Halloween, Thanksgiving & Christmas

CraigC said:
We live in a 55+ community now and there are no TorTer's. We did our house up where we used to live. That is Marie (a flying crank ghost) in her crypt.
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Thanksgiving, I'll usually smoke a small turkey for the two of us with usual sides. I prefer the after dinner sandwich! :okay: Football is on so I'll watch a few games.

Xmas, I don't really celebrate as it is a pagan holiday which christians have turned to their use. Don't know if we'll go over to the west coast (Florida) to have dinner with DD and DGD's. We usually have prime rib for dinner.

On a side note, tomorrow is opening day of stone crab season. Everglades City here I come!
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I have never had any luck with smoking turkeys. I love it. In fact, I don't care for the traditional roasted turkey, but make it and use leftovers for turkey and dumplings and sandwiches.

I hope you have a good time in Everglades City. Please take some photos. ;-0
 
mjd-lovescooking said:
I have never had any luck with smoking turkeys. I love it. In fact, I don't care for the traditional roasted turkey, but make it and use leftovers for turkey and dumplings and sandwiches.

I hope you have a good time in Everglades City. Please take some photos. ;-0
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Do you have access to a smoker or charcoal grill? The secret is brining the bird over night first.
 
MrsDangermouse said:
Its our turn to host Christmas this year and as there will only be 5 of us I'm hoping we'll still be able to get together as we'll be within the rule of 6. But of course if they lock us down then who knows what the situation will be. I think my sister will probably be with us no matter what happens....she's currently living in LA until mid-December so if it comes to it she can move in with us until she returns in January.


We get our Christmas turkey from a local smallholding, turkeys are only one of their products but I'm guessing probably a fairly lucrative one! They say they have a plan if they need to provide smaller birds this year, but I've told them we're happy to have a large one no matter what happens. Even if the family aren't allowed to come over this year we'll just have lots of leftovers! Turkey freezes well and there are all sorts of interesting things you can do with it :okay:
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I make turkey and sausage gumbo every year with the leftover Thanksgiving bird.

CD
 
mjd-lovescooking said:
I have never had any luck with smoking turkeys. I love it. In fact, I don't care for the traditional roasted turkey, but make it and use leftovers for turkey and dumplings and sandwiches.

I hope you have a good time in Everglades City. Please take some photos. ;-0
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I smoked a turkey one Thanksgiving when the ex-wife and I spent it at our home with a neighbor couple that we loved to cook with. It was wonderful. Between my turkey, my wife's baking, my neighbors cooking (restaurant experience) and his wife's food prep (not a good cook), we put together a fantastic meal.

CD
 
@MountainCat, your Halloween plans sound interesting. Honoring our late loved ones is the most beautiful gift we can give them. Love never dies.

I hear you on Thanksgiving turkey. I would make a small one when I had a family as we all preferred ham. I usually make turkey and dumplings and sandwiches for leftover. For some reason, it is not as awful in those forms. ;-) I never understood drowning sweet potatoes in marshmallows and sugar. They are naturally sweet and yummy.

The Seven Fishes for Christmas Eve sounds nice. It's been fun learning about different parts of the world just since I joined.

It doesn't silly to me at all. I'm an introvert and have PTSD so it's extra hard for me to be around a bunch of people, especially ones I don't know. If anything good has come out of this pandemic, I think people have a newfound respect for essential workers, homeschooling families and "quality" time with loved ones. ;-0
 
CraigC said:
Do you have access to a smoker or charcoal grill? The secret is brining the bird over night first.
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No. Not anymore. I had a smoker when I was married and tried a few things in it, but none of them were memorable. IIRC, I did brine the poultry first but it just didn't turn out for me. I've heard people say that it's best to cook it low and slow in the oven but I've never tried that. I just buy smoked drumsticks or wings one at a time when I get a craving.

My mother won't give me any family recipes but she made amazing meals and suggested we get a smoker. I really wish she'd mellow out a bit and share recipes so I can pass them to my kids. I have to come to terms that they will just be lost when she's gone. ;-(
 
MrsDangermouse, what sort of things do you make with turkey leftovers. I live alone now but usually cook a small meal for some elderly neighbors so I usually have leftovers. I've only tried turkey and dumplings and for hot sandwiches. I would love to venture out and try new things with turkey. I hate to waste food so new ideas are welcome.
 
caseydog said:
It is similar here. Police need a warrant to enter a home, unless the homeowner consents (never do that, even if you are innocent), or if the police have reasonable cause to suspect that somebody inside the home is in danger. If they suspect something like drugs being in the house, they must have a warrant, although they can detain the people in the home while they obtain a warrant, so evidence is not destroyed.

Going into a home to check how many people are inside would NEVER fly in Texas, and probably most states.

