Thanksgiving prep

[MaryIsobel]

15 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

 

There are a chain of stores here called Farm Boy who sell turkey carcasses every Thanksgiving and Christmas.  We had to go to 3 different stores to get that quantity.  We just unloaded batch number 2, below and batch 3 is browning.  That roasting pan in about 16." long and 12" wide.

Fabulous find!

[MaryIsobel]

4 hours ago, FauxPas said:

We had to spend several nights in an apartment hotel in Victoria, BC this past week. We had a fairly comfortable suite with a kitchen and wanted some take-out and decided to try White Spot's Thanksgiving special for two. It was well packaged and easily reheated and really quite good. (White Spot is a classic Vancouver (and BC) chain of restaurants.) As we had no big plans for this weekend, it was kind of fun to have an early T-Day dinner that someone else made.  🙂

 

Dinner included sliced turkey breast, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, veggies, and a mini pumpkin pie. Maybe not quite as good as what I make myself, but a decent meal. I was impressed that the veggies had been lightly precooked so they were just about perfect after reheating. 

 

Here is a photo from White Spot's Facebook page:

 

White Spot does what it does quite well. I'm a big fan of their Shrimp sandwich on toasted sourdough. I also like the fact that you can order a 1/2 order of their pretty decent Eggs Benedict, 1/2 is plenty for me along with their generous portion of fried potatoes.

[chromedome]

At bottom Thanksgiving is a harvest festival (that's why ours is a month earlier than the US version, our climate is mostly harsher and the crops are gathered in several weeks earlier), and those are both universal and much older than North America's colonization .

 

I opted to lean into that theme this year - because I can - so the potatoes, carrots, cabbage, chard, green and yellow beans and summer squash (everything, in short, but the bird and the bread for the stuffing) will be from my garden. There will also be apple pie, made with the apples from our own tree's final crop (as I've mentioned elsewhere it blew over earlier in the year, but has stubbornly hung on and pushed out one last yield of apples). I'll figure out a way to incorporate some of the wine cap mushrooms we grew, as well. Holiday meals at my place are always veggie-palooza.

We usually get our turkey from a farm a few km away but we were late reaching out to them this year, so it'll be a supermarket bird instead.

[Darienne]

So we are having Lasagne  for Thanksgiving after all.  The new kitchen stove is mostly installed but the oven door was taken apart to get the stove into the kitchen...don't ask...and until it's fixed, I still have no oven.  And I refused to take the turkey out of the freezer until the oven was working and now it's just too late.  I have no idea what the vegan daughter will eat.  Oh, the Lasagne will be heated in the toaster oven.    

 

Speaking of the new oven...I could not find the knobs.  What?  Surprise! It has no knobs.  It works by computer.  No one warned me about this.  I had no idea that there were stoves with computer-operated ovens. 

[blue_dolphin]

2 hours ago, chromedome said:

We usually get our turkey from a farm a few km away but we were late reaching out to them this year, so it'll be a supermarket bird instead.

And here I was expecting a bunny or three to grace your holiday table!

[chromedome]

22 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

And here I was expecting a bunny or three to grace your holiday table!

Nope. In my family we never did turkey because none of us are especially fond of it, but my GF and her family would feel cheated if we had anything else.

[Tropicalsenior]

37 minutes ago, Darienne said:

computer-operated ovens. 

Do you have to operate it from your computer or is it just digital? If it didn't come with an owner's manual, you can probably get one on the internet. It's very important to have to understand what is going on.

I had a friend who had to have the most expensive stove in the store and she never did learn to turn on her oven. All she ever learned to use was two of the burners on top. But then this is a woman that wound up divorced because she couldn't figure out how to sign out of her email account or how to delete emails. Oops!

[gulfporter]

18 hours ago, ElsieD said:

Yup.  Second Monday in October.

 

And they celebrate Christmas in November 😎

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

I'm not a fan of turkey for the Thanksgiving meal but I am of the leftovers made into pot pies and soup.

Last year it was a Jigg's dinner. This year I believe it will be ham.

A good Thanksgiving to my fellow Canadians.

 

[Darienne]

28 minutes ago, Tropicalsenior said:

Do you have to operate it from your computer or is it just digital? If it didn't come with an owner's manual, you can probably get one on the internet. It's very important to have to understand what is going on.

I had a friend who had to have the most expensive stove in the store and she never did learn to turn on her oven. All she ever learned to use was two of the burners on top. But then this is a woman that wound up divorced because she couldn't figure out how to sign out of her email account or how to delete emails. Oops!

It is just digital.  (I had to look it up to make sure.)  No owner's manual but I found a video which showed me how to use it.  Fortunately I don't have to deal with a 'lock' option.  

[gulfporter]

I first encountered Canadian Thanksgiving in 2008 when we bought our first home in Ajijic.  Most expats and snowbirds are from Canada and local eateries offer Thanksgiving menus.  

