the people who write those "how to talk politics at thanksgiving" pieces have no idea they're the ones their relatives are dreading seeing
— andy levy (@andylevy) November 26, 2014
.
How’s the family / not-family gatherings, so far?
This post is in: Open Threads
the people who write those "how to talk politics at thanksgiving" pieces have no idea they're the ones their relatives are dreading seeing
— andy levy (@andylevy) November 26, 2014
.
How’s the family / not-family gatherings, so far?
Comments are closed.
Villago Delenda Est
My family gathering was just fine, thank you. My borderline-wingnut sister avoided discussing how Darren Wilson is being persecuted because he’s white, for example. We talked about the misadventures of pets, mostly.
dmsilev
Waiting for family to arrive. My brother and his wife are corralling the twins (a bit under age three), and are expected shortly. My mom and I are just about done with the cooking; just a few bits of last-minute things to do and then we’re good to go. House has been, we hope, toddler-proofed…
Pogonip
Why would people want to talk about politics at Thanksgiving, anyway?
Tree With Water
Here’s a fun question families can enjoy kicking around during halftime : does voting republican define a person as an American fascist, or just a unwitting dupe of American fascists?
Pogonip
@Tree With Water: Yup, you’re the one Mr. Levy was thinking of when he wrote that tweet. :D
Schlemazel
Wife just getting over a bad cold & I am on day 2, coughing & congested. Instead of going to #1 son’s we are staying home & having chicken soup with extra garlic.
Fortunately we had the big family gathering a week ago when all the kids could be here so it was not a total loss.
As for wingnuts, the wife’s brother fills that role very well but he was all pouty & chose to “punish” us by not talking to anyone. Made me realize we need to hurt his feelings before every holiday as this was his most pleasant visit ever! (the best part was we didn’t do anything to hurt his feelings & were not even trying but he decided he was insulted)
Phylllis
Just the hubby and I this year, and we’re in agreement on most things. Settled into the post-turkey swoon, but I’ll rouse myself in a bit for pumpkin pecan streusel pie.
Mike in NC
The four of us just killed a bottle of 2002 Dom Perignon, because we could. Now playing with the new puppy.
satby
My turkey / andouille sausage gumbo was delicious, the spa baskets are done and ready to ship tomorrow, the dogs are all snoozing and the cats are all fed. I’m mixing up essential oils for my son’s beard oil for his birthday on Friday and Watergirl’s Christmas soap, the house smells divine, and I’m a happy camper. Life is good and I have a lot to be thankful for this year, especially all youse guys.
Zam
We talk politics at the family thanksgiving all the time, though it helps that the conservative side of the family lives 900 miles away and does their own thing.
Pogonip
@Schlemazel: Hey, me too! *cough* So we just moved everything to Saturday.
hildebrand
Helped serve Thanksgiving dinner to about 275 folks at the local Lutheran church – mostly food bank clients, a decent number of church members, some folks who wandered over from Walmart, and a few members of the local Cricket club (a couple of folks went up the University to see if anyone wanted to come for dinner, and the only students on campus were the Cricketers). A good day.
trollhattan
@Mike in NC:
Adopt me.
Pogonip
@Zam: When my grandmother was alive, the main topic of conversation was to get her to stop apologizing for the quality of the store-bought turkey. After she died, we were able to shift to other topics, which very rarely included politics.
Ruckus
Well, I just ate a turkey/salami/swiss sandwich, which is as much turkey as I’m having today. And the only family that I argue with is here on BJ. Which fortunately causes very little arguing so I’ve got that going for me.
VFX Lurker
I just baked a batch of chocolate-chip cookies, and I’m getting ready to join a friend’s Thanksgiving dinner.
I also donated what I could to a friend’s GoFundMe. Her cat Dora had surgery to remove — of all things — a stuck hairball from her intestines. I didn’t know that could happen to a cat, but apparently, that can happen to a cat.
Dora is now drinking water on her own, so that’s a good sign. However, my friend stretched to the limit to cover the cost of Dora’s surgery. If anyone reading this has a spare $5, here’s the GoFundMe link:
http://www.gofundme.com/htz15w
TaMara (BHF)
Just shoot me. That’s all you need to know how dinner conversation went this year, with the Limbaugh faction of the family storming out. Fuckers.
satby
@VFX Lurker: I’m getting some cash tomorrow, and I’m kicking in then. Good luck to Dora!
muddy
@TaMara (BHF): That’s tremendous! Actual storming? I love that.
satby
@TaMara (BHF): that’s too bad… or maybe good if you upset them enough for them to leave?
Redshift
Taking the elderly in-laws out for a mid-day thanksgiving meal went pretty well, especially since the brother-in-law and wife were with her relatives instead. (We’re rather annoyed with him because his only contribution to preparing and selling the in-laws’ house has been trying to tell other people what to do.)
We had a rather touching event at the restaurant. On the way in, there was a young man in a Marine t-shirt who held the door, and my wife thanked him and mentioned that her father is a WWII Marine vet. When we got the check, the waitress said that he had insisted on paying for the parents’ meal!
Now it’s on to my parents, and assuming my father behaves, it should be a pretty good Thanksgiving overall.
Lurking Canadian
@TaMara (BHF): I can only imagine this was deeply unpleasant for you. However, for what little it’s worth, you have won the admiration of at least one random Internet dude. You must have showed significant strength of character to resist the urge to “go along” in the name of family. Them storming out, in my view, means you did very well. Better than I would have in your place.
trollhattan
Good day here so far. My girls just headed out to tend to out friends’ backyard chickens (“cluck-cluck”) whilst I tend to a smaller flock, thus. Did I mention it’s warmer outside than in? Well, it is. We only need entertain the sanest in-law cohort plus the MIL, who’s going to finish dinner and insist on being immediately hauled back to her care home, because “she’s needed.” Which is good for everybody.
Tomorrow it’s cleaning raingutters and hanging lights, weather permitting. But not today.
JPL
@TaMara (BHF): You’ll think the stormin out is a blessing after a good night sleep. If they did that after eating all your prepared food, fuck em.. Thanksgiving is a lot of work and the cook needs to be appreciated.
Suffern ACE
Cooking at someone else’s place. I’m in a foreign kitchen with unfortunately dull knives. I almost became “three-fingers ACE”
Jay C
The wife got sick this morning, so we had to shine the family get-together: but I made an emergency run to the grocery store, and managed to get the makings of some sort of Real Food feast which I will whip up while watching Jeopardy! And eat by myself, unfortunately: Mrs. Jay’s ailment was/is digestive….
Buddy H
In this brief clip, the incomparable Eric Andre invades a local tea party meeting and hands out confederate flags, white power signs and klan hoods. Deeply insulted, they threaten to call the police:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeLsMaEVdwQ
trollhattan
@Suffern ACE:
Ye oulde Ginzus and the like are the worst. You have to push so hard when things go wrong they go wrong in an unexpected direction. I’d rather wash dishes than prep using crap knives.
beth
I guess next year we’ll go back to hosting a dozen Thanksgiving orphans. I spent as much time cooking just for us as I do in years when we have a crowd. Plus there’s more hands around to help clean up.
TaMara (BHF)
You guys are a riot. They left halfway through the meal. More dessert for us. I just couldn’t allow them to talk about cops shooting kids like it was some fucking game and then trying shouting us down when we expressed disbelief at their callousness. Because when your argument is invalid, shout loudly.
And for the record it was my parents, so I do feel badly. But dessert helped.
JPL
Thanksgiving was good. The first dishwasher load is finished and there is one load of towels in the washer. I did a dry brine and really couldn’t tell much difference between the dry and wet brine. One son and his girlfriend are having meal number two at her parents house as I type. I’m not sure how anyone can handle two turkey meals.
khead
My wife and I had our first Thanksgiving dinner in a restaurant today. She had traditional fare but I went with a roasted leg of venison that was awesome. No leftovers is a bit of a bummer though.
