Thanksgiving, 2022

[Katie Meadow]

On 11/17/2022 at 11:36 AM, Kim Shook said:

I had a friend who threatened to put Xanax in the cornbread one year that it was his turn to have the family gathering.  😁

I would save on Xanax and just take a healthy dose myself. Then the rest of the guests can do whatever they like to do and who cares?

[scubadoo97]

 Just got the head count for this year’s family Thanksgiving. Going to be a big one.  100 ppl. Confirmed 

[Tropicalsenior]

I've got to tell you what my Thanksgiving is going to be like. For the last 10 years, I have been having Thanksgiving dinner at my friend, Teresa's house. (I always had mine on Sunday here in Costa Rica because, of course, it is not a holiday here and more people could attend). Teresa's husband is originally from Iran so some of the dishes are a bit different then what we usually think of as Thanksgiving fare. There will be about 15 to 20 people there from The States, all over Latin America and from the Middle East. Everyone will be bringing something. Teresa is cooking a big ham, her husband, Mike, will be making chicken kabobs, and their friend, Hamid, an Iranian chef will again massacre the turkey.

Hamid will cook it at his restaurant until it is a falling apart carcass after which he will bring it to their house and reheat it for another hour to an hour and a half in their oven. Turkey jerky anyone? Mike will cook the kabobs on their barbecue and his idea of cooking is, if it is brown it is cooking, if it is black it is done. Teresa's ham will be delicious.

Because the idea of some of our traditional Thanksgiving dishes are a bit difficult for Latin Americans to grasp, the state of the other dishes is always interesting. One year the mashed potatoes were the consistency of gravy and the gravy was the consistency of mashed potatoes. This year I will be contributing the mashed potatoes, gravy and dressing. The food is almost always a disaster but the company is so interesting and so congenial that the party is always a big success. No drunks, no politics, no fights, and hosts so lovable and generous that we come back for that turkey year after year.

 

[billyhill]

We have never really done a traditional Thanksgiving meal. Roast turkey is not real popular with my crowd, they prefer chicken. I usually make chicken and dressing (southern style from the old church cookbook), Mash potatoes, and gravy, rattlesnake beans and pinkeye peas from the garden, and cream corn. This year, my son has requested chicken supreme over orzo. He will probably get it.

 

I will have to be thinking of some alternatives for me since type 2 diabetes has taken hold.

[Tropicalsenior]

2 hours ago, billyhill said:

some alternatives for me

I found this site when I was researching things to make for a friend that is diabetic. There are some really good looking things on this.

[Shelby]

10 hours ago, scubadoo97 said:

 Just got the head count for this year’s family Thanksgiving. Going to be a big one.  100 ppl. Confirmed 

Holy crap. I wouldn't know quite how to handle that.  I get stressed just cooking for two lol.

 

I channeled my inner @Kim Shook and started gravy prep

 

Edited November 19, 2022 by Shelby (log)

[BeeZee]

I haven’t had to be the main cook for Thanksgiving for a while, it is nice not to be stressing out, but I still have the feeling that I should be doing something. Bought the supplies for my contributions (gravy and veg), except the Lacinto kale, which I will buy on Monday. I will make the gravy Wednesday and cook kale Thursday a.m. This all assumes my sister doesn’t panic and realize she needs me to make something else…

BTW, for all of the talk of turkey shortages, I saw no evidence of that in the supermarket, at least for the mainstream products.

[billyhill]

6 hours ago, Tropicalsenior said:

I found this site when I was researching things to make for a friend that is diabetic. There are some really good looking things on this.

 

Thanks, I page marked that.

[Smithy]

3 hours ago, BeeZee said:

I haven’t had to be the main cook for Thanksgiving for a while, it is nice not to be stressing out, but I still have the feeling that I should be doing something. Bought the supplies for my contributions (gravy and veg), except the Lacinto kale, which I will buy on Monday. I will make the gravy Wednesday and cook kale Thursday a.m. This all assumes my sister doesn’t panic and realize she needs me to make something else…

BTW, for all of the talk of turkey shortages, I saw no evidence of that in the supermarket, at least for the mainstream products.

