Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! (Or, if you're in the UK or elsewhere, Happy Thursday.)
I think we're as ready as we'll ever be to host today's dinner. The deboned turkey is flat out in the fridge, rubbed with a dry marinade that Dave made, and he'll put it in the oven later. The stock has been reduced and it's also in the fridge, ready to become gravy. The countertop is piled with potatoes, brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes, and Dave ordered canned cranberry sauce, creamed corn and marshmallows from Amazon. We have a ridiculous quantity of butter. Oh, and he got a pecan pie from Whole Foods! One of our guests is bringing two more pies, so we'll have plenty of food.
There will be eight of us -- mostly past and present co-workers of Dave's -- including two kids, who will probably stay in the living room on their iPads all afternoon.
One of Dave's co-workers, Dylan, is bringing his dog, Luna. Olga is staying home from her daily walk in solidarity. They've met each other before and get along in the way Olga gets along with most other dogs -- by ignoring them.
All I have to do is clean the house and set the table, play host, and then do all the dishes afterwards -- which will hopefully be a breeze with our newly replaced dishwasher!
Yesterday we had only a half-day of work (as a private American school, we observe the Thanksgiving holiday) and it was devoted to professional development. I attended a session about working with Google workspace, and also one on intercultural awareness that included a model I'd never seen before called the "Johari Window." It's actually a very interesting idea -- that we all have traits and characteristics that we bring to an organization, some openly acknowledged, some known only to us, some known only to our co-workers, and some known to none of us. I find the latter idea fascinating -- that our behavior is motivated partly by hidden characteristics even we don't know about or understand. We watched a four-minute video (linked above) that explains the concept.
And now, I have to go kill some mealybugs on an orchid.
(Photo: On my walk home Tuesday evening.)
Happy eating day.. glad to be here rather than at home- making thanksgiving feast for the usual sixteen , is gratefully not in my stars this year. do dishes as they stack up, that is my helpful tip.
ReplyDeleteHappy Thanksgiving...enjoy your hosting!
ReplyDeleteI am a bit confused about the holiday for Thanksgiving. Is it on the day or the day before? No matter, Happy Thanksgiving and it sounds like you will have a great feast with friends.
ReplyDeleteHappy Thanksgiving.
ReplyDeleteVale mealybugs and good riddance.
I hope that you and Dave and all your Thanksgiving guests remember to give thanks for Donald Trump and his amazing family who did so much to Make America Great Again. Also a special shout out for The Kardashians and Popeye The Sailorman - marine warrior for justice and indefatigable promoter of canned spinach.
ReplyDeleteI hope that you, Dave and your Thanksgiving guests remember to give thanks for Donald Trump and his amazing family who did so much to Make America Great Again. Also a special shout out for Popeye the Sailorman - marine warrior for justice and indefatigable promoter of canned spinach.
ReplyDeleteHappy Thanksgiving to you and happy Thursday to us. Hope the day and dinner are perfect and stress-free... whether you deboned or boned that turkey!
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of deboning a turkey before I just watched a video. Did Dave debone the turkey himself? What a process!
ReplyDeleteHappy 🦃🦃🦃
ReplyDeleteThe meal sounds dee-lish!
Have a lovely day. I didn't have time to watch the whole video but it looks interesting, I'll have to come back when I have time.
ReplyDeleteWell, sounds like y'all are ready. I'm getting there. I just put my turkey in the oven and that bird better do its job and cook. Glad you got a pecan pie. You have reminded me to go get mine out of the freezer.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy!
Thanks for the intro to the Johari Window - interesting! Happy Thanksgiving from central Florida!!
ReplyDeleteHow the hell does one debone a turkey? Serious question. I've seen YouTube videos where the turkey is spatchcocked, but that only involves cutting out the backbone. (It also looks like a very good idea).
ReplyDeleteHappy Thanksgiving and I hope you have a wonderful time with your guests!
Have a wonderful meal, and a heartfelt Thanksgiving.
ReplyDeleteHope your meal is fabulous & the company is even better!
ReplyDeleteHappy Thanksgiving to you and Dave!
ReplyDeleteHave a lovely evening with your friends.