TaMara (BHF)
@JPL: It’s amazing how righteous anger is great for cleanup. I swear my brother and I had the whole deal broken down, stored in containers and dishes loaded in the dishwasher in 20 minutes.
JPL
@TaMara (BHF): Wow! I’m so sorry. Did they see the video where a twelve year old was shot within a few seconds. Of course during those two or three seconds they were yelling.
PsiFighter37
It’s just with my immediate family, so it would never be a huge deal. My brother takes antithetical positions to me (mainly on fiscal stuff), but I think that’s more to annoy me than anything else. He’s also mellowed out towards liberalism (probably because he spends so much time in Europe), so my whole family gets along quite well.
JPL
Xmas eve I have a mixed group and this year the niece is becoming a nephew. Politics cannot be discussed though, although a good friends husband sometimes tries.
Thunderbird
I’d mentioned in the Wednesday morning thread that I’d been somewhat dreading our get-together.
As it turns out, the most anxiety-inducing part of the day was my drive up there. Just enough snow and ice on the road north to make things a bit squirrelly. Saw a VW bug about 1000 feet ahead of me wipe out and end up in the ditch off to the side.
The meal at the restaurant couldn’t have gone more smoothly, and not wanting to chance it, I had my brother take me back to my car and I got the fuck outta there. Best Thanksgiving in several years. :)
Ruckus
@TaMara (BHF):
If you have to be angry, clean up anger is the best. I hate having to simmer in my own juices with nothing to do.
Sorry for that very little bit of food pun, I couldn’t help myself.
JPL
I mentioned last night that our tradition for Thanksgiving is for a son stopping at a convenience store to pickup the paper. After the feast we watch the football game and pass out ads like they are gifts. We don’t shop though, we just look at the ads. This year my sister -in-law and niece/nephew joined in. They probably think we are nuts.
Suzanne
We’re celebrating tomorrow, since this is the year that Spawn the Elder is at my ex-husband’s house.
So he came to pick her up last night, and apparently had decicided that because he had her on Thanksgiving, and because he has her this weekend on our typical schedule, he ALSO had her tomorrow. Even though Mr. Suzanne and I distinctly remember discussing this with him and telling him that we would have her for Black Friday, or as we like to call it, Thanksgiving, Part II, The Annihilation of Pie. So that caused a big fucking fight, which I won, because part of the reason that we are no longer married is because I don’t meekly cave to his bullshit anymore. As he just finished his second divorce and conclusion of monogamous relationship number infinity, I have determined that A Pattern Has Been Eatablished.
Things to be thankful for: no longer being married to that tool.
JPL
@Suzanne: Happy Thanksgiving II
Hal
I have no issue discussing politics if the issues are legitimate. The issue for me is that the right wing leaning people only want to talk about one thing: how awful Obama is and how he is a tyrant. Like my mothers friend who used to bombard my email with total nonsense. Obama was having the under god taking off of tombstones at Arlington National Cemetery. How she wasn’t getting a cost of living increase because Obama said no. How Michelle Obama’s vacation to Spain cost 375 million dollars. Seriously. She thought Michelle O spent 375 million taxpayer dollars on a vacation. All moot this year though since I have to work. But I do get double time.
PsiFighter37
The one thing that hasn’t changed is that my parents still get materially annoyed at each other. That pretty much happens without fail every Thanksgiving. I will be happier when I start hosting Thanksgiving, not only because I enjoy cooking lots of homemade food, but also because it means they will have to come visit me, and they will feel obligated to behave themselves.
Back in NYC already – whole apartment to myself, since the wife went back to the PA suburbs for the day to see her parents. Contemplating popping open one of the beers I have in the fridge from the Rare Beer Club, putting on some football, and doing some solid cleaning around the house is a good way to finish up. I also have my wife as my Secret Santa person in our friend’s group, so I might use this time to figure out what I can get her under $25 that she will use on a regular basis. Thinking about an iced tea pitcher.
jeffreyw
Dinner went well, just me and Mrs J and all the critters. The dogs got to lick many pots and plates. Tons of leftovers, nothing special though we did try a new corn dish. It had a stupid name so we just called it Mexi-corn with cheese and bacon. Lots of gravy and dressing and the 95% of the turkey we didn’t eat is broken down and sorted into piles ready for storage. Mrs J is making banana cream pie and I am having fun rooting my phone, finally.
Pogonip
@jeffreyw: Oh, I like Mexicorn for holidays! It’s so festive-looking! What’s the recipe?
NotMax
Gonna shove the bird into the oven in about an hour. Really felt as if some wag at the poultry plant had superglued the neck and giblets into the cavity. Quite the struggle to get them out (arthritic fingers not a great help either).
So nice to not have a deadline for the meal to be ready. Prefer to eat around 9 or even 10 at night anyway.
Pogonip
Jeffrey, I meant the recipe you used. I know the recipe for Mexicorn in general (open the can).
Scamp Dog
Our official Thanksgiving do is tomorrow, since the niece is with my brother’s ex today. This is fine with me, as I refuse to go out shopping on Black Friday. There’s a minor disappointment in being shorted one day of leftovers, which is more an example of how deep I have to dig to find a problem than an actual problem.
It's Not The Fall, It's The Landing
My dad’s wife has a son who is a police officer. He’s now pulling 12-hour shifts in his regular duty area, a quiet residential part of the city of St. Louis, because of Ferguson.
She started hollering about terrorists within 2 minutes of the subject being brought up, which was less than 10 minutes after I arrived.
Other family members also were deeply dismayed by the fires, vandalism and looting “they” had committed.
I didn’t respond at all, but realized immediately that I would not be able to hold my tongue for long in the event of any further ill-informed racist nonsense, and rather than have a big fight and ruin Thanksgiving for my dad and the little kids, I just left.
So now I’m back home, trying to figure out what to have for dinner….
NotMax
@PsiFighter37
If you don’t mind the suggestion, warm ‘n’ fuzzy slippers are always appreciated. In my experience, by either sex.
Karen in GA
Thanksgiving with Iggy goes about the way you’d expect.
Happy Thanksgiving, all a yooz.
Ruckus
@Suzanne:
Awwww the good things in life.
Karen in GA
@Suzanne: It’s cheesy, and Kids These Days are more into fist bumps, but I high five in your general direction anyway.
satby
@It’s Not The Fall, It’s The Landing: I love how they all whine about the looting like they own the stores. Nevermind the dead kids, somebody looted something.
I told a friend of mine that it’d be a whole other thing if white parents had to bury their children for walking to the store. Open firefights everywhere, because it’s white folks stockpiling all the guns and mostly shooting shit up.
PsiFighter37
@NotMax: I got those for her in the past, but she didn’t end up using them all that much. She’s much more of a functional gift person, i.e. she wants to use the gifts she gets, hence why I’m thinking about an iced tea pitcher (she had put one on our wedding registry, but we didn’t get it). I partially blame myself for this tendency, as the first gift I got her was an external hard drive…
AliceBlue
A quiet meal with just me, Mr. AliceBlue and my mom. She’s 93, in assisted living and it’s difficult for her to get around, so we cooked Thanksgiving dinner here and took everything up to her place. We did it up right–white tablecloth, china, and a pretty centerpiece. She loved it.
Happy Thanksgiving to Juicers one and all.
Melissa
Nice snowy day here. Long walk with two friends and and 8 dogs. Six months since stopping smoking. That a lot o be thankful for.
satby
@Melissa: Well done you! That’s an achievement.
Just Some Fuckhead
I had a salt cured country ham, soaked for five days, heated up for a few hours this morning. It was simply awesome.
No politics. Everyone is too afraid of my formidable intellect and merciless attitude to bring that shit up. And of course I never bring up politics because I don’t mind stupid people being wrong.