 

Now that you mention it, I'm seeing plenty of turkeys in the markets also. I can't speak to their pricing, though; it isn't something I've bought in a long time and I haven't paid attention to their prices.

[Shelby]

Has anyone seen just the breast of the turkey for sale?

[Katie Meadow]

 My husband just came back from a major shopping and there was no shortage of organic fresh turkeys. He paid about the same as for the last few years. What cost a lot more was everything else on the list. Cauliflower : $5 a head. Romaine lettuce? That was the tipping point. He settled for butter lettuce instead. Weird.

[billyhill]

Plenty of Turkey breast in the stores here, both fresh and frozen. Not much in the organic/free range category in backwater nowhere. Saw some in the big city yesterday.

[MaryIsobel]

12 hours ago, Tropicalsenior said:

I've got to tell you what my Thanksgiving is going to be like. For the last 10 years, I have been having Thanksgiving dinner at my friend, Teresa's house. (I always had mine on Sunday here in Costa Rica because, of course, it is not a holiday here and more people could attend). Teresa's husband is originally from Iran so some of the dishes are a bit different then what we usually think of as Thanksgiving fare. There will be about 15 to 20 people there from The States, all over Latin America and from the Middle East. Everyone will be bringing something. Teresa is cooking a big ham, her husband, Mike, will be making chicken kabobs, and their friend, Hamid, an Iranian chef will again massacre the turkey.

Hamid will cook it at his restaurant until it is a falling apart carcass after which he will bring it to their house and reheat it for another hour to an hour and a half in their oven. Turkey jerky anyone? Mike will cook the kabobs on their barbecue and his idea of cooking is, if it is brown it is cooking, if it is black it is done. Teresa's ham will be delicious.

Because the idea of some of our traditional Thanksgiving dishes are a bit difficult for Latin Americans to grasp, the state of the other dishes is always interesting. One year the mashed potatoes were the consistency of gravy and the gravy was the consistency of mashed potatoes. This year I will be contributing the mashed potatoes, gravy and dressing. The food is almost always a disaster but the company is so interesting and so congenial that the party is always a big success. No drunks, no politics, no fights, and hosts so lovable and generous that we come back for that turkey year after year.

 

At the end of the day, for me, the company is what it's all about. 

[MaryIsobel]

1 hour ago, Katie Meadow said:

 My husband just came back from a major shopping and there was no shortage of organic fresh turkeys. He paid about the same as for the last few years. What cost a lot more was everything else on the list. Cauliflower : $5 a head. Romaine lettuce? That was the tipping point. He settled for butter lettuce instead. Weird.

Because I didn't have a plan B, I just paid 5.99 Cdn for a head of romaine. Not organic and not huge.

[Tropicalsenior]

1 minute ago, MaryIsobel said:

Because I didn't have a plan B, I just paid 5.99 Cdn for a head of romaine. Not organic and not huge.

Wow! And I've been complaining about having to pay 75 cents for it here in Costa Rica and sometimes the heads are huge. Last year I was paying about 40 cents.

[Tropicalsenior]

23 minutes ago, MaryIsobel said:

At the end of the day, for me, the company is what it's all about. 

That's exactly my feeling. When my husband was alive we had a lot of large dinner parties here in Costa Rica usually anywhere from 20 to 35 people. One Thanksgiving we counted and with 30 guests we had 11 countries represented. Sometimes it looked like a meeting of the United Nations. One of my guests said that she always enjoyed coming to our house because the company was so congenial. I told her that that was because we only invited people that we liked.

Edited November 19, 2022 by Tropicalsenior (log)

[heidih]

Makes me sad when I hear so much anxiety about holiday entertaining and happy when people note the joys of gathering with friends.  My son may have stories to tell this year as he is now in charge of holiday events for his facility. He has done Thanksgiving in an assist mode for 10 years. In past they invited those in food need to come and he is used to their commercial kitchen and often did multiple turkeys to bring over as well cooked at his place, But Covid - has to be delivered meals. As a community service they deliver about 500 meals per week to local shelters but turkey, gravy, etc portioning and transport is bit more complex and special. Sure they will take the glitches with humor. He works with a good group of guys.

