Now that it's almost over .... what did you get up to on your thanksgiving?

I'm thinking that some of you might be too wiped out today, but tomorrow is OK, if you'd like to post then!

Looks like no one's up for a chat ...
Oh well, never mind.
OK, I'll tell you what I'm doing today, then (where it isn't thanksgiving ).
I'm eating a slice of wholemeal toast with raspberry jam spread on it.
And am about to head off to my back yard & continue pruning (endless job!) & weeding ..... gotta get some work it before it rains. Lots of rain forecast for the next few days.

We had a turkey dinner, with cranberry sauce, yams, dressing, gravy - didn't have room for veggies. We will have to get back to those, tomorrow. The gravy was made from a packet. Bad choice, as it tasted like pure salt. Then I watched football, napped - Later I mowed the yard. It was a bit overgrown. Had to get the yard looking better before tomorrow's project, decorating for Christmas. All day long I wanted to have a glass of wine, but I failed to get any when shopping. Well, I am off to other pursuits now. Hope everyone that stops in has had a great day.

I worked.
So I got up at about five - I had two (small) slices of olive bread spread with red pepper hummous for breakfast.
Then I drove to work. On the way I bought petrol, and I saw these beautiful yellow flowers for 2 pounds so I bought them for the ladies in the library - to express my thanks for providing such a welcoming and stimulating place to spend my lunch hours on the days I work.
I also bought some biscuits (cookies - THAT's weird - I just noticed I said 'biscuits' instead of cookies without even consciously thinking about it) for all the other teachers in the staff room to express my thanks for being such supportive and fun work colleagues.

Then I spent the morning meeting with students and we worked on maths - mostly areas and perimeters and costing materials and labor for carpentry jobs they are hoping to get some day.

Then I had lunch - no turkey though - just a sandwich, apple and a couple of the lemon shortcake biscuits I bought - they were delicious.
Then I taught my maths class. We did reading and creating pie charts and line and scatter graphs to display data.
In honor of Thanksgiving, I'd bought this little apple pie I saw for £1.49 in the shop on the way to work and we measured it and measured out the angles so everyone got an equal piece. It looked like a good pie and I wanted to know if you could really get a decent apple pie for £1.49 so I figured I'd bring it in for a treat and to make the lesson more appealing. They said it was really good! There were five guys so each guy got a slice that was 72 degrees wide.

Then I came home. No one was here but me so I had a bagel spread with the same delicious red pepper hummous I'd had for breakfast and watched 'Come Dine with Me'.
I was really tired so I went to bed early and woke up hungry and remembering that I forgot to call my mother to say 'Happy Thanksgiving' yesterday - and then remembered that it's only 8:30 in the evening on Thanksgiving there so I could still call her.
Then I was wide awake so I checked my e-mail and came on a2k.

Today (Friday) I'm going to start cooking because I'm having 15 friends and my family for a giving thanks meal tomorrow (Saturday). We're doing sort of a potluck. Everyone who cooks is bringing one of their favorite dishes to add to the turkey and pies I'll cook. Jack- my 90 year old adopted father who doesn't cook and George - my 87 year old friend who doesn't cook will just show up to eat and provide the entertainment.
I'm looking forward to it.

I'm the early bird. I got up and jogged over to the Middlesex Fells, a
forested area nearby, and jogged along some trails on a frosty morning.
I returned home and showered. The Lovely Bride got up and then my son
Rhys. Nigel, my youngest drove over and we all went out for dim sum.

In the evening my sister-in-law and brother-in-law came over for dinner.
We had couscous and pita chips then New England calm chowder, followed
by salad. The main course was turkey,stuffing, wild rice, mixed veggies
and gravy. After dinner we chatted a bit then had some coffee and pecan
pie and fruit flan.

Clean-up time. Gotta go.

No turkey here - I don't particularly like it and since I am not a true American I can eat something else We had some Muscovy duck (South American) with spaetzle, vegetables and kale salad. It was truly delicious! For dessert we had my mom's homemade cookies that just arrived yesterday from Germany and later on some strawberries.

Other than that we were lazy, lazy, hanging out and talking up a storm...

I'm back. And reading about what you've all been up to.
Well, 4 of you, anyway ....
I love reading stuff like this ... the details, how you celebrated, or didn't, what you got up to .....
I'm a terrible sticky nose.

Edgar, you're starting Christmas preparations? Tomorrow?
You obviously like to keep busy!
I wish I could share some wine with you. I'm having a glass right now.