Ruckus
@It’s Not The Fall, It’s The Landing:
I wonder if walking out says more than any discussion? You took the time and effort to show up, you are missing a meal and probably a good one, although on a personal note once I had to go to an ex’s family Thanksgiving dinner and they had a meal specialty, oyster stuffing and it was horrible. Hard to eat (or listen to) something horrible, smile and lie about it all at the same time. You avoided that by leaving. Sounds like the adult thing to do.
jeffreyw
@Pogonip: We adapted this recipe, we finished it in the oven and added the bacon at the table.
JPL
@Karen in GA: Yesterday when I was doing prep work, Finch picked up on , the fact that something was going on. OMG talk about a hyper dog. running to the door looking for dogs and masters and throwing toys in the air. I tried to vacuum the family room this morning and he was chasing the vacuum. Fortunately dogs and masters arrived by noon and he was happy. He’s now snoozing. I’ve had him just a little over a year so last year he was just getting use to the new place. Xmas is going to be fun.
It is fun with the dogs. My son has a six pound Maltese, my sister-in-law an 80 pound german shepard mix and Finch who is eighteen pounds but is on a diet. They have so much fun together.
NotMax
@
Aw, you romantic dog, you. :)
hilts
Anyone who hasn’t already seen it, should check out this infographic of Ferguson witness statements
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/newly-released-witness-testimony-tell-us-michael-brown-shooting
Breakdown of the data:
More than 50% of the witness statements said that Michael Brown held his hands up when Darren Wilson shot him. (16 out of 29 such statements)
Only five witness statements said that Brown reached toward his waist during the confrontation leading up to Wilson shooting him to death.
More than half of the witness statements said that Brown was running away from Wilson when the police officer opened fire on the 18-year-old, while fewer than one-fifth of such statements indicated that was not the case.
There was an even split among witness statements that said whether or not Wilson fired upon Brown when the 18-year-old had already collapsed onto the ground.
Only six witness statements said that Brown was kneeling when Wilson opened fire on him. More than half of the witness statements did not mention whether or not Brown was kneeling.
PsiFighter37
@NotMax: She also hates flowers, which has undoubtedly saved me a good deal of money over the years. The first (and only) time I ever got her flowers was when I showed up as a surprise to the end of her bridal shower.
Guess I’m lucky, huh? And she’s put up with my drinking antics over the years (although these have admittedly gotten toned down significantly in the past 2 years or so)…
JPL
@Just Some Fuckhead: haha .. Sounds like great fun.
NotMax
@PsiFighter37
BTW, many, many bonus points for saying iced tea rather than ice tea.
Pogonip
@jeffreyw: Thank you!
currants
@TaMara (BHF):
@muddy:
@muddy:
Wow. My first reaction is that’s some kind of awesome! Unless you wanted them to feel like relatives you care about, then, maybe not so great.
Since the males in my family can’t help themselves, they always bring some Limbaugh-esque topic up, I have become adept at changing subjects (or interlocutors), as it’s a 7 hr drive home alone through a long dark stretch of Interstate 86.
It's Not The Fall, It's The Landing
@satby: They all apparently have bought into the local TV news version of the story, which has been long on shots of burning buildings and busted-out storefronts and short on meaningful analysis and context.
I too deplore vandalism, thievery and arson, and think the losses to those businesses and their employees are a very bad thing.
But to hear the TV announcers describe it as “heartbreaking” – give me a break. We’re not talking about the Louvre or the Smithsonian here – it’s an auto-parts chain store or pizza franchise, in a cinder-block building built to the cheapest possible standards. Unfortunate, but certainly not tragic when compared to the loss of a human life.
Karen in GA
@JPL: That sounds like an absolute blast. Lucky Finch!
Just Some Fuckhead
@JPL: truthfully, these days I don’t bring up politics because I don’t want to know how hideous otherwise normal-looking people are inside.
Tree With Water
@Just Some Fuckhead: What did you soak the ham in?
It's Not The Fall, It's The Landing
@Ruckus: I’m sure the meal was just fine, nothing spectacular but surely a decent version of the T-Day standards.
I hope you’re right about leaving being the adult thing to do. I definitely could not see any point in staying and getting into a screaming argument with me against four or five people all taking the other side.
And since I was already at the point where I was ready to start yelling after just a couple of minutes, I don’t think I could have sat there and held my tongue for the next 3 to 4 hours.
If I had thought there was any chance of having a rational discussion of the issues, perhaps explaining why the whole thing is about more than “rioters” and Mike Brown being a “thug” who got what was coming to him, I would have stayed. But when someone’s screaming about terrorists in the first two minutes, that doesn’t leave much room for meaningful dialogue.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Tree With Water: black cheery koolaid and whiskey.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Ruckus: Oyster stuffing is amazing. You need to be sent to food reeducation camp.
Steve from Antioch
@hilts:
Its interesting to compare the witness statements to facts that are demonstrated by forensic evidence. For example, 12 rounds were fired – not a single witness gave the correct answer.
Two of the witnesses say that Brown did not interact with Wilson at the car, but there were blood splatters from Brown inside the SUV as well as on the exterior.
Four of the witnesses said that Brown did not “charge” toward Wilson or the SUV. This is a bit problematic because of the use of the loaded term “charge”, but the physical evidence (blood stains over 20 feet on the other side of the body) indicated that Brown moved back toward Wilson/the SUV after he was shot. [Unless, of course, Wilson moved the body in sight of dozens of witnesses without being noticed.]
raven
Just came from dinner with a friend who I have known for 45 years, his wife, his son who I have not seen in 28 years who served as a mortar man in Iraq and then went to law school. His girlfriend and 10 of her family, many of whom were Auburn fans. What could go wrong? Nothing. We talked, ate, and talked again. It was nice.
JPL
@Just Some Fuckhead: Several years back the oyster stuffing made me look like Homer Simpson. I still want to try it again but it might for my last meal. It’s so good. Now that I don’t take calcium pills with oyster shells, I think I could try a little. hmmm
also.. decades ago we went to a new year’s eve party and another invitee and I snuck in and tried the raw oysters the host had out on the buffet table. The problem is can you really sneak one.
PsiFighter37
I will say that the one productive point of conversation I had was around making sure airline mileage credit was properly credited. Because of it, I think I got my stepfather kicked up to Premier Gold on United because a trip he took to Europe earlier wasn’t properly credited.
The older I get, the stronger my wanderlust gets. I hated traveling when I was younger, mainly because I traveled so much, but I have grown to appreciate it so much more the older I have gotten. I love NYC, and as a home, it’s great, but there’s a big world out there to explore, and I’m only getting older. I feel like I spend a lot of my free time thinking about where I should go visit next, whether it’s international or somewhere in the U.S. The big city that’s left unchecked from my domestic visitation is Portland (Oregon, although I do want to do a short jaunt up to the Maine version at some point). I would like to hit some of the upper Midwest cities (Minneapolis / St. Paul, Madison, Milwaukee), but I feel like that’s going to be a really hard sell to my wife, who is quite possibly more of a bicoastal person than I am. Internationally – I think next year, we’re thinking about a summer trip to Scandinavia (likely Denmark + Norway – do Sweden + Finland another time), and then a year-end trip to Australia / New Zealand. I would love to hit Tokyo for a couple days before heading to the Antipodeans – I have a good friend moving there, and my wife and I absolutely love the city after spending honeymoon time there – but the flights are surprisingly difficult to come by for that cross-hemisphere flight.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
So far, the only Obama joke my brother has made was with a car insurance commercial, so I think we’ll be okay. We’ve already eaten the main meal and we’re waiting to digest a little more before pie.
Pogonip
@Steve from Antioch: Witness statements are notoriously unreliable; they’re excited and often frightened. Unfortunately after several generations of cop and lawyer shows juries tend to give witness statements more credibility than physical evidence.
Pogonip
@It’s Not The Fall, It’s The Landing: You guys sure have grumpy relatives. My sympathies to you.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Pogonip: I’d imagine in a white supremacist stink hole like St. Louis county forensic evidence can be pretty unreliable to.
Steve from Antioch
@Pogonip: Exactly.
The more meta question is what do you do with that knowledge? Do you discount _everything_ a witness says when s/he is demonstrably wrong about certain facts?
I’ve seen studies regarding witness testimony that indicate that there is no correlation between witness confidence in their recollection and accuracy. In fact, jurors tend to judge testimony as more credible when (portions of it) are voiced with uncertainty.
PsiFighter37
Maybe a bit off-topic, but does anyone have a good suggestion about a solid laptop (not one of these two-in-ones or touchscreen things – a proper laptop)? My wife and I both have Sony Vaios that are 4.5 years old, have zero battery life, and are a bit on the outdated / slow side. I’ve mainly been looking at Dell Precision M4800, but after seeing my stepfather’s for the first time today (I had ordered him one, since he needs a workhorse laptop), I wasn’t too impressed with the design – kind of boxy.
My main requirements are: 1) not a MacBook, 2) good amount of RAM, and Intel i7 quadcore CPU, 3) standalone GPU preferred (but not necessary), 4) SSD HD, and 5) at least 13.3″ screen with very high max resolution.
Any techies here have a thought?
Steve from Antioch
@Just Some Fuckhead: That’s possible I suppose. If so, you would have to marvel at their sophistication particularly in manufacturing evidence that really has no exculpatory value like the number of gun shots.
Steve from Antioch
@PsiFighter37: This is where I start my search nowadays: http://thewirecutter.com/leaderboard/laptops/
Gene108
Spending the week with my mom at her house. Just finished “torturing” her, as I was watching the Eagles-Dallas game, and my mom, for whatever reason, cares nothing at all for sports and cannot fathom why anyone would be interested inthem.
How either me or my brother came to,have an interest in sports has zero to do with parenting, and maybe some sort of nature versus nurture issue.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@PsiFighter37:
From a travel POV, Sweden + Denmark might be a better pairing — you can take a train from Copenhagen to Sweden.
Goblue72
Wife & I got out of Dodge and drove down to Portland. Staying at Edgefield Estates by the Columbia Gorge. Former county poor farm built in 1911, turned Mcmenamins resort – hotel, brewery, winery, distillery, restaurants, pubs, billiards hall, live music, movie theater, spa, heated outdoor pool, fire pits and 12-hole pitch & putt.
Hiked the Gorge in the morning and now just finished Thanksgiving all you can eat buffet with some of the estate wine. Napping in the room then it’s time for some house brandy & whiskey while watching Seahawks-Niners, then off to the movie room for Guardians of the Galaxy and seasonal ales.
Donut
Mrs. Donut’s dad is in town from California, and given that two months ago we relocated from Chicago (where most of my family is) to New York, it was definitely a new Thanksgiving experience for all of us.
There were only threw adults eating but the father in law was hankering for a traditional meal, so I stepped up and roasted a 13 lb bird, and made mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, green beans with pancetta and tomatoes and a cranberry compote. It was fucking delicious. The wife and I snuck out to the garage for a little toot of marijuana, and now drinking a nice Pinot noir that the old man sprang for and watching the footballs. The old crapped out an hour ago, but he wanted me to wake him up for the Niners game. What a great day. Truly thankful for my family and the good fortune we have had.
Tree With Water
@Just Some Fuckhead: Thanks, that sounds good and simple. I will definitely give it a shot one of these days.
NotMax
@JPL
Used to be a Sizzler here (I know, I know, but we didn’t go for the entrees but rather for the salad bar) – closed up quite some time back because they couldn’t make a go of it here.
But they did offer raw oysters on the half shell among the all you can eat salad bar offerings. Not every day, but fairly often.
JGabriel
@Schlemazel:
Did he tell you what insulted him, or did you have to guess?
I’m assuming it was something like saying it was a nice day – ’cause in the wingnut mind, nice day equals criticizing him over global warming.
Karen in GA
@PsiFighter37: @Mnemosyne (iPhone): But there’s also a ferry from Hirtshals (sp?) in Denmark to Kristiansand, Norway, if you want to go off the beaten path a bit. The Setesdal Valley is easy to reach from Kristiansand, which will take you up towards the fjords. Assuming you have some time to spend there, of course.
Gene108
@It’s Not The Fall, It’s The Landing:
For a lot of people in this country the loss of property and the loss of the personal feeling of security that goes along with being robbed is greater than someone else’s life, thus we have castle doctrine laws and now stand your ground laws, not to mention conceal carry permits and now open carry laws.
PsiFighter37
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): @Karen in GA: That’s great to know – didn’t know there was a train from Copenhagen to Stockholm…certainly makes life easier (although I have no problem with flying). I had originally paired Norway and Denmark because Sweden and Finland are next to each other, so I figured that would be more convenient. I’ll have to check it out!
Time-wise – probably looking at a 7-8 night stay if we decide to do this.
What I really want to do is Oktoberfest, since one of my good friends is looking at it next year, but I don’t think I can swing that because the guy backing me up at work is going on his honeymoon right at that time of year. Maybe I’ll see if I can convince my friend to push it a year (especially since a good mutual friend is getting married right around then), and then we’ll do it proper in Munich in 2016 (although I would probably hit the trains to go to Prague and Vienna after a few days in Germany). But then this same group of friends is one that we want to do a 1-2 week Pacific NW trip (Portland + Seattle + Vancouver) once everyone’s married…so not sure when we have time for all of that.
When I think about all the places I’d like to see, I do wish there were higher odds of winning the lottery.
ranchandsyrup
Deep fried two turkeys and ready to eat. Nom nom nom.
Karen in GA
@PsiFighter37: Vienna is amazing.
Mike J
@PsiFighter37:
The traditional way to get to Finland from Sweden is the overnight ferry. Students take it and drink all night, but rooms are available.
Yes, they are next to each other, but it’s a 16ish hour ferry.
NotMax
@Karen in GA
Everything’s better mit schlag.
Corner Stone
@PsiFighter37: Are we still supposed to believe you are an actual, real person? And not the stylistic personification of uber-hipster-douche?
Mike J
@Corner Stone: I’ve shared a microbrewery beer with him.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@VFX Lurker: Wow. :-( I kicked in a little. Best of luck to the kitty and the family.
Cheers,
Scott.
Violet
@Pogonip: NBC did a thing a little white ago where they staged a robbery in a restaurant or bar and then had witnesses identify the robbers. They used boards with pictures of suspects and person after person positively identified the suspect, and they were absolutely certain they were right, except they were all identifying different people on the boards and none of them were the right person.
They followed up with a local police department and said new brain science (or something) was changing how police were looking at eyewitness testimony because it was much less accurate than they’d previous believed.
Mike in NC
@Karen in GA: Of all the places along the Danube that we stopped at, we found Vienna far less interesting than Prague and Budapest, but as always YMMV.
There are many cruises that visit ports in Norway and places near the Arctic Circle. We were very pleased this year to sign on for a cruise that bypassed Norway but went to the UK, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Russia, and Estonia.
Violet
@PsiFighter37: Can’t tell you what to get but will tell you that the last two Dells I’ve had both had power issues. Also, the more recent Dell battery and power cable both went and I had to buy new. Kept seeing over and over not to waste your money on non-Dell batteries or power cables because they wouldn’t be recognized by the system and you were just wasting money. People were pissed off because they’d buy some cheap battery and it wouldn’t work. I finally bought replacements from Dell when they sent me some coupon but they weren’t cheap.
raven
@Violet: Duh, show em Rashomon
Ruckus
@Just Some Fuckhead:
Going out on a limb here, oysters suck. For me at least. On the other hand these were not like or even close to oysters on the half shell. More like over cooked or possibly heat treated blobs that lacked any flavor and had the texture of pencil erasers. And of course the stuffing was dry and tasteless even without the oysters. A epicurean delight it wasn’t.
Karen in GA
@Mike in NC: Haven’t been to Prague, but I agree Budapest is pretty incredible.
I think it’s because I’d been a John Irving fan since I was 12 — maybe I was going to be predisposed to loving Vienna simply because I was finally OMG really truly there.
(IMHO, though, John Irving has gone off the proverbial rails in recent years.)
ranchandsyrup
@efgoldman: right on EF. So moist. Have a good night.
MomSense
Finally sitting down after two days of cooking. A tree fell on my neighbors house and because of all the power outages nearby I had some families come over who couldn’t cook at home. We had a great time and my neighbor’s house is ok so there is much to be thankful for.
Karen in GA
@NotMax: Oh, hell ja.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@PsiFighter37: The laptops I’ve bought for home have been used or manufacturer-refurbished. T41, T61 Lenovos (for the HR screens), a Fujitsu 7120D (for the compact size), and most recently a couple of Toshiba Portege R835 (compact, light, decent performance). It sounds like, with your requirements, you’re looking at very specialized boxes. Check out the Lenovo Outlet. You can often find tempting machines there. The high-resolution screens are often very spendy though.
Good luck.
Cheers,
Scott.
(Who thinks it’s a crime that 1600 x 1200 laptop screens were available years ago and are rare now.)
PaulW
Weird thing I learned this Turkey Day. My dad – old-school Republican, Dem-bashing, Limbaugh-worshipping – records and watches the Colbert Report.
And I think he knows it’s meant to be a parody of the ultraconservative Right Wing messaging points. He still watches it.
PsiFighter37
@Corner Stone: There’s the Cornerstone I know and love. You’d responded to a few of my things without hammering me for my traveling…good to know you’re still around!
And to Mike’s point, yes, I do drink craft brews. Shoot me. I’d rather pay $12 for a six-pack of craft brews instead of slightly less for watered-down piss like Coors Light. Go ‘Murika.
@Mike J: 16 hours! Yikes, might not do that then. We went snorkeling on our honeymoon, and my wife yakked a few times after we made it out to Molokini (off the coast of Maui). Maybe do a flight from Stockholm to Helsinki, in that case…
@Violet: I’m a bit wary of Dells as well – hence why I went with Sony last time I bought a laptop – but, frankly, customization options on laptops tend to suck a lot, and Dell has customization options in spades. That’s not to say they’re great at all, but at least you can buy what you are looking for, instead of some shitty-ass preconfigured spec that doesn’t handle all that you want. I was a bit surprised, though, to see the initial spec I did come out in the mid-$2000s on Dell – everything that the computer industry and consumers have been talking about is how low costs have been getting. I think there’s still meaningful separation between something that is Tablet-Lite vs. something that has some capabilities behind it.
PaulW
I gotta think about what to ask for a Christmas present this Saturnalia. So far all I seriously can think of is a new wallet.
I’d like to take a trip overseas at least once in my life – I’ve never left the country, driving to Key West doesn’t count – and it’s always been a bit of an expense. I also have no one to go with, traveling solo is just… I dunno, sad.
Mike E
@Karen in GA: Prague is a jewel box. I visited Berlin, Prague, Budapest and Vienna in one trip…spent most of the time in Berlin and Prague. I liked Salzburg better than Vienna. Too.
PsiFighter37
@Ruckus: HERESY! Oysters are amazing!!! The best I had were when I visited Seattle (I’m more partial to the sweeter, less briny Left Coast oysters than the more seaworthy eastern versions), but I really do love devouring them. At the best oyster bars I’ve found in NYC, only 2-3 West Coast options are listed at any given time. One reason I want to run the Seattle half next year is because it’s a Saturday morning, leaving me the rest of the weekend to overload on seafood.
@PaulW: Maybe he doesn’t know it’s a parody. Don’t want to scotch your enthusiasm, but yeah…no one should think that after that epic 2006 WH Correspondent’s Dinner (which, no matter what happens, should be the most consequential wankfest in DC of all time).
Southern Beale
Nashville police plan to use police helicopters “to keep Black Friday safe.” Because in America, shopping to the thrum of a police helicopter overheard is part of the New Normal.
Jesus.
Tenar Darell
I really ate too much. I’m still uncomfortably full and I stopped eating by 5:30! Happy Thanksgiving to all.
PsiFighter37
@Mike E: From what I’ve read, Hungary is going down a bit of a shithole – the far right-wing party has been in power for a while now and has been slowly (but surely) dismantling democratic institutions bit by bit.
I do wonder what is going to become of the EU and the rest of the European ‘experiment’ – the contingent has been fought over for over a millennia…why do we think it will be any different this time? If you want to be really cynical about it, Germany has basically won economic dominance over the region by dictating what appropriate fiscal policy is.
Southern Beale
I ate too much as well. And when we got home I ate the rest of the spinach salad I’d made because it won’t keep overnight and it was so damn good.
Pig out city.
Southern Beale
@PaulW:
A lot of wingers love Colbert. I think it’s because they don’t view it as us laughing AT them. They think we’re laughing WITH them.
Southern Beale
@efgoldman:
I unfortunately live near a ginormous mall and am not thrilled that my Friday will be spent hearing damn police helicopters. Unbelievable.
Schlemazel
@JGabriel:
It was a simple misunderstanding, he felt we should have invited them sooner. The story is sort of messed up because wife’s family is a friggin mess.
ranchandsyrup
Can’t……stop…….eating……..olallieberry pie
PsiFighter37
@efgoldman: @Southern Beale: I don’t understand the whole Black Friday phenomenon. I honestly think that retailers have gotten the psychological aspect of shopping down to the point where they know X% of the population will just spend money if there’s an ‘amazing’ sale out there.
Then again, I think all advertising is a useless waste of money, so I’m probably not the target market.
Schlemazel
@Pogonip:
What they should do is wait 10 days & give the witnesses attorneys all the collected reports & evidence. This would do wonders for getting similar stories that better fit the theme.
WHAT? You don’t think thats a great idea? Well it’s what Wilson did, his official report was filed 10 days after the shooting and his lawyer had all the reports first.
Violet
@PsiFighter37: Dell does offer a lot of customization, but with two of their computers in a row, both with power supply issues, I’m a bit wary. The first one had an overheating problem. The thing got so hot I’m surprised it didn’t burn my legs. When the problems go so big I finally had to go look up what the the internet knew about it, I found out I had missed some class action suit against Dell by one or two days. I think some people had their laptops catch on fire or something. Mine didn’t do that, but it didn’t surprise me–that thing got HOT.
I figured by the time I got another computer they would have dealt with this issue. Apparently not. The thing didn’t burn up, but it got very hot. Couldn’t recognize the power source–kept saying it was a different wattage than it was, or something. I think the overheating issue, because of it not recognizing the battery and power source, contributed to the battery going earlier than it was supposed to. The internet again informed me I wasn’t the only one with this problem. Some people ended up having to replace the motherboard because the overheating burned something out.
After those experiences I’m skeptical of Dell. I don’t know why they can’t get their power issues sorted.
Pogonip
@PaulW: Paul, perhaps we should talk. My son loves to travel. 3 is cheaper than 2 and a heck of a lot cheaper than one. We’re both allergic to cigarettes and he’s allergic to pollen. We do not care about your race, religion, politics, or personal life.
Mike E
@PsiFighter37: Well, with my ancestry in/near that neck o’woods, imo having things not go “pear-shaped” is the exception, sadly.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@PsiFighter37:
I wonder how much of it is defensive on the retailers’s part. I think they know that people only have so much money to spend. If Megastore X gets people in the store spending 3 hours before Megastore Y opens, then that’s less money for people to spend there.
