How did everyone's holiday go yesterday?

GadgetGuy

GadgetGuy

(Formerly Shermie)
Joined
21 Aug 2014
Local time
4:20 AM
Messages
7,254
Location
Brighton, MA.
Did everyone have a nice Thanksgiving yesterday? Did everything go well as planned? What were your foul-ups? What were your accomplishments? How did everything go? What do you plan to do better next year? Were there any complaints, compliments, things of that nature? :whistling:
 
Not too badly. We weren’t hosting, but visiting instead, so it was a little easier on us.

The only downside with all the things I brought was the dressing. I made it was low-carb/light bread, to make it a little more WW-friendly for my wife, and that bread is very fragile, and I was afraid it wouldn’t hold up well…and it didn’t.

Plus side was that one of the guests is going through some fairly serious digestive issues and has some difficulty with firm, solid foods (they had to cut their turkey up into near-powder to eat it), so they thought the stuffing was excellent, because it was easy for them to eat, so that actually made me feel good about what was otherwise not my best work.
 
It went pretty well. I cooked the turkey, so it was good. :D It was just my sister, my mom and me this year. But, I did go see my dad in memory care and brought him some pumpkin pie, which he devoured.

The only glitch was that my sister made the green bean casserole on Wednesday, and put it in the fridge to heat up Thursday... and forgot it. Not a big deal, we nuked it and had it by the time mom said grace, and we loaded our plates with the other stuff.

The weather sucked, but all-in-all, was a good day.

CD
 
Thanks for asking, GadgetGuy ! Hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful, with your family and friends.
We were invited next door ( I´m currently in Cincinnati) and Jenny, our neighbour, is an accomplished cook. Wonderful turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc, etc, etc. I was a bit confused by the green bean casserole (to be honest - horrible) but the rest was phenomenal.
 
karadekoolaid said:
I was a bit confused by the green bean casserole (to be honest - horrible) but the rest was phenomenal.
Click to expand...

That is a dish that I actually like, but feel weird about liking it. It was created in the 50s by Campbell's Soup Company. It has 50s stamped all over it. There are from-scratch recipes out there, but the original was 100-percent from canned goods. That's still how most people make it.

CD
 
karadekoolaid said:
Salad dressing??? I imagine you´re talking about the "stuffing" (which no-one else uses for stuffing any more).
Click to expand...

Yes, dressing is another word for stuffing. Most people don't actually stuff the Thanksgiving turkey anymore. It's not very safe, unless you severely overcook the bird. My dad always insisted that we stuff the turkey, but now that I am cooking the turkey, we don't do that anymore. When my dad was in charge of thawing, stuffing and cooking the Thanksgiving turkey, the only reason that we never got food poisoning was because he cooked the turkey until it was as dry as cotton and tough like shoe leather. That's how his mother cooked a turkey, so that was the "right" way.

CD
 
karadekoolaid said:
Salad dressing??? I imagine you´re talking about the "stuffing" (which no-one else uses for stuffing any more).
Click to expand...
Yeah, dressing if it’s outside the bird, stuffing if it’s inside. We always called it dressing either way.

Some people stuff the bird, I bake it in a baking dish, though this time, because we were traveling a bit, I did it in the crockpot. My grandmom, mom, and sister all bake(d) it in patties, like a big bread burger, and frequently basted with broth.
 
My experiences of stuffing the turkey have mostly been, well, dire. The stuffing is grungy and wet; the inside of the bird, usually uncooked. I´ll go for your "dressing". We always used to make stuffing "balls" when I was a kid, and I think I prefer it that way.
 
Morning Glory said:
Its doubly confusing for us Brits because a casserole in the US is not what we call a casserole.
Click to expand...

The American casserole "boom" started after WWII, and peaked in the 50s and 60s. They were cheap and easy, with most ingredients coming straight from a can. You could make them in one baking dish, for easy cleanup, too. In the 70s, a boxed product called Hamburger Helper became popular. It was a one-pot meal for a family that you made with a pound of ground beef and this box of dried ingredients, including some kind of pasta noodles. Chicken Helper and Tuna Helper were added to the product line over time. Again, cheap and easy.

CD
 
Morning Glory said:
It’s doubly confusing for us Brits because a casserole in the US is not what we call a casserole.
Click to expand...
I’s not even a consistent term across the US. When we moved to Minnesota, it was hotdish-this and hotdish-that, and this poor ol’ Ohio boy was thinking, “What’s this hot dish you’re speaking of?” - where I’m from, a “hot dish” was just as likely to indicate a comely young miss as it was a food item. :wink:

Then I went to my first potluck: “Oh. It’s just a casserole. No girls then, huh?” 😐 :laugh:
 
As I have never crossed the pond to the USA, so I don't understand Thanksgiving, I always thought of it as greedy American's way of having two Christmas's. I am sure that someone is about to explain why you have a Thanksgiving to an ignorant Brit.

No offence meant I really don't know. I could google it but it's more fun this way.
 
Sticky Fingers said:
I always thought of it as greedy American's way of having two Christmas's.
Click to expand...
No, no, no. If that were the case, we’d have Thanksgiving presents! :laugh:

It’s just a day meant for giving thanks, and all the food sort of comes out of the old harvest celebrations that a lot of cultures have.

Then, after that special day, where we express our gratitude for our family, friends, good fortune, and all that we have, we have Black Friday, where we stampede over one another to save $100 on a 78-inch LED TV! :laugh:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom