Once more, the Turkey Day holiday (a.k.a. Thanksgiving Day) is upon us. As in recent years past, I am staying home for the holiday with the Better Half and daughter having a small, humble meal and a time of relaxation. If you are traveling, I wish you safe journeys. If you are hosting people, I hope things work out well and with minimum stress.
To give you a little entertainment and amusement during this holiday time, here are some links to stories, trivia, and other facts about the holiday or related to the holiday that I hope you find amusing and/or interesting.
Before I go further, let me make an observation. For some reason, as I was putting together this post and choosing things to share, I noticed a lot of news sites and other sites putting up milquetoast articles which boil down to "how to get along with your asshole bigoted racist relative during the holiday." I am not going to share any of those pieces of tripe since they all basically say the same thing of treating us like idiots by saying things like "we are not accustomed to getting along with people who think differently" and "we all need to get along." To which I say, "fuck that." I am not in the custom of getting along with racist, bigoted assholes nor will I tolerate them in my home. As far as I am concerned, neither should you. So, in my humble opinion, here is my small advice that I feel needs to be said in the Hard Times:
- If you are stuck with one of those assholes, give them the silent treatment. Do not engage. They may persist, but eventually they will get the clue their bullshit will get no response and move to something safe like praising how good the pie turned out. If you are hosting, don't invite them, and if they come and misbehave, it is your home and your right to kick them right out of the house. If you are being hosted, and some asshole breaks out, feel free to leave. Bad behavior should never be rewarded.
- By the same token, if you are one of those extreme liberal activists with a few causes, the holiday dinner is not the time to be preaching about whatever the cause or trying to win converts. Don't go weaponizing your activism and pissing off everyone else in the process. Just like the racist, bigoted asshole should not be tolerated, the preachy "you are all oppressors" or some variant moralizer should not be tolerated neither. Shut it and let people enjoy their meal in peace. Your causes and need for activism will still be there the next day.
- However, if you still feel a need to be an asshole during the holidays, you can always try to discuss inheritances and estate planning during the meal gathering. I shit you not, this is just what some lawyers actually suggest (via Above the Law). Because you want to make sure your will is in order in case you choke on a turkey bone during the meal and die on the spot.
Some trivia
- I usually try to include the fact sheet that the U.S. Census Bureau does for holidays, in this case the one for Thanksgiving. However, I do not know if this is a sign of the Hard Times, but they did not have one for 2018. I did not find one when I looked in the site.
- On some good news, USA Today reports that the average Thanksgiving dinner costs a bit less this year.
- The USA Today story is based of the annual Thanksgiving survey that American Farm Bureau does every year. Here is the link for this year's survey. What do they base it on? "The shopping list for Farm Bureau’s informal survey includes turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls with butter, peas, cranberries, a veggie tray, pumpkin pie with whipped cream, and coffee and milk, all in quantities sufficient to serve a family of 10 with plenty for leftovers."
- However, if you are traveling by car, you will likely pay more for gasoline this year. UPI reports that U.S. drivers can expect to pay $80 million more for gasoline than last year.
- The Library of Congress Blog offers a small story about a rare cookbook "by a formerly enslaved person who during her life received an array of accolades for her culinary creativity."
- Stuffing. Dressing. Same thing? Not quite, and Thanksgiving and Co. explains the difference, plus they provide some recipes.
- Is it yams or sweet potatoes? Both? The Library of Congress' blog gives a bit of history to explain the difference.
- The turkey? It is all a lie according to this Alternet article that discusses how today's turkey is basically a product of massive industrial food engineering.
- And do make sure you cook that turkey safely and properly. Among other issues, you could end up with salmonella. Via Quartz.
- Did you know that appointments for Botox spike up during the holidays for Thanksgiving and Christmas? Via Priceonomics.
- Want to be more mindful while eating? Here is some Buddhist eating advice, via Tricycle.
- You may also want to be a bit more careful about food waste during Thanksgiving and the holidays. Via The Conversation.
Friendsgiving
This seems to be a big story this season as I am seeing a lot of stories on Friendsgiving. This basically started as a way for friends and other groups of unrelated (by blood) people to get together and celebrate Thanksgiving because they were away from family. These days, it is often a pre-Thanksgiving meal of friends to have before they go home to "the real family." Often you do it because this will be your good meal before you head into the hell ground that is the family.
- The Atlantic provides an overview, looking at it in terms of Millennials (because, let's be honest, it is still trendy to blame Millennials for everything and anything).
- Often Friendsgiving meals are potluck meals. Thanksgiving and Co. offers some do's and don'ts for the event.
Thanksgiving Food
- Buying a turkey? Via The Conversation, an economist explains how turkey is priced. For example, the article mentions that it is cheaper if you buy your turkey frozen. Granted, you have to do all the work of thawing it, cooking it, etc., but it is a lot cheaper than buying a fresh bird. In fact, it is so low in price that grocery stores expect to make their money when you buy all the other stuff and fixings for the feast. It is kind of like movie theaters; theaters do not really make money on the movie tickets. They make their real money on the overpriced concessions. And if you want to have another turkey for Christmas (I can't imagine why, but hey, you do you), the price of that frozen turkey is still a bargain.
- Want to serve a turkey on the wild side? The Reynolds kitchens (the guys who make aluminum foil and such) offer recipes for flavor blasted turkeys with things like hot cheetos. Your turkey will either turn out awesome, or no one will ask you to cook ever again.
- This article from the Los Angeles Times suggests that things will go easier for you as the cook if you cook using sheet pans. They include some recipes as well.
Don't want turkey? Other food options
- GQ offers an alternative to turkey. Cook two chickens instead. It will be easier and taste much better.
- Some folks, like my household, cook something completely different. But maybe you are not quite ready to give up on the traditional meal. So, how you have your turkey, but add a little something different, like some tamales or some other ethnic dish? When I was growing up in Puerto Rico, for Thanksgiving, we often had a turkey (because, you know, the yankees brought that over when they invaded) but also had local traditional dishes like arroz con gandules. Via NPR.
- Quartz offers three more ideas of what to do other than the usual. One of their suggestions is Taco Party, which he have done in previous years.
Leftovers
- Turkey sandwiches is a solution many consider right away for leftover turkey. The Houston Press offers 5 ideas for turkey sandwiches to make with that leftover turkey..
- Via Quartz, how to handle the leftovers and some things you can do with them.
Black Friday
 | |
| Translation: A normal day/Black Friday |
So, you ate til you could eat no more. You napped, then ate some more. Now it is time to get up atthe crack of dawn to go shopping. Because what better way to celebrate gratitude for what you have than getting up at the crack of dawn (or fuck it, rushing right after dinner to Walmart or whatever asshole retail decided to open on Thanksgiving and start Black Friday the day before) to shop for more stuff? It's the American Way.
- The illusion of Black Friday is the idea of good deals. The reality is that retailers know there is a sucker born every minute, and a lot of those suckers go shopping on Black Friday. Story via The Week.
- Quartz has some numbers and other factoids about Black Friday you may find interesting.They even give numbers of people who have died/been killed on Black Friday. Fun, huh?
And now, a special Thanksgiving edition of
Great Debates Of Our Time
Today's topic: What is the proper time to serve Thanksgiving dinner? Here is what The Atlantic says about it, but what say you? Feel free to comment about it.
Finally, let me leave you with a bit of humor, courtesy of It's a Southern Thing. Here is what happens when you have too many leftovers:
No comments:
Post a Comment