The offspring and I are the only ones who like turkey, so I roast the one he brings home from work and split it between us.
Tday with the fam is actually fairly simple, as we’re a very small family. Everyone makes a couple of dishes, so nobody is slaving, as we all live within a few miles. Its usually a ham at my mom’s. Scheduling gets interesting as my sister’s kids are both first responders, so sometimes we have lunch, and sometimes dinner.
Christmas is more of a grab bag meal wise, although the last several years Ive made rib roast at popular request
I haven’t given it any thought yet, but it’s usually just the two of us, and I anticipate that will be the case again this year. We’re not big turkey eaters, but Mr. Bionda does like a drumstick and turkey gravy, so what I usually end up doing is getting a small whole turkey cheap (or sometimes free!) and breaking it down - legs/thighs get roasted for eating, skin gets roasted for crackling and rendered fat, and the rest goes into the stockpot. Sometimes I make duck instead.
For the rest, we’ve developed a tradition - crab cakes and olive cheese puffs with mimosas during the parade. The main meal is the aforementioned duck or turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, rustic stuffing with roasted fennel, porcini and sausage (this serves as a main for me!), a green vegetable (varies, but sauteed green beans with lemon are popular), and maybe a cranberry or other berry sauce (usually only if I make duck). I used to make Parker House rolls but lately I find they’re just too much with such an already carb heavy meal.
Apple (for me) and pumpkin (for him) pies for dessert, accept no substitutes. My favorite part of Thanksgiving is apple pie with cheddar cheese for breakfast on Friday!
Sunshine LOVES Thanksgiving and all of the traditional food. I have a Turkey Breast in the big freezer from when they went on sale. I didn’t make homemade rolls last year, but I’ll correct that mistake this Thanksgiving.
If any of the local grocery stores have a sale (on Turkey breasts or small turkeys), I’ll grab one and do something else with the turkey breast in the freezer.
I did serve duck for one Thanksgiving, which Sunshine really enjoyed. Sadly, there isn’t going to be enough $$$ to afford a duck this year, but we’ll still have a nice Thanksgiving with turkey.
Oh, that makes me sad! I have one sibling who always goes rogue with not tons of notice (certainly not before I have to pre-order my turkey). Now with parents gone - and my parents always wanted the traditional Thanksgiving turkey and trimmings - dinners and gatherings are slightly smaller. But I just buy the same size turkey anyway. My other sibling and her family will always come and they will always take leftovers. I enjoy the leftovers so much (congee, soup, etc.) that I’m fine with keeping more myself and having lunch, dinner already planned for the next week.
I just tell my sibs now - this is what I’ll have, whether you come or not. If you want to come, name your side dish(es) and let me know when. So Thanksgiving cooking and dinner happens if it’s all of us or if it’s just me and the cat.
It’s nice to have traditions. I look forward to Spicy Sunday at casa lingua every week, but it also tends to be different dishes each time
I’m also someone who has trouble planning ahead — as evidenced in the weekly menu planning thread — and with my birthday coming up, a trip to Philly in October, and Hallowe’en all happening before Thxgiving, it hadn’t really been on my radar yet.
Serveral people came down with food poisoning after ingesting the buffet shrimp the day before. We heard about it when we came in for Thanksgiving dinner.
I ordered Thanksgiving from a pricey butcher who makes Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner for one. I can’t be bothered to make any of those meals myself.
We had celery stuffed with cream cheese, jumbo black olives, radish roses and gherkins? all on a crystal tray that was brought out once a year. Us kids would wear the olives on our fingertips. The cream cheese came in those little 3oz. packages and I think we had to use two packages to stuff the celery ribs.
If one is visiting the upper Sacramento valley, you must visit the olive producers along the I-5 corridor, particularly Corning. Tastings of the fruit and oils are well worth the stop. Pick up a picnic lunch and head east to the river for lunch.
Do you recommend any place in particular? I don’t get up that way a lot, but every few years I hire a guide for salmon fishing on the Lower Sacramento, so maybe olive oil tasting on the way home could be a thing.
I am on Team Pie for Breakfast at Thanksgiving. I’m not one for cheddar cheese on apple pie but you’re inspiring me to make a delicious exception this year.
We always had a relish tray too, Mother’s Fosteria dish, Mission olives, green onions, radishes, gherkins and stuffed celery, usually with Kraft’s pineapple spread. I think @BeefeaterRocksSister has the dish.
I do. And I love a good relish tray. Also crudités with Beau Monde Dill Dip. I love thanksgiving even though turkey is my least favorite part. It’s the apps and sides that make it special for me.
— and with my birthday coming up, a trip to Philly in October, and Hallowe’en all happening before Thxgiving, it hadn’t really been on my radar yet.
