Thanksgiving

System · November 2010

As we love to talk about food here in the content department at MLSP, the topic of non-traditional Thanksgiving foods came up and we were wondering what foods outside the usual turkey, stuffing or dressing, green bean casserole, etc. are part of your Thanksgiving traditions or memories.

kdigangi · November 2010

In an Italian family like mine, there has to be pasta, usually ravioli or lasagna accompanied by meatballs and sausages. Often, we fill up on pasta in the afternoon, and the turkey dinner gets postponed until later in the evening. I'm not Italian myself, so I insist on cooking the turkey, but I don't think anyone else would miss it if I didn't.

System · November 2010

No one liked pumpkin pie in my family, but we all loved chocolate, so I remember chocolate pie as a favorite dessert - we even requested chocolate pies for birthdays instead of cake.

But my favorite Thanksgiving/holiday food I remember is one I haven't had in ages, but plan to revisit this year - chocolate gravy. You make the gravy in a cast iron skillet that your grandmother probably also cooked in and you serve it over oven toast (toast made in the oven with pats of butter put on before you toast it) or biscuits. Yes, chocolate gravy is a breakfast food in the South although it's also an excellent breakfast-for-dinner treat with bacon and eggs.

turkey · November 2010

OMG, my two favorites together chocolate and gravy.

cnghr · November 2010

Growing up we always had this one awful jello salad. I don't think it was originally meant to be for Thanksgiving, but rather for Christmas because it was red and green...green jello with red apples and pimentos in it. It was served with a sauce made from mayonnaise, canned milk, and sugar. I don't know how the tradition got started but mom insisted on having it every year, even though I think we usually ended up throwing the majority of it away a few days later because it didn't get eaten.

After mom died we were talking about who was going to bring what to dinner and somebody asked who was going to make the jello salad. Everybody said "Yuck, not me!" and that was when we realized that "it's a family tradition" was the only thing that had kept that stupid salad on the table all those years!

Celeste Blackburn SPHR · November 2010

None of us are very big on Turkey so we usually have ham. My mom has been known to get a turkey breast or sliced turkey cause day-after-Thanksgiving turkey, cranberry, and stuffing sandwich is something my family does appreciate.

Sharon McKnight SPHR · November 2010

Though born and raised in the South, I've never heard of chocolate gravy. Kinda makes me wonder what else I missed out on. My mom did have a chocolate fudge recipe that was cooked in an iron skillet and had to be made just right or it wouldn't set. My brother and sisters and I loved it when it didn't set because we could scoop spoonfuls onto saltine crackers. It would be a little like eating fudge flavored peanut butter, except without the peanut butter. (Some where in my head, that actually makes sense.)

When I was growing up, Thanksgiving at our house was all about the coconut pie. In the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, the other kids at school would tell of their never ending love for chess, pumpkin, or pecan pie, but my brother and I would just nod and smile and keep on dreaming of the coconut pies that we knew would be coming our way on turkey day. In fact, I think probably the worst childhood squabbles we had were over that dang pie. Golly it was good.

Sharon

Dutch2 · November 2010

I don’t seem to have many memories of Thanksgiving as a kid but I sure do enjoy it now. When my better-half and I both have the Wednesday before Thanksgiving off we will try to do most of the baking then. We will make at least one each of the following pies: pecan, coconut crème, chocolate and pumpkin. Mom will make a big batch of cornbread in a square cast iron skillet (cause everyone knows that pie-r-round and cornbread-r-square) that will be used for her dressing next day. If any cornbread is left over, I get to enjoy a glass of crumbled up cornbread with milk poured over it. Just give me a spoon and stand back. Thursday morning we are all four up early and at our positions in the kitchen. First a light breakfast and then to task. We each have our assigned stations and jobs to do. I have someone been assigned to chopping and stirring. Each of the boys will have their special dishes to prepare and Mom is in charge of the kitchen and supervising us boys. I am always amazed at how she consistently pulls off a perfect Thanksgiving meal in spite of all the “help” she has.

joannie · November 2010

[quote=turkey;721106]OMG, my two favorites together chocolate and gravy.[/quote]

Welcome to the forum. Sure am glad turkey isn't your favorite.:D

plynnl · November 2010

Funny you should mention the screen name "turkey". I was previewing the new features for this website and they had me sign in as "turkey" and a different password to view what I could have for a higher subscription price. I failed to log off and when I went to post a comment the name "turkey" was used as my login name. It was really just me!

