It’s Almost Thanksgiving, Busker– Don’t Forget The You-Know-What!!
Here in the United States, we’re preparing to celebrate Thanksgiving: a day set aside for feasting, watching football on television, eating leftovers, and watching more football on television. Some of us are especially thankful when it’s over.
The supermarkets are packed! Grocery carts are stacked high! And I think I see our favorite street musician buying everything he needs for the feast.
Thankful? I’ll say I am: for all my wonderful fans and followers. Happy Thanksgiving!
Note: For anyone not familiar with Tums: they’re chewable antacid tablets taken to relieve heartburn and indigestion. Americans will be chewing a lot of them this week.
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Are you celebrating Thanksgiving this week? What’s on the menu?
Do you help with the dishes afterwards– or do you sneak off and hide??
Are you feeling thankful for anything in particular this year? Care to share it?
Hope you’ll leave a comment.
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This will be only my second Thanksgiving in America and I’m slowly figuring which traditional menu items work for our palates. Green bean casserole is in (delicious!) but a lot of sides are just too sweet. We Scots are notoriously sweet-toothed but even my gums ache at the mere thought of marshmallows in sweet potato. Turkey, creamy mash, green beans and other veggies, cranberry sauce and corn muffins. That’s what’s on our menu. No idea about dessert. I can’t face pie after such a heavy meal. I’ve got a few hours left to figure out dessert.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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Green Bean Casserole… you know, if I had a nickel for every time I’ve seen the recipe for same in a magazine, I’d be a rich man. Funny thing is, I don’t think I’ve ever actually eaten any. So if you hear a knock on the door as you sit down to your Thanksgiving meal, that’ll be me asking for just a wee taste. Really, just a spoonful (or two) on a paper plate will be fine. I’ll eat it on the porch… : )
You’re right about mixing marshmallows with sweet potatoes: an atrocity. Marshmallows should know their place: namely, in hot chocolate, with an occasional righteous field trip to Rocky Road Fudge… : )
And you’re quite right about the pie. You’re the first person I’ve known who dared to speak that truth: eating pie after a typical Thanksgiving meal will kill you. I speak as someone who’s died many times. Usually the cause of death is pumpkin. However, mince and apple have also been cited. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!! : )
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Ha ha! Well green bean casserole was new to me so I am still enjoying it. I would make it throughout the year if my kids enjoyed it more.
Marshmallows are definitely for hot chocolate, smores and rocky road. Yum.
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Do you help with the dishes afterwards– or do you sneak off and hide??
Thanksgiving this year will be at my folks’ place, since my father-in-law has some health issues and MIL needs a break. I asked Mom if we needed to bring a dish (as that’s what my in-laws ask) but she said no, just we needed to help with cleanup.
I’m grateful for my friends at the No More Shame Project.
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Interesting! It’s been my own experience that bringing a dish can lead to dishpan hands: you bring a dish, it creates more dirty dishes, which in turn creates additional pressure for a chap to belly-up to the sink! In years past, I’ve tried to argue that all the dishes should be stacked high and left in the sink, while the whole family goes for a walk, and tries to work off some of the 100 million calories they’ve just ingested. Does anyone ever support my idea? Sadly, no. That’s the tragedy of a too-deeply-ingrained sense of duty and decorum, my dear fellow: it can lead to dry, scaly hands!! : )
Happy Thanksgiving, Jak!
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Ah, Mark, I may not be American but I am very thankful for our friendship! Happy Thanksgiving, my friend, and a happier Thanksgiving after day! Enjoy the day’s goodies and gratitude [without the Tums preferably!] 🙂
PS Hmm, I wouldn’t mind some cornbread, pumpkin and pecan pie!! 😉
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My dear Marina! You are now an honorary American! I’ve just issued a special decree. You’ll also receive a special red, white, and blue toga that’s impervious to paint stains. Also: a pan of hot cornbeard (my special recipe), a pumpkin pie with homemade, extra-fluffy whipped cream, and a pecan pie with extra glaze, made with only the finest, happiest pecans from contented, sun-kissed trees!! Oh– and a big bottle of Tums, just in case… : )
I, too, am very thankful for our friendship. Just thinking about it always puts a big smile on my face. Thanksgiving is a great time for counting one’s blessings. Yes, it was a lucky thing when all those Pilgrims and Indians sat down for a big turkey dinner on Mt. Olympus– inspired!! It’s definitely my favorite Greek holiday… Happy Thanksgiving, dear Marina!! : )
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Honorary American! I’m already in my red, white, & blue toga absorbing ecstatically all the delicacies you sent. I tell you, the pecan pie was the death of me! However, no Tums needed! The quality was superb [as expected]!
On a note about the bit turkey dinner…
after my intervention, the turkey [and meat in general] have been banned from Mt.Olympus but no worries – our heavenly chefs prepare the most delicious dishes that put any meat dish to shame!
Enjoy the day, my friend! 🙂
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Ah, yes… Pecan Pie. They don’t call it The Food Of The Gods for nothing… : )
A vegetarian Thanksgiving? Believe it or not, I had that experience one year. A neighbor (actually a small community) invited the whole neighborhood for Thanksgiving dinner. The entire meal was vegetarian, and I’ll never forget the main dish, which substituted for the turkey: a gigantic squash, about two feet (0.6 m) in diameter. When they lifted off the top, there was a further surprise: they’d hollowed out the center, which contained a big ball of stuffing! A delicious meal, and certainly a memorable one…
I had a great Thanksgiving, my dear Marina, and I hope you and your fellow Mount dwellers did, too!! : )
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That veggie turkey sounds …spectacular!
