Thanksgiving Favorites, Mon Petit Chou!

So this morning I was looking at the What do you think? survey on MSN where readers vote, or like me, skip to the results. Today’s question asked what is your favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal and the choices included, turkey, stuffing, bread or rolls, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, macaroni and cheese, Brussels sprouts, and pie. Two things on the list were requested by two of my grandkids, mashed potatoes and green bean casserole, and my sister offered to bring another, sweet potatoes. My favorite would be the Brussels sprouts or as my husband and I like to call them, mon petit chou, my favorite French term of endearment roughly translated to mean my little cabbage head, unlike my husband’s favorite French term, soup du jour, Pierre, (soup of the day). But back to the survey, I skipped to the results and after fully expecting macaroni and cheese to be the favorite was surprised to find that the stuffing had the highest percentage of votes. Not surprisingly, Brussels sprouts didn’t have enough votes to garner a single percentage point but that’s okay, mon petit chou, you are still my favorite.

Oil, Emu versus Turkey

A friend gave my husband some emu oil to massage on his achy arthritic joints so I figured I’d look up some info on it. Let me qualify this one thing about the emu oil, actual emu oil was not very high on the ingredient list in 100% Emu Oil by Thunder Ridge Emu Products. Anyway some people swear by emu oil for its rejuvenating anti-inflammatory properties since on the bottle it suggests ‘intensive pain relief.’ Some people ingest it though the stuff given to my husband warns against it, for that product anyway. The jury (my husband in this case) is still out on the benefits of emu oil. The emu is a pretty big bird as is the turkey so I figure they would both render a good bit of oil. 

Now for turkey oil, my search brought up production of oil in Turkey but that wasn't the turkey oil I was looking for. I was thinking more along the lines of the oil that the Thanksgiving turkey floats in in the roasting pan. I don’t eat it as an entrée but it helps make good gravy for the mashed potatoes and if your turkey isn't too dry, I figure it is a big part of what keeps it moist and delicious. I also came across lots of different oils for frying turkeys and the fryers. We did deep fry a turkey once and the same set up (with water and Old Bay seasoning instead of cooking oil) makes for a really good low country boil. I have also seen an advertisement for a candle that smells like fried chicken so perhaps a fried turkey candle isn't far behind. On the other hand, I have set the timer on my oven and cooked the bird overnight before (to make room in the oven for the ham and other Thanksgiving feast parts that require oven space) and I doubt any candle could hold a candle to the aroma we awakened to in the morning. 

Eating Tofurkey with a Spork

I’m in a portmanteau kind of mood with this year having Thanksgivukkah in it, since the first day of Hanukkah falls on Thanksgiving Day. A portmanteau is a fusion of two words and their meanings, not to be confusioned with compound words, to make a new word, like Thanksgivukkah. Spork, of course, is also a portmanteau, the KFC’s famous dining utensil and combination of spoon and fork, with tiny tines for stabbing at the edge of the spoon section for scooping. Tofurkey is the vegetarian portmanteau for a faux turkey, with all the seasonings of the traditional bird but none of the actual animal product. Instead tofurkey is made up mostly of tofu. This year Black Friday seems to be moving to Thanksgiving Day Thursday so I've been thinking we might just need  another portmanteau for this. I might start call Thanksgiving Day Grey Thursday this year since so many retailers are staying open and then after midnight Grey Thursday fades to Black Friday. Not exactly a portmanteau, but I welcome any suggestions.

I’I've never tried tofurkey before either but this year I just might put it to the test alongside the traditional turkey turkey. And I may opt for foam plates too but sporks are definitely out. 

Feral Turkeys

I caught a short story on MSN about feral turkeys taking over Manhattan, or there abouts in New York. In truth, I worry more about these two feral cats I've rescued taking over my Thanksgiving turkey, because as I found out this morning, even my oatmeal isn't safe if left unattended on the dining room table. Be that as it may, I was once followed around by a feral turkey. No, not my husband, if that’s what you are guessing. This turkey latched on to me and shadowed my every move one day when I was at the end of Harriet's Bluff Road in Camden County where there was at one time a Thiokol Chemical plant turned Union Carbide pesticide plant, 4,000 acres unused now, most currently being considered as a site for an aero-spaceport facility. I was there looking at the tabby remains of an anchor shaped civil war era house, the Bellevue Plantation, when I was befriended by this particular feral turkey. It was a pretty big bird, I might add, and try as I might to keep my distance every time I turned around until I finally retreated to the safety of my car this new found feathered friend could be found nearly at my heels. I’m not sure to this day what this turkey was looking to me for but the turkeys in New York apparently are making a nuisance of themselves, leaving droppings and causing car accidents. New Yorkers don’t want them killed yet their numbers have increased a lot and their meat may not be suitable for human consumption until it’s been tested for pesticides and the like. I’m thinking the same for my friendly follower up at Harriet’s Bluff since it lived its life on Union Carbide’s, Bayer CropScience’s facility. The problem with trapping and relocating the New York turkeys is that they may not be entirely feral but perhaps a mix of wild and domesticated turkey. Yep, there I go thinking of my husband again. It would sure be nice to relocate him home for the holidays.