[Maison Rustique]

16 hours ago, Shelby said:

Has anyone seen just the breast of the turkey for sale?

I've been watching because that's what I usually pick up just for the two of us. Haven't seen any bone-in yet. 

[BeeZee]

6 hours ago, Maison Rustique said:

I've been watching because that's what I usually pick up just for the two of us. Haven't seen any bone-in yet. 

Yes, I picked up a bone-in one (7lbs) on Saturday. It was free due to the supermarket's customer loyalty program.

[MaryIsobel]

19 hours ago, heidih said:

Makes me sad when I hear so much anxiety about holiday entertaining and happy when people note the joys of gathering with friends.  My son may have stories to tell this year as he is now in charge of holiday events for his facility. He has done Thanksgiving in an assist mode for 10 years. In past they invited those in food need to come and he is used to their commercial kitchen and often did multiple turkeys to bring over as well cooked at his place, But Covid - has to be delivered meals. As a community service they deliver about 500 meals per week to local shelters but turkey, gravy, etc portioning and transport is bit more complex and special. Sure they will take the glitches with humor. He works with a good group of guys.

Your son sounds like a good man. Well done.

[scubadoo97]

On 11/19/2022 at 9:37 AM, Shelby said:

Holy crap. I wouldn't know quite how to handle that.  I get stressed just cooking for two lol.

 

I channeled my inner @Kim Shook and started gravy prep

 

I’m just making hummus.   But the menu revolves around tradition and those that live much closer 

[Tropicalsenior]

1 minute ago, scubadoo97 said:

I’m just making hummus

How much do you make for 100 people?

[FauxPas]

On 11/19/2022 at 3:32 PM, MaryIsobel said:

Because I didn't have a plan B, I just paid 5.99 Cdn for a head of romaine. Not organic and not huge.

 

California had drought and a spot virus in the crop. Bad combination. We're just starting to see some of the AZ lettuce growers coming online now and I hope that means the prices will drop. I see one of our local stores is offering both CA and AZ lettuce. Right now, both are still $5 Cdn but I hope that will change soon! I am kicking myself for not planting some in my raised bed which has a greenhouse cover. I did hear that it would be a bad year for lettuce. Some of our local farms are still offering various greens but I wonder if they are trying to charge what the market will bear, not what their real costs are. Sigh. 

 

Edited to add: It may still be too soon for the AZ lettuce. I just noticed that product listing said CA/AZ lettuce. So could be either. But I do believe prices will come down here in BC once AZ production ramps up. Hoping they don't have any big issues!  🙂

 

 

Edited November 21, 2022 by FauxPas (log)

[MaryIsobel]

24 minutes ago, FauxPas said:

 

California had drought and a spot virus in the crop. Bad combination. We're just starting to see some of the AZ lettuce growers coming online now and I hope that means the prices will drop. I see one of our local stores is offering both CA and AZ lettuce. Right now, both are still $5 Cdn but I hope that will change soon! I am kicking myself for not planting some in my raised bed which has a greenhouse cover. I did hear that it would be a bad year for lettuce. Some of our local farms are still offering various greens but I wonder if they are trying to charge what the market will bear, not what their real costs are. Sigh. 

 

Edited to add: It may still be too soon for the AZ lettuce. I just noticed that product listing said CA/AZ lettuce. So could be either. But I do believe prices will come down here in BC once AZ production ramps up. Hoping they don't have any big issues!  🙂

 

 

Here's hoping! It wouldn't be so bad if there were any choices other than iceberg and clamshell, sad looking spring mix in my small town. I do keep buying spinach because my husabnd is not a fan of green veg so to quote him " she puts that s**t in everything." 

[weinoo]

On 11/19/2022 at 6:22 AM, Tropicalsenior said:

No drunks, no politics, no fights, and hosts so lovable and generous that we come back for that turkey year after year.

What fun is that?