CD
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Fascinating! My only experience of US policing methods is from watching TV, and it generally comes across as very aggressive and intimidating. I suppose your police have to behave that way because of the risk of a suspect carrying a gun, which we don't have, generally. We have 'policing by consent' which basically means the public, even suspects, get treated politely and without restraint unless their behaviour dictates otherwise. The trade off is that the public consents to the police using their judgement and cooperates accordingly. At least, that's how it's supposed to work!
 
LissaC said:
Trick or treat is forbidden in Portugal this year. We don't do trick or treat so much the children do something similar called pão por Deus, literally translates to bread for God, similar to Halloween except it's a Christian tradition. It's basically children going around people's houses asking for food and it's done on the morning of All Saints Day, November 1. Traditionally people would give bread and home baked cakes to children, you're not supposed to receive fancy candy but of course children don't like receiving bread and nowadays it's easier for people to just buy the candy. In Portugal we kind of mix both traditions, children ask for pão por Deus but sometimes they dress scary and some people decorate their homes Halloween style. Anyway that this forbidden this year, and because parties are forbidden as well my 16 year old sister will be staying with me, I'll have a candy hunt for her, try to cook something scary for dinner, we'll pick one horror movie to watch and play some detective boardgames.

Thanksgiving is not observed in Portugal, so that's a pass. Christmas is always a difficult time in my family, my grandma is generally a very dramatic person but on Christmas she goes all in. Ever since I remember being a person I remember grandma ruining Christmas for everyone. Back in the day when my dad and her were still on speaking terms she declined invitations to spend Christmas at my home, at my aunt's home, at the home of the family of my mom's boyfriend, at a neighbor's home, and went all around the neighborhood complaining she's alone on Christmas eve...arguing with my aunt and making her cry on Christmas day...arguing with my dad and having him stop talking to her shortly before Christmas...talking trash about my aunt on Christmas day as we were waiting for her to arrive for lunch...she puts the joy in Christmas. If the government puts a limit on the number of people gathering in Christmas I would willingly and selflessly exclude myself from the family Christmas celebrations...
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Dear LissaC, I'm sad to hear that your past Christmases have turned out to be tedious. I'm sure you'll experience lots and lots of wonderful Christmas celebrations in the future. Regarding Christmas, the only way is up.

My late grandmother was a grumpy old lady in her last years; no surprise as she suffered from Alzheimer's - but she was a demanding person already during her healthy and active years: a real matriarch. It wasn't exactly life-affirming, when I had got her one or two Christmas presents and when Santa had paid his illusive visit (on Dec 24th after Christmas meal), she grabbed her presents, didn't open them and stated: "Well, well, presents for me? Good grief, what a waste. You should really think about that spending, girl (I was in my 40's). I don't bother to open them now. I'll take them with me and maybe open them later." (read: you've bought something crappy and useless anyway so who bothers.) I love shopping and spending but I'd rather deal with that issue sometime else than at Christmas.

Once granny took a stiff posture, rolled her eyes watching my brother's kids playing (in a normal manner) and said chillingly: "I'm going to DIE because of your hullabaloo". Well, she didn't. She suffered a latent heart attack at a nursing home some ten years later and died of the consequences - but my brother's kids always evaded her. In general, I really loved my grandmother. She was a good cook, a brisk hostess and a diligent businesswoman who worked day in, day out as a landlord until her late 80's. She wasn't that tactful as she expressed her love and care through cooking and purveyance and poked her nose into every single thing. But nobody's perfect.

All Saints Day, Nov 1st, is celebrated here by lighting candles at the graveyard. It's beautiful as it's dark in November.
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mjd-lovescooking said:
Hemulen, Ah, the commercialism of all holidays IS annoying. I don't recall being inundated with holidays so much when we were kids. I especially don't care for seeing Christmas stuff before the first leaf falls in Autumn.

That mask is scary! (but made me laugh).

Little Christmas sounds like fun until the part about hangovers and divorces, of course. It reminds me of a video my kids loved when they were little. I can't think of the name of it but it featured Elmo musing about what if there was Christmas every day. ;-)

Your Christmas sounds like fun! Are you going to post some of your Christmas recipes? I would love to see them and maybe try a few. I remember going to the Museum of Science and Industry for "Christmas Around the World". They would have Christmas trees decorated in different styles from different countries around the world. It was amazing to see as a child.

I cannot see the video. There is an error message.

The poem is beautiful. Thanks for sharing it!
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Mjd, you can check some Finnish dishes from this website: Finnish Food. Salmon is served in every form imaginable and Christmas is not Christmas without salted, oven-cooked ham with mustard and vegetable casseroles. One typical recipe is a salad made of cooked potatoes and beetroots, potatoes, pickled cucumbers (or gherkins) and onion, served with whipped cream seasoned with a pinch of sugar, salt and vinegar and colored with a splash of beetroot juice. Traditionally also salted herring is added but we skip that ingredient. The movie link in my previous post should work now. You can pause the video and type the Christmas recipes straight to a translator (e.g. Google translator).
 
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