Ernie Banks

Yesterday Ernie Banks was one of the recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in Washington D. C. and I don’t think it could have happened to a nicer guy. Ernie Banks, AKA Mr. Cub of baseball’s Chicago Cubs was twice named Most Valuable Player, won a Gold Glove Award, was named to more than a dozen All-Star teams, was inducted into the Hall of Fame and has one of the most recognizable smiles in baseball. He went from a 7-dollar-day player in the Negro Leagues to the first African-American to play for the Cubs. He hit 512 homeruns during his career. Jack Brickhouse who announced for the Cubs back when I went to Wrigley Field and Ernie Banks wore the number 14, was known for his catch phrase, “Hey-hey!” when the Cubs scored and Ernie Banks for saying, “Let’s play two.” My Mom met Ernie Banks years later when she worked at Motorola but one of my best memories from my Wrigley Field days involved getting an autograph from Ernie Banks. We went to lots of games there and always sat along the third baseline. As the game progressed it would become obvious that not all the box seats (closer to the field) were going to be occupied so one thing my twin brother and I did was sneak into them, choose a couple of seats to sit in, and try to act like we belonged there. Sometimes we were escorted back to our mother but sometimes not. Sometimes when we didn’t have money for the ticket into the park we stayed out on Waveland Avenue with a transistor radio listening to the game, waiting to hear “Hey-hey!” while watching for a homerun ball to come out of the park so we could make a scramble for it. After the game we sometimes waited there for the players to come out after the game and head home. That was a good place to try for an autograph too. But the best autograph place and the time most vivid in my memory was once before the game started. My brother and I scooted on our bellies on top of the dugout waving our program and a pen, hoping it would get snatched for an autograph before we were run out of the box seats one more time. And as you might expect we did get returned to the grandstand, but that time with Ernie Banks’ autograph. I loved the foot long hot dogs and the frosties, and the vendors singing about peanuts and cold beer here, bottle of beer, but I loved number fourteen the most.  

Turkey Shortage

Butterball announces turkey shortage, fresh ones over 16 lbs. anyway. And I am just recently reading about this when the big day is just around the corner, next week? There are plenty of frozen or lower weight fresh turkeys to go around. Did I mention that turkey day is looming? Well I need to be sure I have enough time to thaw the main entrée, and everyone that’s ever cooked a turkey knows that’s complicated. I guess I could get two eight pounders dress them up identically and serve them as twins. Or I could go completely off the reservation and serve something else. Years ago we took a family camping trip in the Smoky Mountains and we cooked individual Cornish game hens (9 of them and we were really packed in the tent like sardines too, food is definitely on my mind) over a campfire but even that took prior planning. Apparently Americans serve roughly 46 million turkeys on Thanksgiving, with 88 percent of all Americans feasting on the bird. There are more than 248 million turkeys raised each year in the U.S. except, perhaps this year with its shortage of fresh 16 pounders. Maybe someone should just announce that the market has been flooded with a bunch of stale, frozen underweight or obese turkeys, nothing in between because the sixteen pounders have all been photo shopped, or do like a lot of retailers seem to be doing this year, and skip Thanksgiving all together.

50 Years Later

Where were you when you heard President Kennedy had been shot? I was in school with my classmates, now fellow baby boomers. I looked to my teacher when we heard the announcement and saw emotions and fear in her face that I had never seen before. I read this week that the baby boomers, school aged 50 years ago, are the ones who have shaped the national memories of this event. The assassination of John F. Kennedy was the watershed event that defined our generation, the generation that defines how we look at the world today. The world wasn't what it appeared to be. The Kennedy assassination ripped away the veneer and the devastating tragedy struck us down and touched us all. The ugly side of reality blindsided us.

Where was I when the twin towers fell? I was once again in school. No announcement was made to our students this time. The news came to me in a call from my daughter-in-law and the photos on the internet and the large numbers of panicked parents suddenly picking up their kids brought the unreality home. Although we were instructed to remain professional and not tell the students what was happening (like when they watched the Challenger explode after launch) the stunning news of this tragedy couldn't be kept from our hearts and faces. Already this watershed event has impacted and influenced our culture. Another watershed event defining the next generation, the generation that will define how future generations look at the world.