It’s horrible for people who don’t have much money and have kids who want and expect stuff on Xmas, though. And for the people who have to work during under madhouse conditions. Here’s hoping that nobody is killed shopping tomorrow. :-(
I do wonder who’s paying for all the Duluth Trading TV ads and catalogs that we’re being inundated with. Looking at their prices, it looks like their customers are, eventually… :-/
I did some shopping for staples last weekend so won’t be out and about this weekend other than for groceries. The places seemed to be busier than I’ve seen them in a long while, so maybe people are feeling comfortable spending and the GDP numbers will continue to gain strength.
Cheers,
Scott.
Jay C
Solo T’giving is over, finally: just me (see #26), but I lucked out on my Google search for “recipes turkey breast“: the first one up was from Martha Stewart, of all people (did she cobble it up for her pals for Thanksgiving in jail?) – but it worked out just fine: sautee the breasts, take them out, then deglaze the pan with white wine, reduce: then whisk in some Dijon mustard; reduce some more, and pour over the turkey. Yum. Of course, this does leave one with most of a bottle of white wine left over: but I managed to deal with it…. ;)
NotMax
Not at all pleased to discover the foil roasting pan I bought has about three or four pinprick holes in the bottom. After putting the turkey into the oven and then checking on it later.
Multiple layers of foil under the bird as a remedy.
*sigh*
NotMax
@PsiFighter37
Might want to check out some of the models from Acer. My more up to date techie friends describe them as pedestrian but reliable, and good value.
Southern Beale
This year the shopping thing has been way over the top. We went into a small, local store 3 weeks ago and they were playing Christmas carols, I said man it is WAAAY too early to be pulling that shit out, it was still early November! I was told this year there is one less week between Thanksgiving and Christmas and retailers small and large are freaking out.
I stay far away from anything that even looks like shopping on Black Friday. Out of principle. I just refuse.
Karen in GA
@PaulW: I travel alone a lot. I like moving at my own pace and going places I like to go.
For example, several times during my motorcycle trip in Norway I told my husband, “If you had come with me we’d have killed each other by now.” 6-8 hours each day riding on narrow mountain roads in all sorts of weather? Road signs in an unfamiliar language? In a country he’s never visited? And we’re using maps and not GPS? That’s my dream trip, and his idea of hell.
PsiFighter37
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: Here’s my great thesis on why a lot of the country feels we’re not doing well economically (and it’s not because the media sucks ass and refuses to report the fact, which is a minor component of the problem):
The U.S. is becoming increasingly bifurcated between urban areas and geographically close suburbs and further-out suburbs, exurbs, and outright rural areas. From having lived here in NYC right before shit went sideways in 2008, to the absolute rock-bottom in early 2009, and the recovery throughout – things are much better in big cities. It’s reflected in rents, real estate prices, the number of new restaurants opening up, and the like. NYC, SF, LA, and likely a lot of the bigger cities – they are doing markedly better.
But that’s not evenly spread (hence why Bill de Blasio’s message resonated in NYC, even though he’s a fucking amateur when it comes to politics) – and it’s exacerbated in areas that aren’t close to the cities. They have seen very little, if not less than zero, of the economic recovery. What really sticks with me is the absolute desolate feeling of hopelessness I sensed when I canvassed in Obama in Dayton, Ohio the weekend before the election in 2012. Things were definitely better in NYC – but it was shocking what a ghost town ‘downtown’ Dayton was, and what absolute shambolic conditions some of the people we were canvassing were living in. How do we get back the middle-class hopes and dreams for those folks?
To be honest, I really, REALLY, don’t know if we can. And Dayton is a city when you think about the Midwest or Rust Belt – and, from my view, it’s basically on death’s door. The big cities (bicoastal + Chicago, some of the larger Midwest cities) are fine from a macro perspective – but the rest of the country is slowly sinking.
Pogonip
@Violet: At least in Chicago, as explained by Connie Ferguson in What Cops Know, old-time flatfeet tended to start by looking for what matched in witness accounts. If 9 witnesses said the perp was a tall blonde guy with a beard and one witness insisted he was a black dwarf, black short guys would be at the bottom of the suspect list. And so on and so on. Also they found re-interviewing witnesses to be helpful. “Hi, Mr. Witness, this is Officer Friendly. We’re still working the case. I was just wondering if since the last time we talked you had remembered anything else. Anything can be helpful, no matter how minor or silly it seems.”. And surprisingly often Mr. Witness would respond with something like, “Well, it is minor so I didn’t mention it, but the getaway car had a Disco Sux bumper sticker.”. If one of the main suspects has such a bumper sticker…bingo. It happened more often than not.
raven
The boat people called and a 6hr is now available so I should be about 30 miles off shore during the shopping.
Jay C
@Southern Beale:
Jeez, Louise! There are 27 (shopping) days* between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year: – this can’t be all that much of a calendrical anomaly, requiring that “Christmas Shopping Season” be retro-scheduled back til just after Halloween, lest another Great Depression ensue….
* by the (now apparently superceded antique) definition of “whole days”….
raven
@Pogonip: Everyone I knew in those days had a “disco sucks” bumper sticker.
PsiFighter37
@Karen in GA: I can’t do the travel alone thing, unless I’m meeting friends or people I know where I’m going. My go-to ‘travel alone’ trip has been LA as of late – I have a couple high school friends who live out there now, as well as some relatives a few hours away in the desert. Makes for a good excuse to get some sunshine, and I can keep in touch with people that I care about. One time I did this, we organized a BJ meetup around it (I think it was early 2013).
Speaking of which, if there are any LA BJers around – what are thoughts about a potential meetup in mid-May? I might do one of these swing-bys then (as my wife will be away on a corporate retreat).
raven
@PsiFighter37: Mid-may??? Most of these people don’t know what they are doing Saturday!!
Anne Laurie
@JPL:
My first dog was a twelve-pound Papillon; my friends had Irish Setters, Afghan Hounds, Border Collies and Great Danes. They loved to play together, so I would put Galley’s crate to one side of the ‘playground’, and if the big dogs got too boisterous, he’d scoot into his den — which was usually enough to remind everybody about manners!!!
One afternoon, the other dogs all decided to pick on the half-grown Great Dane puppy (who had, frankly, been asking for it). When puffing up & growling didn’t work, he ran over and tried to hide in Galley’s crate… which was nowhere near big enough, he got stuck with his head & one front leg inside. Then he had to put up with the humans laughing at him as well as the adult dogs’ ragging…
Mike J
did you just see that punt?
raven
@Mike J: I’m watching LSU-Aggies.
Southern Beale
@raven:
I liked disco.
#ConfessYourUnpopularOpinion
raven
@Southern Beale: I didn’t know you.
Southern Beale
My hockey team is sucking right now.
Southern Beale
@raven:
You probably won’t want to know me now that I’ve told you that.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@PsiFighter37: Dayton was crushed by the housing bust, GM’s problems, etc., but it’s been having trouble for decades. I’ve got still got friends there (I went to HS there). Their 2BR house was worth around $60k before the bust. Now it’s in a neighborhood with dozens of similar houses that were for sale for around $6k a couple of years ago. It looks like there are fewer of those now, but they are still out there…
Dayton was a company town for decades. NCR, Delco, GM, Frigidaire, etc., etc. Tens of thousands of well-paying, middle-class jobs. Most of that is gone now, but it started happening in the late 1970s. The Air Force has been a stabilizing influence with WPAFB, but most of that supports the near suburbs (Fairborn, Huber Heights, etc.).
Dayton’s also had problems with incompetent and sometimes corrupt city government and management.