ACU Frank · November 2010

What a coincidence... you posted as "Turkey" and Paul has been toying with the idea of switching to his main ID, "Fruitcake".

As long as we're on a holiday dinner theme...

::pb&J::

Paul in Cannon Beach · November 2010

Fruitcake, huh? So we are back to that.

NaeNae55 · November 2010

Please don't talk to Paul about changing screen names. His ordeal on FB was quite traumatic enough.

Paul? You ok there buddy? Are you recovered?

Sharon McKnight SPHR · November 2010

I was reading franks' post and got caught up in watching the dancing banana. It does a bit of moon walk, the Charleston, and even a tad bit of John Travolta's disco magic from Saturday Night Fever. It's mezmerizing. Problem is, I can't figure out any of the other bits it includes.

Sharon

\:D/

Still Need Coffee · November 2010

Great, Sharon, now you've got me staring at it!!!!!

plynnl · November 2010

I think part of the macarena (sp) is in the dance.

Paul in Cannon Beach · November 2010

Ah, the internet. Entertaining the simple since 1995.

Tony Kessler · November 2010

This seems as good of a place as any to wish all of you a happy Thanksgiving and a great rest of the week! If you eat too much turkey, don't come

to me with pleas of :-/ -- it'll be too late then. Do some exercises\:D/and you'll feel

soon. tk

Paul in Cannon Beach · November 2010

Tony will be running his yearly Thanksgiving Marathon followed by a sumptious rice cake and a sliver of pumpkin pie so thin you can see through it.

I, on the other hand, intend to induce a full scale Turkey coma with firm instruction to not be revived until kickoff.

Sharon McKnight SPHR · November 2010

I, on the other hand, spent much of the holiday dealing with less than cooperative relatives and made the worst apple pie I've ever made. Gosh it was bad. Here's hoping Christmas will be less dramatic. One 26 days to go!

Which bring me to a question. Many companies have shied away from decorating for the Christmas holiday in recent years. What will your company/organization do as far as decorating for the Christmas holiday this year?

Sharon

NaeNae55 · November 2010

We have a tree up, and a few other decorations, but nothing that screams religion.

Our dinner came out pretty good except for the gravy. It had so many lumps I ended up calling it Gravy Surprise (a surprise in every mouthful).

Paul in Cannon Beach · November 2010

We never put away our christmas decorations from last year. You do know it comes every year, right?

kdigangi · November 2010

We decorate the lobby and one of the party rooms with Christmas trees, wreaths, pontsiettas, but nothing overtly religious. Several of the individual departments do their own decorating. We have an international workforce, so I'm sure there are a variety of religions, but everyone seems to celebrate Christmas, and I've never had a complaint. We certainly wouldn't object if anyone chose to display other religious holiday symbols in their own areas.

Kathy

cnghr · November 2010

Most of our branches/departments do their own decorations, usually trees, wreaths, lights, etc. and never anything overtly religious, although some years back we had a local artist that we hired to paint Christmas scenes on the windows of a couple of our branches and they included nativity scenes, angels, and the like. Nobody ever complained, but then I don't live in a really diverse part of the country so we don't have many (if any) employees of other religions.

We have some employees who really go all-out with their offices or cubicles, but I personally decorate my office very simply - I have a six-inch-tall "Charlie Brown Christmas" tree, complete with the one little red ornament and Linus's blanket wrapped around the bottom, and a stuffed elf that I can sit on a shelf. Easy to put up, easy to take down and put back in a closet when the season is over!

Thanksgiving

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