Robin had to work all day (a state job, she volunteered), I was working in the afternoon, and my extended family all did their own thing so we decided to do Truckstop Turkey. One of the local truck stops does a Thanksgiving buffet and it’s busy all day with drivers and people like us who didn’t want a big meal for three people. It wasn’t Alice’s Restaurant, but under the circumstances it was a Thanksgiving dinner that couldn’t be beat.
The infamous green bean casserole is a recipe first published by the Campbell’s Soup Company in 1955. It proved popular at the time, but honestly I think idea that it’s a “traditional Thanksgiving dish” comes mostly from Campbell’s marketing. I’ve actually never had it, myself. And I imagine lots of people don’t like it now because of changing tastes away from the processed convenience foods that were all the rage in 1950s America, towards fresh unprocessed ingredients.
I’ve had a gourmet version of grean bean casserole. So much better. But I will always have a soft spot for the fried onions. I can go through a ½ can in a sitting. Easy. Can’t buy them here, which is probably good thing.
As our families age, with the younger components too far off for a reasonable drive and feast, we local adults (6-10 usually) more and more gather at an eatery and let someone else do the work while we consume and chatter.
This started a few Xmas’es ago when blizzards and downed powerlines blew out our dinner preparation. Once roads cleared, 16 of us took 24 bottles of wine to the local Chinese joint and feasted fabulously. No clean-up to do, and the unprepared vittles at home were donated to a food bank.
Snowed-in here so no escape, and power gone most of T-Day 2019, but we didn’t have to resort to canned turkey chili, praise Quetzalcoatl! BBQ salmon burgers sufficed.
We did brunch at the Pfister (fancy Milwaukee hotel) and it was great!
Bottomless mimosas and bloodys - Yum!
No, sad is a widow entirely alone for Thanksgiving. That was a bad November…
My spouse and I did the restaurant thing for a long time, since a full-on Thanksgiving dinner for just two people didn’t make any sense at all.
The past two years I’ve been invited to a friend’s family. Last year I was still a wreck, but this year I brought a side dish.
I have managed to get to my mid-50’s without ever being the matriarch cooking the Big Dinner. I do, however, happily contribute side dishes, and I’ll also help with clean up/leftover processing and distribution (and consumption).
I’m fully in favor of people doing what works for them.
This is my experience as well. I told myself this year once the snotty bitching started, I’d make myself scarce. Once the bird was in the oven, I went for a lovely 2 hour walk in solitude. We only had my in laws over, so only 6 people. They arrived at 4pm and were gone before 6pm. The food was good as usual but hardly worth the effort and clean-up and leftovers. And as mentioned, I fucking hate fucking carving the fucking bird. Thanksgiving, once a favorite holiday when my mother was alive, is quickly dropping to the bottom.
I remember a Thanksgiving in the late 80s or very early 90s where I was in my teens and, after dinner, took off with my friends. We wound up at a family restaurant where one of us worked and they had planned a whole Thanksgiving menu. No one came. It was just us in the restaurant, drinking coffee and eating heaps of free food because they had cooked a bunch of turkey 'n fixings for no one.
In contrast, when we did the Thanksgiving buffet this year, we were in the 3rd “wave” of 2-hour block reservations, each with a couple hundred people.
Thanksgiving afternoon, my wife and I just decided we weren’t all that hungry, and skipped dinner altogether. So I waited until the next day to prepare what I had planned: Italian sausage ravioli.
It’s composed of green beans, canned cream of mushroom soup, milk, seasonings, and canned fried onions, baked together in a casserole. A few minutes before it’s done, canned fried onions are sprinkled on top to brown. I’m convinced its popularity is due to its ease of preparation and the canned “french fried” onions, which are nothing like onions you fry at home. They’re onion-y flavored, wispy and crispy (usually broken) rings. It’s enormously popular–served in 30 million homes every Thanksgiving. If each of those homes averages 6 people at the table–and I suspect it’s higher–that means half the country eats it every Thanksgiving.
I don’t hate it, but I got tired of it.
I know the day will come where we order thanksgiving in, or go to a restaurant, but not yet. I’ve cooked almost every thanksgiving since 1996. The few years we’ve been guests I’ve made an abbreviated version over the weekend for the leftovers! I’ve accommodated kosher folks, vegan, pescatarian, while basically holding on to our traditional menu (no green bean casserole!). I’ve simplified some since those early years, but the main part of the meal is the same.
Almost every year we have guests, family, friends, colleagues. I always invite my international graduate students. Last minute folks are no problem. This year we threw salmon on the grill for a non-turkey eater, and said it was a nod to the Native American presence.
I really love doing thanksgiving, but I also know someday I won’t, and that’ll be ok too.
I’d simply tell your bossy MIL that it’s somebody else’s turn next year. I know: yuck. But hear me out. You and the wife go, make a pretense of eating the awful food (easy because it’s buffet style), and go home. That’s the beauty of being the guest: you get to leave. When you get home, you inhale the mouthwatering aroma of done-to-a-turn smoked turkey, finish prepping the few dishes you started before leaving, and have a lovely dinner, just the two of you.
One of the very few benefits (for me) of being single again…no dealing with a wife that insists that all holidays be spent with her family or running all over the damn valley to have not enough time to enjoy it at any one place
We’re near the end of our leftovers. We were expecting a total of 14 people (counting us) though it wound up being only 13. I thought a big turkey might not be enough - the biggest organic / free-range from Whole Paycheck is 14ish pounds, and I try to get 1+ pounds per guest. So I decided to get an extra turkey breast - but those were more per pound, and I decided to just get a second turkey.
I cooked one the night before. I cooked the other during the day. We ate every morsel of meat off the first one, and didn’t touch the second one. First time in my life we’ve ever had that Norman Rockwell thing of a whole roast turkey on the table. It was wonderful not having to deal with that at mealtime though. I think I’ll do the turkey the night before all the time from here on out.
We did the precooked meal once before. Still did a fair bit of sides / desserts - and the turkey was not so much browned as beiged, so I chunked that in the oven for a bit. It was less work overall though.
We have virtually never travelled for Thanksgiving. One year when we were in the midst of a move from NC to DC, and I was on a project in Indiana, I flew home to NC. Wound up eating alone at a hotel buffet. Lonely and depressing. Another year I’d been sick, so rather than hosting, we drove 90+ miles to visit relatives. Other than that, we’ve always hosted - and make it an open Thanksgiving where we invite everyone and their brother. Even though people chip in, it’s exhausing - but I keep thinking of those two times where we didn’t cook. and they were depressing, so we keep up with it. Plus we get all the leftovers :).