Friday, November 27, 2009

Thanksgiving...and Black Friday...and some other things...

I was lying in bed Thanksgiving morning thinking about all the things I had to do that day. The thought came to me that I should make deviled eggs as an appetizer. Fifteen minutes later, I got a text message from my oldest son... "You should make deviled eggs." Hmmm...weird. But I had to go with the strange connection, so here they are (or were)...

I didn't get many shots of the group that day. Here are Jeffrey and Jonathan...the oldest and the youngest...duking it out on Jeffrey's X-Box or Playstation or whatever it is. They couldn't look more thrilled, right?

Here's Jared with Nutter....

And Jeffrey with his girlfriend, Erica. Notice how they're dressed. Jeffrey looks like he's headed for the beach and Erica looks like she's headed for a ski lodge. Erica has lived her whole life in Texas, so anything under 70 degrees is like freezing. Jeffrey has lived in Wisconsin and South Dakota, so it has to get DAMN cold before he feels like he needs to put on a long-sleeved shirt.

I made the Thanksgiving meal and while Jeffrey was carving the turkey, Erica said, "You didn't get a picture of the turkey when it was done!" Damn it. She was right. So here it is...carved.

I really wish I HAD gotten a picture of it before we carved it because this is the absolutely BEST turkey I have ever had in my entire life. And I'm not saying that to brag...it's just the truth. I normally make turkey the same way every year, but I was watching an episode on Food Network with Tyler Florence which offered a different recipe. Combine two sticks of softened butter with salt and 1/4 cup of fresh sage and stuff it under the skin. Oh, my God...it was absolutely wonderful. I have never had such moist, juicy and tender turkey...EVER! Even the kids said they couldn't believe how moist it was...especially the white meat which can tend to be kind of dry.

That was a winner, but Tyler's version of cranberries and orange sauce was a definite...

I'm not a cranberry fan, but I thought the recipe sounded kind of interesting...with orange juice and cinnamon. NOT! It was bitter and I ended up throwing the whole thing down the drain. (I probably need to learn a thing or two about cooking with cranberries.)

So, it was Black Friday yesterday. Jeffrey and his girlfriend are going to Colorado in January, so I told Jeffrey I'd buy him a coat since he doesn't have one. We decided to meet at Cabela's to see what they had. We got there at 10:00 a.m. and saw they were giving out free samples.

MMmmmmmm...nothing better than pork rinds in the morning. Okay, on second thought, I can think of about a million things that would be better than pork rinds in the morning. To each his own.

So Jeffrey and I are looking around at coats and I take this picture...

Is Mr. Moose looking at me and asking, "Are you people for real??" Personally, I think I prefer the company of Mr. Moose than some of the people I saw at Cabela's yesterday.

On another personal note, I think "Black Friday" is the biggest materialistic farce this country has come up with. The thought of people going shopping in the middle of the night and standing in line for hours just boggles my mind. My friend, Paul, from Rapid City, South Dakota, said he was going to check out the 4:30 deal at Best Buy for a computer. I expressed my doubts about his plan. This was his outcome...in his words:

"....There is always a first for everything---and in most cases we never really forget the 'first' of most anything. Today was my first attempt at the Black Friday shopping frenzy. I got to Best Buy at 4:15...the parking lot was full and about 2500 people waited in line. There were cops and coffee vendors. What I wanted was a computer that had been marked down in a huge way. Regardless, the paper said there would be 18 of them. They weren't 'doorbusters' so it was first come = first served. This is a desk top so my pea brain figured the 2500 people in front of me would be fighting over TV's and laptops. Regardless, when I got in they were all gone. The geek in the blue shirt said they passed out numbers in the line before the doors ever opened. I'm pissed.I've never seen such a frenzy....crazy people, who had already been at some of the midnight and three a.m. openings. I felt like a puppet. Thousands of people with money clenched in their fists ready to do battle for a GPS. The women were crazier than the men. Lemming, or Buffalo being driven over the cliff, came to mind. I didn't fall for the bait and switch and step up another couple of C-notes for a similar computer.The guy in front of me wanted to score a Blue Ray something or another that was normally priced at $30 and now only fifty will be available at $10 each. This dude had been in line longer than I was to save twenty bucks. Unbelievable. At least I was trying to score a $700 savings from the original price.In short: Never again. I shouldn't have fallen for this crap this time. Black Friday has been experienced, and has left the building, forever."

On that note, I had no desire to be a part of Black Friday. I think Christmas in the U.S. is totally too commercialized and has gone completely away from what it should be all about...especially when they start playing Christmas music in the stores at Halloween to get you in the mood to buy Christmas presents. My dos centavos.

A few random thoughts...

Nutter's phobia of the carpet seems to be waning. I guess it was an adolescent phase she was going through.

This is a flower that is blooming on my balcony...thought it deserved a photo.

Here's the Sopa de Lima I made out of leftover turkey yesterday. Muy bueno.

And one more totally off-the-wall thing. This is something you can entertain your family and friends with over the holidays. A couple of years ago, Jared and I were at an IHOP in New Braunfels and our waiter showed us this trick. I had totally forgotten about it, but Jared reminded me of it yesterday. You stick the tines of two forks together and put one toothpick in the middle of the tines and another one in a salt shaker. Then balance the end of the toothpick in the forks on the end of the toothpick in the salt shaker. Sometimes it takes awhile to get it balanced and, depending on the forks, sometimes it doesn't work. But it really impresses people because it doesn't look like it should work. Must be a "law of physics" thing.

Now I have this mental image of everyone running to their kitchens to get out the forks and toothpicks. Hahaha! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

6 comments:

Ann said...

glad you had a nice holiday. I'm with you about Black Friday--I looked thru all the ads & said there's nothing I want badly enough to go out! I only went to the grocery store today...I've worked in a retail store for the last 35 years so many of those years I've had to work the day after Thanksgiving--at the store I work at now we don't do anything special except 20% off. I spent 1 hr online shopping instead!

Paul said...

hahaha--I didn't know my Black Friday diatribe was going world-wide. Great pictures of the boys. Cool Thanksgiving at your house....mine, too. I was studying the fork trick and saw a noticeable shortage of refridgerator magnets...weird, huh? Happy December.

Vee said...

I'll remember that turkey recipe, Deb. Glad you had a good day with your boys. As for Black Friday, never been there and probably never will. Sorry you didn't get the computer you wanted, though.

Life's a Beach! said...

Great post Deb! I'm with you on the Black Friday mess. Some stores here opened at midnight, others at 4 a.m. And people waited in long lines. I can't imagine ever doing that! That turkey recipe sounds wonderful! Maybe I'll try that on my other $5 turkey at Christmas! : )

Vee said...

Forgot to add that the flowers are gerber daisies. Mom had some in bloom,too.

Anonymous said...

I will definitely try that fork trick!

Linda
Isla Chica