There are still great things about Dayton – Sinclair Community College is a great resource. There’s a beautiful Art Institute. Lots of beautiful parks in the area.
But it’s really hard in the city. Many segregated neighborhoods, the public schools have had troubles, middle-class jobs are hard to come-by, crumbling infrastructure that isn’t supported by the shrinking tax base, etc., etc.
It’s really a microcosm of what can go wrong in a decent sized city if it’s not supported by the state and federal government when hard times hit. It’s not just Detroit.
:-(
Thanks for your efforts there. Things are getting better, very very slowly. It’s a crime and a tragedy that it’s not happening sooner.
Cheers,
Scott.
danielx
Family gathering went fine, including a visit from my now 87 year old auntie, an unreconstructed FDR Democrat who I dearly love and who is still sharp as a tack. Two turkeys, three kinds of pie, persimmon pudding for those into tradition..the latter of which does not include moi, who wouldn’t eat persimmon pudding on a bet.
Only downside was having the spousal unit and all three of her sisters in the same kitchen at the same time. They are great people and I love and like them all, but having them all in the same place as me for an extended period wears my ass out.
raven
@Southern Beale:
Crimson flames tied through my ears
Rollin’ high and mighty traps
Pounced with fire on flaming roads
Using ideas as my maps
“We’ll meet on edges, soon,” said I
Proud ’neath heated brow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now
Gene108
@PsiFighter37:
One reason the term “coastal elites” has some resonance. Big coastal cities have enough population density to allow a minimum level of businesses to survive.
Not all of the have done as well as NYC, but they have not collapsed like cities in middle-America, I think somewhat thanks to immigrants making a home in those cities.
And Dayton is probably light years ahead of rural areas, which seem to have been economically depressed for ages.
As far as getting the middle class back in the rest of America, there needs to be an organized sustained labor movement, that convinces people businesses must pay more of their profits to employees than just sitting on piles of cash.
From a business point of view, there’s no value an American worker adds at $7.25/hr versus what a worker in a developing country does, doing the same job, at $0.75/hr. The business view is wages in developing countries will rise, while wages in the USA will drop until everything equals out.
Right now some Democratic politicians and all Republican politicians have this view on wages.
And until the Republicans suffer defeat after defeat because they embrace this “pro business agenda” very little will substantially change.
chopper
Goddamn I am tired. Cooked all day.
Anne Laurie
@PsiFighter37:
At this point, I’m sure quite a bit of it is that it gives families something to talk about that isn’t politics!
Seriously, it’s easier to stay neutral with those cousins you only see on major holidays and the newest bunch of probably-temporary inlaws your idiot brother dragged in if you stick to topics like “Which mall has the best parking” and “Here is the most amazing special, for which I scored an extra coupon on my cell” and “Is it worth the extra half-hour drive to the outlet mall, or can you get equally good deals downtown”, rather than politics. Or worse — family history, aka “that one time your mother’s turkey gave everybody food poisoning, bless her heart”, versus “the year your old man set fire to the garage sneaking out for alcoholic reinforcement between courses” versus “remember that one chick Uncle Idiot brought over, the police showed up with a warrant halfway through dessert… “
Hunting and gathering, a fine primate tradition we can all appreciate!
It's Not The Fall, It's The Landing
@Pogonip: Thanks, Pogonip. While I still think I did the right thing (relative to either a big fight or having to sit & listen without responding), I’m feeling kind of depressed now.
Debbie
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
My mom grew up in Dayton in the 1940s. She absolutely loved it and was devastated to see its disintegration. It’s horrible how corporations use and discard cities like they do.
Mike in NC
@Mike E: I’ve tried telling American yahoos that Prague is the most enchanting city on the planet, but it seems they’d rather visit Branson, Missouri.
Suzanne
Okay, here’s a question that which I know y’all can help me:
I HATE the traditional sweet potatoes with marshmallows crap on Thanksgiving. Last year, I got on my high horse about it on my Book of Faces page, and promptly offended all of my friends that have bad taste. HAHAHA. So I accepted a dare to make a sweet potato dish with marshmallows, but to do it in some sort of not-trashy, classy, Iron-Chef-esque “elevated” way.
So, Juicers, how do you do sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving? Do you have a recipe? Any suggestions? This is honestly the one part of my family’s traditional meal that I’m not too happy about. I would love to find a version of a sweet potato dish that was awesome. (I do sweet potatoes all the time all year, but not in Thanksgiving-y fashion.)
Tenar Darell
@Southern Beale: I liked disco and Led Zeppelin and the Beach Boys. (All at once)! Later I ended up quite a head banger.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Suzanne: My step-mom from Mississippi makes a wonderful sweet potato + pecan + brown sugar casserole, but it doesn’t have marshmallows.
This one with marshmallows looks pretty good, but I haven’t tried it myself.
Good luck!
Cheers,
Scott.
NotMax
@Suzanne
One of my faves (marshmallows entirely optional). All measurements are totally adjustable to taste.
Wash and dry sweet potatoes. Cut off the ends and pierce the skins with a fork several times.
Bake in microwave or regular oven just as if doing a regular baked potato.
Let cool enough to handle, cut open and scoop the flesh into a large bowl. Add a goodly amount of real butter, some salt and pepper and Mash the heck out of ’em.
When they are broken down but not fully mashed, pour in orange juice (how much or how little up to you) and mash some more. Not too much this first go round (dependent on how many potatoes are involved, duh), can always add more later to get that smooth consistency later on.
When O.J. has been incorporat6ed (can always add more later on if you want) pour in (again, how much is up to you) some maple syrup.
Mash some more to mix it all together.
Pour in a dollop (more if you like) of Grand Marnier, Drambuie or some other decent orangey liqueuer.
Mash and mix again until consistency you prefer..
Check taste for salt and pepper and adjust if necessary. Ditto for butter and for maple syrup. If too pasty, splash in more O.J. and mix some more
Using oven-safe pan or bowl, bake at about 325, covered, until thoroughly heated.
Remove cover, sprinkle on marshmallows and bake uncovered until they are melted and just beginning to brown (they will cook some more after taken out of oven).
Mike E
@Mike in NC: That’s cool. They’d only detract from the experiences of travelers who want to be there…Prague isn’t just off the interstate, so Branson is a better option for the less inclined.
Southern Beale
@Suzanne:
The only way I like sweet potatoes is roasted with a teensy bit of brown sugar and some cumin, cinnamon and maybe a bit of allspice. But the family dinner is all about casseroles, and someone in the family makes a casserole with pecans and brown sugar on top. It’s very good but VERRRRRY sweet. I’d try that and cut back on the sugar in the topping.
No marshmallows, by the way. I’m sorry, that’s just gross. What, are you people five years old? Grow up.
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
@TaMara (BHF):
Nothing wrong with that.
Had friends over. Talked politics all night. Only good times were had.
Their kid is going in to the Marines. He’s a good egg.
mdblanche
@PsiFighter37: I wonder what the significance is that it’s the Democratic leaning areas that are doing better than the Republican leaning areas.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Suzanne: Sweet potato cheesecake, suppposed to be the bomb.
Suzanne
@Southern Beale: That “grow the fuck up” reaction was what got my friends all pissed off at me last year. I think I said, “What, is it a condition of being trashy that y’all have the palates of toddlers?!”. So I kind of deserved it.
But not really, because no grown-ass man or woman should eat marshmallows in anything other than s’mores or cocoa. And even then in small amounts, because THAT’S GROSS.
NotMax
Should add to my recipe above that no added sugar at all is necessary. The O.J. and butter act as a thinner (if too thick), the maple syrup as a tightener and sweetener if too thin (also a colorant).
Suzanne
@NotMax: I like any recipe that calls for Grand Marnier, by default.
NotMax
@Suzanne
Great minds (or perhaps livers?) think alike.