ReplyDeleteI hope you are having a wonderful meal and enjoying the day. Mine hasn't started yet but I'm sure it will be fun and delicious. Happy Thanksgiving.
ReplyDeleteNice that you're getting together with friends for the feast. Happy thanksgiving to you and Dave.
ReplyDeleteHappy Thanksgiving to your group, dogs included. Do they get a bit of turkey? One of my pet care clients told me her Great Dane had once removed an entire cooling turkey from a countertop and had devoured the breast before someone came to bring the turkey to the table..
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like a delicious feast! I too prefer to do dishes or clean up, rather than cook. Happy Thanksgiving to you! Enjoy the company and the pies.
ReplyDeleteHappy Thanksgiving, Steve (Dave, and Olga). I hope the feast went well! (or maybe you're still feasting!)
ReplyDeleteHappy day of the turkey! Is Dave really going to put marshmallow on sweet potatoes? Could we please have a marshmallow picture? Hope everything is wonderful and it's a lot of fun.
ReplyDeleteI too wonder how one debones a turkey. Will have to check Youtube for that one! We'll settle for two spatchcocked Cornish Game hens. Happy Thanksgiving from the desert.
ReplyDeleteI've read that spatchcocking a turkey makes it juicier. Whatever, I hope you have a happy day.
ReplyDeleteHappy Thankful Thursday..hope your gathering is going as well as it promises 🙂🎉
ReplyDeleteDave must be a highly skilled chef/cook. His turkey prep and broth making are complex undertakings. I bet the Thanksgiving meal was outstanding.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of a deboned bird, that has to make the coooking so much quicker. I will check out the Johari Window now.
ReplyDeleteLinda Sue: Yes, "clean as you go" -- if I learned one thing working at McDonald's, it's that!
ReplyDeleteFrances: Thank you! :)
Andrew: Thanksgiving is on the fourth Thursday of November, and it's always "day of." There is no Thanksgiving eve, though people usually have Friday off work as well. (This has become so-called "Black Friday" for Christmas shopping.)
Caro: Of course I then completely forgot to treat the mealybugs until this morning, so they had one more day of life. (Which is probably a lot for them.)
YP: Trump is about the LAST thing I would give thanks for, as you well know! :)
Mitchell: Well, technically, we did neither -- the butcher did it. :)
Debby: He was going to do it himself but when the butcher offered, Dave seized the opportunity!
Bob: Thanks, and you too!
Pixie: I found it interesting -- particularly, as I said, the idea that we have personality traits even we don't know about.
Ms Moon: It's kind of a strange pecan pie. It's very hard. But yummy!
Cheryl: Glad you found it interesting! I did!
Jennifer: There are videos about deboning, too, but I couldn't begin to tell you how it's done. Dave watched them, but I didn't. (And then the butcher did it for us anyway.)
Colette: Thank you! I hope yours was great too!
Bug: Thanks!
Ellen D: Thank you!
Rachel: Thank you! It was lovely, but a lot of work. :)
Sharon: Hope yours went well! We want pictures!
Red: Same to you!
Boud: Oh, yes, the dogs got some little treats on the side. Fortunately they're both too well behaved to steal anything off the table or counter! (Plus they're too short.)
Margaret: Even though I've made a big deal about the cleaning up, I actually kind of enjoy it.
Kelly: And yours too!
Allison: You know, I failed to take pictures of any of our food. The marshmallow tradition actually comes from my family -- that's my mom's dish (which she learned from her mom). We're Southern so we like sugar. :)
Jim: Deboning is like spatchcocking, but taking it one step farther! It's great for limited refrigerator space.
Catalyst: We spatchcocked a bird one year and it WAS good. I don't know about juicier, but I couldn't complain at all.
GZ: It did indeed go well, thanks!
Susan: He was trained at the French Culinary Institute, so he knows what he's doing!
River: Yes, it only takes an hour!
How can you eat that canned jelly stuff they call cranberry sauce? I'm surprised Dave the cook would allow such a thing. We have always just gotten a bag of cranberries and a bit of sugar and made our own from scratch. It is way more palatable.
ReplyDeleteYour holiday plans sound wonderful and I'll bet it was fabulous. I hope it was as good as it sounded! I've never spatchcocked and always wanted to give that a try.
ReplyDelete