 

Many menus include Waldorf Salad.  I assumed that was de rigueur for Canadian Thanksgiving, but when I asked Canadians they all said, "no."  

 

Turns out that one of the oldest restaurants here, and the first to offer a Canadian Thanksgiving menu, included it in his menu and as other eateries began offering the meal, they copied his menu, including the Waldorf Salad.  

[liuzhou]

22 hours ago, MaryIsobel said:

I suppose you could make your own clamato...https://www.maricruzavalos.com/clamato-juice-copycat/ and introduce your Chinese friends to Bloody Caesars.

 

I tried to buy some Clamato to make Caesars. Three different online stores list it. All marked out of stock. Must be a lot of Canadians in China.

 

So I looked at the copycat recipe. Now I have to hunt for a recipe for clam juice. The actual clams are easy

 

[MaryIsobel]

33 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

 

I tried to buy some Clamato to make Caesars. Three different online stores list it. All marked out of stock. Must be a lot of Canadians in China.

 

So I looked at the copycat recipe. Now I have to hunt for a recipe for clam juice. The actual clams are easy

 

Clam juice is often called clam nectar here. I hope that you enjoy the Caesar when you finally get one!

[heidih]

19 minutes ago, MaryIsobel said:

Clam juice is often called clam nectar here. I hope that you enjoy the Caesar when you finally get one!

Isn't it just the liquid out o water packed canned clams? We'd mix that with V-Eight- juice - done.  Yes sometimes sold separately but alot going on already. I've seen the juice searately sold in tinned seaphood aisle.

Edited October 8, 2023 by heidih (log)

[MaryIsobel]

39 minutes ago, heidih said:

Isn't it just the liquid out o water packed canned clams? We'd mix that with V-Eight- juice - done.  Yes sometimes sold separately but alot going on already. I've seen the juice searately sold in tinned seaphood aisle.

I don't know - I've always bought the bottled stuff for recipes like chowder or bouillabase. I've always thought the word nectar was an odd choice for "clam liquid."

[liuzhou]

21 minutes ago, MaryIsobel said:

I don't know - I've always bought the bottled stuff for recipes like chowder or bouillabase. I've always thought the word nectar was an odd choice for "clam liquid."

 

Everything I've read tells me it is the water left over when boiling clams. When the clams are open and removed for whatever dish they are to be used in, what's left is the 'clam juice' base. It can be used as is after being strained through a coffee filter bag, but all sorts of things are  or can be added: basic seasoning, wine, garlic, chilli, etc. One recipe suggests a tablespoon of honey per 4 cups of 'juice'. That sounds gross.

 

Canned clams are horrible. I wouldn't put them or their water anywhere near food!

Edited October 8, 2023 by liuzhou (log)

[MaryIsobel]

22 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

 

Everything I've read tells me it is the water left over when boiling clams. When the clams are open and removed for whatever dish they are to be used in, what's left is the 'clam juice' base. It can be used as is after being strained through a coffee filter bag, but all sorts of things are  or can be added: basic seasoning, wine, garlic, chilli, etc. One recipe suggests a tablespoon of honey per 4 cups of 'juice'. That sounds gross.

 

Canned clams are horrible. I wouldn't put them or their water anywhere near food!

That's why I always buy clam "nectar." No way would I used canned clams in cioppino, or bouillabase, there for I never have clam water. The bottled stuff is already strained so no chance of unwanted crunch of sand in your soup.

[heidih]

4 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 

Canned clams are horrible. I wouldn't put them or their water anywhere near food!

Tell that to hhmm too numerous here to name.

[rotuts]

Happy Thanksgiving

 

N.of the Boarder 

 

[liuzhou]

Finally found a Clamato purveyor which only advertises stuff they actually have. It's on its way and should be in my hands over the weekend.

Edited November 3, 2023 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

Well, my Clamato arrived Sunday evening. Yet to experiment, but will not be making the suggested Michelada recipe on the bottle. Tomato,Wooster Soss, and clams in my beer? How drunk were they when they thought that one up.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 7, 2023 by liuzhou (log)

[heidih]

Pretty typical in Mexico along coast

[heidih]

PS on the Clamato - most seafood stalls sell "Cocteles". A large goblet with mixed items, then goblet filled to brim with tomato juice or the tomato/clam juice. Ice cold beer alongside always. So a natural progression?

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Under "mental prep", just read how to clone a honey baked ham. 

 

Last year, we paid just under $100 for a half a honey baked ham to take to the family Thanksgiving.   This year, with just 6 of us, I'm cheaping it with a plain spiralied ham.    But I thought, what, what if I could make our own honey baked ham?    And it seems that I don't even have to reinvent the wheel!    Others show us how!    What a coup to have enjoy this at maybe a quarter of the price!