not to eat anything and then going into the meal starving. I like the early afternoon meal so much better. Similarly, drinking started early, but was spread out throughout the day so that it never felt like too much.
We never ate late. Dinner (that's mid-day for us) is between noon and one.
@jolly said in How did you do Thanksgiving?:
We never ate late. Dinner (that's mid-day for us) is between noon and one.
Interesting.
When I was growing up, the large meal of the day was always after mom and dad came home from work - somewhere around 6 PM.
But, on weekends and holidays, when they were home, it was mid-day, around 1 PM.
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@89th said in How did you do Thanksgiving?:
At in-laws, and passed it all around the table. Buffet style makes WAY more sense.
Compromise and buy MIL a Lazy-Susan table.
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@89th said in How did you do Thanksgiving?:
At in-laws, and passed it all around the table. Buffet style makes WAY more sense.
Compromise and buy MIL a Lazy-Susan table.