Happy you enjoyed your Thanksgiving, Mark.
It’s a good thing to celebrate every day – isn’t it?!
Happy November, my friend! 🙂
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Remember- it’s fully a North American thing; Canada just celebrates it a month earlier.
I’d totally trade Columbus Day for another Thanksgiving (yes, I’m told that’s when it’s celebrated).
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Hi, Jak! Sorry to be late responding here. Hope you and Cimmy & Co. had a great Thanksgiving.
Yes, Canada celebrates their Thanksgiving a month earlier than we do, in October. What a sensible idea!! And its good sense was never more apparent than this year, when New Hampshire, the Great Northeast, and much of the eastern seaboard got socked with a big snowstorm the day before Thanksgiving– ugh!! It’s something American travelers have to worry about every year, when– and I’m sure you’ll back me up on this– our time could be much more profitably spent walking off pie and ice cream, and then going back for more… : )
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Thanks for this post Mark… It reminds me to post something about Thanksgiving Day!
Better have your Tums with you ready, because Toothsome would really surprise you that you wouldn’t careless how many donuts you’d indulge in… 🙂
Happy Thanksgiving Mark! mmmwahhh
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Thank you, dear Dolly!! I had a great Thanksgiving: I bought two dozen donuts with maple frosting at the Lemons R Us Caf̩ & Holiday Food Mart, then I took them to my workshop and arranged them in the shape of a turkey. Then I stuffed the turkey with donut holes and two handfuls of Tums, poured a can of chocolate sauce over it, and ate the whole thingРyum!!!
Of course, you weren’t there to share it with me, so I sniffled, and a big tear rolled down my cheek. Then I brushed it away, and had a pumpkin pie and a big tub of whipped topping for dessert… mmmmwahhhhhhh!! : )
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Whoaaaaa! You just made me jealous! 😆
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Mark … My role is mainly to bake the turkey and make the stuffing. I also make cornbread – a box of Jiffy mix cornbread with 2 Tablespoons of honey. I always get compliments on this. How do you make your cornbread? The rest of the meal is prepared by our family. I usually luck out and don’t have to do dishes. For THAT, I am extremely grateful.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. 😉
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Hi, Judy! Sorry to be so late responding– so many leftovers that needed tending to, y’unnerstand… : )
Hope you and your family had a great Thanksgiving. You do the turkey and the stuffing, eh?? And the cornbread. You are definitely the main driver, my dear! Well, those other lucky chow-downers darn well better give you a free pass on the dishes, say I!!
Honey in the cornbread… sounds good! I use a cup of creamed corn and a quarter-cup of cream to make mine more moist. And I read somewhere that corn meal absorbs moisture, so you get moister bread if you let the batter sit for 30 minutes before baking. Another helpful hint from the Armstrong Kitchen! Hey, why’s the floor so sticky in here?? : )
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Thank you for making me smile before I set off to make a giant Christmas pudding (rich dried fruit dessert guaranteed to put you in need of Tums).
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Ha! My very great pleasure, and I do apologize for this tardy reply.
A Christmas pudding… hmm! I have to ask: was that for Thanksgiving, or is it something you stick in the freezer, and then thaw out on Christmas Eve?? Either way, it sounds good. I love mince pie and rum balls, and yes, even fruitcake. They all make a great meal, served with plenty of coffee, and a half-cup of Tums for dessert… : )
Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving, and many thanks for stopping by!
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Christmas pudding is like a very rich fruit cake full of Guinness and other good stuff which means it keeps for years but they taste that good they are eaten on Christmas day, in Ireland and the UK
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Sounds wonderful!– thanks for that mouth-watering explanation. Oh– and if you need a taste tester, let me know. I’m always ready to step in for a good cause… : )
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We don’t celebrate Thanksgiving over here but I love the meaning behind it. To give thanks – that’s a great reason to celebrate!
I have been curious about Thanksgiving food because it all looks so tasty – pumpkin pie sounding particularly delicious 🙂
Happy Thanksgiving, Mark. I hope you have a really super delicious feast 🙂
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Well said, Lily. A thankful disposition is a great thing to have. Keeps us from sliding into envy and resentment, which is all too easy to do. Naturally, being perfect, I don’t have to worry about such things… : P
I did have a nice Thanksgiving, thank you, and I was particularly thankful for pumpkin pie and knowing delightful people like you. Hope this finds you enjoying the Christmas season, singing carols, and decking the halls with holly, ivy, and plum pudding!! : )
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I never associated thxgiving with football. As you know Canada celebrates it’s Thxgiving over 6 weeks earlier in October. Do Americans ever wish it was a bit earlier in November? Christmas is coming around fast thereafter.
Yes, thanksgiving is giving thanks to blog readers too. 🙂
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Hi, Jean! Yes, I’ve often envied Canadians’ good sense in having their Thanksgiving in October. There’s a lot to be said for a two-and-a-half month gap between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The two holidays definitely run together for us here in the States, certainly a lot more so than when I was a pumpkin-pie gobblin’ kid. And of course, every year it’s the same thing here: you wonder if Mother Nature’s gonna lower the boom and hit you with a big storm while everyone’s traveling for Thanksgiving– which is exactly what happened here on the east coast this year. And it’s not easy, riding one’s bicycle in snow and ice. Unless you’re Canadian, of course… : )
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