Aidan, sounds like you had a good-ish day, even though you were working.
Do you become really homesick on thanksgiving day? Like all the US folk I've known here (in Oz) over the years?
Tomorrow's celebration sounds great! I hope you've finished cooking buy the time you read this.

George, you do things in style! Lunch out/fantastic dinner in!
You married an excellent cook in the Lovely Bride. Always interested to hear the details of her culinary efforts.

Jane, Yum! I mean yum!
That sounded a delicious meal.
And a big long relax after .... perfect!

So what about the rest of you?
Love to hear how you spent your day, in detail!

-

And if anyone had a shocker of a thanksgiving day (like most of my Christmas experiences to date) you can tell us about that, too!
We'll commiserate with you!

Cleaning

Coffee and trappist monk made fruit cake

Apps of several European cheeses and trappist cheese, pickles and olives, little weenies in BBQ sauce

Dinner all home made of course

A 18 lb turkey smoked on my weber with hickory
mashed potatos
my half cornbread half stove top dressing that I do
candied yams
baked oysters
rolls and butter
corn
butternut squash pureed with butter and eggnog
cranberry sauce
smokey turkey gravy

Pumpkin pie with real whipped cream

all through the day talking, game playing, watching football and other shows. My daughter who works at Microsoft had to work for a few hours on black friday problems, and now the kids are all out shopping. Last time I talked to him the boy thought he was going to snag the Best Buy Computer...he was #4 in line.

We will do leftovers for the next few days, fitting any any feast meal that we do around here. I will freeze some of the turkey and send it back to Seattle with my girls.

I had surgery! Nothing to eat until about 4.00 pm....had a ham and salad sandwich and two cups of tea.

Then ordered in dinner with my post surgery baby sitter....cold Vietnamese rolls, roast duck, and prawn and moreton bay bug hotpot with stir fry veggies on the side...all shared of course.

Mmmmmmmmm.......

And decent tv.....QI and The Slap.

I'm fascinated by Georges calm chowder. Do they play relaxing music to the clams while they kill them? I'm sure it's better than terrified clam chowder.

Wow, that's quite a spread, hawkeye!
How many hands in the kitchen cooked all that?

Sounds like you had all your offspring were there, too.
Nice.

A not-exactly-fun-day that ended well, Deb.
Bet you're glad that that's over!

I was just thinking: I could do with a calming chowder right now.

It's after 9 pm & I haven't eaten yet.
All this talk of food is making me very hungry!
Anything I whip up will be a huge let-down after all this!

the wife does not cook except for Russian at Christmas (Her father was a Zarroff), but both daughters are good cooks and bakers. The boy can but does not like to (no need he says, he will be either an Army or a Marine officer and will marry a woman who can cook). For many years when the girls were younger I did it mostly or all myself, but I have always encouraged my kids to cook with me.

We have actually cut back, as I used to do a jello mold and a second kind of pie, but that was when we always invited soldiers who had no where to go over, which we stopped doing when my wife got too high in rank and was gone to war half of the Thanksgivings...we decided to make it just about us, and occasionally my mother with she was still alive.

Well, job well done, I say!

Anyone else awake yet?
I just checked the World Clock & I guess not .....
Unless you're a super early riser, that is.

The best scovy ducks are grown in the mid Atlantic states from good stock . I guess the imports are cheaper but not as good IMHO.


Im still recouperating so we stood at home and ate nothing special except fopr some pies that Mrs F made. She did an oven stuffer Perdue Chicken. These are some of the best eating chickens ever raised. They have an old fashioned "Chickeny" flavor (You know what I mean, all the veal raised chickens have a blue white skin and are tasteless). PErdue takes some pride in the ultimate product and its taste. It was just the two of us. The kids are off in different parts of the world and we didnt feel like doing the family thing back in N Pa.
Weve usually looked at Thanksgiving as a relaxing holiday. Now , more than ever, we try to avoid local news for a few days (Mostly because everything is about crass mercantilism and Black Friday).

We did visit our neighbor briefly, just enough time to taste his home made hard cider(It ws really good). and we went over to Conowingo Dam to view the returning bald eagles. Mrs F made a big thermos of hot coffee and it was welcome cause the wind was really kicking up and the river is about 1/2 mile wide below the dam.

Sounds a really good, peaceful day, farmer, especially since you're still getting better & need to take things a bit easier while you recuperate.
The bald eagles are "locals"?
Returning for the winter?
I would have loved to have seen that!

That would be Manhattan clam chowder.