I cannot do a proper Thanksgiving without it as it is also an essential ingredient of my cranberry-orange-pineapple-nut relish.
Ruckus
@Suzanne:
Marshmallows. You are right, what the hell kind of adult food is that? Or anyone over the age of 6 for that matter. And sweet potatoes are fine if just baked, a little butter, maybe salt and pepper. If you like Grand Marnier, have a small glass. Or a big one. I’ve had something like NotMax’s recipe and it was good but no marshmallows, mom used to do this once in a while.
NotMax
@Ruckus
Just for the record, I don’t ever use marshmallows on mine.
But see no reason they couldn’t be added if they must. Mini ones, natch.
Maybe make like a pizza – half topped with marshmallows, half without.
Suzanne
@Ruckus: I do baked sweet potatoes all the time, and sweet potato “fries”, and I’ve had and loved sweet potato hash. I would like to find a distinctly Thanksgiving preparation. I am okay with sweet, but the traditional sweet potato casserole thing with the marshmallows tastes like ass. It is seriously the most Protestant thing ever. Even the Mormons do better with Funeral Potatoes.
I tried a thing once where you simmered the sweet potatoes with Apple slices in Apple cider, and it was okay. Wasn’t notable in any way. The rest of our Thanksgiving food rocks. I would like to find something that rocks equally hard.
Diana
@Just Some Fuckhead: no, the people who tried to cook it need to be sent to cooking re-education camp.
NotMax
@Suzanne
Maple syrup = New England = Puritans = Thanksgiving.
Suzanne
@NotMax: I can get behind that.
But marshmallows = Protestant church picnic food = W.T. = Reel “Merika.
NotMax
@Suzanne
There was an Italian-inspired dish I created for our weekly gathering which everyone really liked. Topped it with little balls of mozzarella which melted down in the oven and had to emphasize that they were absolutely, positively not marshmallows. :)
Diana
@Suzanne: Crisp sweet potato roast:
http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2014/11/crispy-sweet-potato-roast/
J R in WV
@PsiFighter37:
I have an Acer I ordered from NewEgg some several years ago. It seems to have lasted very well, and was fairly inexpensive. They seem to always have a wide variety of them, too.
My friend who is the neighborhood system manager says Dells have non-standard parts, which makes them hard to work on. I hate HP because of their price fixing on printer ink. Acer makes many of the “name” brands anyway.
Good luck!
sacrablue
@Suzanne: Really late to the thread, but my family insists on candied sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving, no other time of the year. I use half a stick of butter, half a cup of brown sugar and 1 cup of pineapple juice, cooked to a syrupy mess. Add large chunks of partially cooked sweet potato and continue cooking til the potatoes are cooked through and the sauce has been mostly absorbed by the potatoes.
dww44
@Suzanne: My daughter does a great version of sweet potatoes that everyone loves and we had some today. Instead of a marshmallow topping, it’s a topping of melted butter, chopped pecans, a bit of brown sugar, and a bit of flour. Getting to the cooked and then mashed potatoes can be done a couple of different ways. The preferred Southern method (for better flavor and nutrition) is to bake them ahead of time. What my Mom always did.
This isn’t my daughter’s recipe, but one I got from a google:
http://southernfood.about.com/od/sidedishcasseroles/r/bl90911u.htm
Ruckus
@Suzanne:
I was raised Presbyterian so not much more middle of the road protestant than that. And mom didn’t do marshmallows on sweet potatoes or salads or… We did used to roast them on sticks when BBQing or in hot chocolate but then I was 6.
One thing I found out yrs ago was that adding whiskey or some such adult flavoring to many foods made them taste much better. It was much easier when I still would take a sip or four as there was always something in the house to add to the cooking, not so much any more.
Suzanne
@Ruckus: I was raised Presbyterian, too. I ate lots of white-people food.
We went to a UCC church about a month ago, and they invited us to a potluck. The food was exactly the same. I am Italian on my father’s side—those people made much better food and were much happier about life in general. Much fatter.
NotMax
@Suzanne
Have likely mentioned this T-shirt sold at an Italian restaurant here previously, but you might get a smile out of it regardless.
Ruckus
@Suzanne:
Ha! Italian on mom’s side. Sicilian actually. What I remember of grandma’s cooking was fried chicken. Mostly I remember it because it was about as fresh as is possible, she’d ring ones neck in the afternoon for Sunday dinner. She lived in south central LA and her backyard was all garden/chickens running around.
ETA also dad’s uncle married an Italian woman who made the most amazing thing, fried zucchini flower. Never had anything like it since.
Steeplejack
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
Amen. The 4:3 aspect ratio is much better for most work people do on computers, but 16:9 (or worse!) has become ubiquitous. (Apparently everything must be optimized for watching wide-screen video.) It’s especially oppressive on a small laptop screen.
Steeplejack
@Suzanne:
Hey, I’m your guy! I got tasked with doing the sweet potatoes this year, and the first thing I said was “There will be no marshmallows!”
I did a variation of this recipe from Southern Living. I was shooting for something sort of “traditional” but also edible by people who don’t like the usual awful traditional sweet-potato dish.
It was a big crowd (12 people), so I multiplied all the ingredients by 1½ so I could put it in a 9" by 13" casserole dish. I omitted the crushed corn flakes and used a lot more chopped pecans—enough to do a sort of crust over the whole thing. (Also omitted the melted butter and brown sugar drizzle. And no marshmallows!). I baked the casserole for 20 minutes before adding the pecan crust, then baked it another 20 minutes. The pecans came out nicely toasted but not burnt, and they added a nice counterpoint to the sweetness.
Two things I would do different next time: (1) Maybe bake it an extra five minutes (after adding the pecans). This casserole came out a tiny bit “moist,” but we’re getting into the finicky-chef zone. (2) Cut the sugar by a quarter or a third just as an experiment. This version was not overly sweet, but I’d like to see the difference. Again, finicky-chef zone.
The dish went over well—hell, I liked it, and I’m not a fan of Thanksgiving sweet-potatoes—and it even got two thumbs up (unsolicited) from the CIA grad at the table.
ETA: Just reread your comment and wanted to add that I liked this recipe enough that I would consider reducing it to an 8" by 8" casserole size for a “regular” (non-holiday) meal.
Chris
@Hal:
This is… actually the number one reason I don’t talk to conservatives about politics. Because all the ones I know, at least, are so plugged into an alternate universe of facts that there’s nothing to discuss. “Did you know Obama delayed the raid that killed Bin Laden for political purposes for months?” “Did you know that France just ran out of money to pay its socialized health care?” “Did you know they just disproved global warming?”
Now, yes, you could simply call bullshit and say “link or it didn’t happen” to everything they say, but then they’ll do the same to you and you’ll find yourself breaking out basic middle school textbooks to defend basic science. Or you can simply not talk to them. My preferred option by far.
Chris
@satby:
Cops shooting white people isn’t systematic the way it is for nonwhites, but it’s not exactly unknown either. To the extent that conservatives notice it, they usually simply take it as a reason to rant about how the fucking liberal media can’t get enough of drama when it’s black people getting shot, but no one cares or notices about poor whites (“hey, OBAMA, why don’t you make a speech about THIS? I guess you don’t care about WHITE people!”)
Unless the white person in question can be linked to liberalism, then they react pretty much the same way they do to black victims.
VFX Lurker
@satby:
Thank you, satby. You rock.
VFX Lurker
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
Bless you for doing that. You’re awesome!!!
Last night Dora started sneezing and sniffling, which gave my friend a fright. However, Dora started eating food and drinking water again on her own this morning, which is a good sign.
I’m hoping the rest of kitty’s recovery goes without further incident.
Mnemosyne
@PaulW:
My dad was like that — old-school, Limbaugh-listening Republican, but he thought Michael Moore was hilarious. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out he had been sneaking in some Colbert-watching that I didn’t know about.