to be jealous that Americans get Thanksgiving AND Christmas?

[FeuDeRussie]

Thanksgiving sounds really good. Like Christmas, but no presents to worry about (AFAIK?), just FOOD!

Are there any Americans around who can tell me what Thanksgiving is like? Do you prefer it to Christmas?

The marshmallows on sweet potatoes was originally southern. They are also more likely to deep fry the turkey. You can get deep fat fryers big enough to put an entire turkey in!

I really like the way that almost every month has some kind of celebration. Not all if them get a day off, but ther are fun activities for the kids and Halloween, thanksgiving, Christmas help to get you through the darkening days. Then you have valentines, st paddies, Easter (but that is very low key, no days off), mother's day, memorial day, before you know it, it's the summer again and you have 3 months of sitting by the lake, swimming, enjoying the sun etc.

Thanksgiving is about giving thanks for having food in the table and family by your side. Columbus day is now being phased out. The town I live in has the day off school but call it fall colors day. The next town over doesn't even have the day off and doesn't acknowledge it at all. Lots of schools use it to teach about Indian Americans. (we had staff training on this, and the guy rightly pointed out that native American means anyone who was born in the US so the phrase is being changed)

Oh is that good?

I saw that too. Do you serve it before the meal as a chips and dip type thing? What do you put in it?

hot spinach dip i mean

fuck this, sitting here, drooling nostalgically

I am going to candy some yams myself!

Really fun to read about everyone's menus. I love Thanksgiving - better than Christmas IMO because my family isn't big on presents so a holiday all about food is perfect! Our Thanksgiving traditional things are 90% out of the Silver Palate Good Times cookbook, with some added Eastern European extras (blini, smoked salmon and caviar).

Tonight I will prep
apple pie (silver palate)
maple-pumpkin tart (martha)
apricot-cointreau stuffing (silver palate)
mashed potatoes with cream cheese, sour cream and chives (silver palate)
fresh cranberry orange sauce (martha)

Tomorrow roast the turkey, sprouts, make gravy, make a mushroom leek galette, make a green salad, and juggle everything in the oven and stove top to get it all ready to serve at the same time. Iron clad timings necessary.

Unfortunately Ocado have run out of fresh turkeys so my mother is paying through the nose for one at a super fancy butcher in Holland Park. I dread to think how much it will cost...and DS has a D&V bug, just for an added extra frisson of excitement!

ethel I'll be slicing a baguette into discs (if that makes sense- not slicing it lengthwise) and toasting them a little. I'll put the dip out with a spreading knife. Though, it's just me, DH and DS, so I won't be laying it out too fancy. Honestly, it's amazing, you should try it. It's always popular at parties. (You can also find recipes for spinach and artichoke dip, that's very similar to the Martha recipe and also very good. I just couldn't find artichokes..)

You could also serve it with crackers. It just needs something substantial to spread on, so no crisps etc.

kickass not trying to be funny, but are Indian Americans not Americans with family from India? I think that's why the whole 'native' American thing came about, to differentiate. Or did that not come up in the discussion? (Honestly just asking, it's interesting how terms come and go every decade or so!)

In California and elsewhere, Columbus Day is now Indigenous People's day.

Thanksgiving is not about the Indigenous People. Not really. Well, the settlers where, hey, thanking them! Come, have a feast, we survived! Thanks for helping us do that!

My husband, that Northern Irish native, lived in Indiana for one year as a boy with his family. To this day he insists he was the best Miles Standish ever in any Thanksgiving play.

Oh, and being from New England? I've never put marshmallow on a yam.

Yuck!

Tee I want to go to New England, I have an idea in my head that all people eat there is lobster rolls and other shellfish yumminess. Is this true? Tell me this is true.

Okay. It's true. I'm lying, sorry.

Although you can go to Maine and buy a lobster straight from the boats for about $2. That's true.

I've had them baked with marshmallows before but that is a bit much, mine are just going in a saucepan with butter and sugar. Mmmmmm.

Americans, do you have to go back to work on the Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, or do you get it off like an unofficial Boxing Day?

$2 for a lobster. I can't even imagine!

Well, they may not be $2 any more, it's been about 20 years since I was in Maine, but probably not more than a fiver.

squoosh it is true. We spend every summer in NH and basically subsist on a diet of fried and steamed clams, shrimp, scallops and whole steamed lobsters. And ice cream. It's glorious.

Thank you Xiaoxiong, I would love to accept your kind invitation to spend next summer in New Hampshire with you and your family.

mmm lobster rolls...

Mama depends on the sort of job you have. If you have a naice office job at a large company, you're likely to have Friday off. If it's not given, many people will take it off if they have the leave to do so.

My last job in the US didn't give us the Friday off. It was a small practice owned by someone with no immediate family who thought we were lucky to get Thanksgiving day off in the first place.

Xiaoxiong. I miss New England food. My dream holiday is to land in NY, eat from one side of the city to the other then spend a day or two sitting on the beach in Maine eating nothing but fresh fish from the boats.

I'd gain 10 pounds but it would be so worth it!

It all sounds lovely - I'd love to be invited to a proper Thanksgiving meal. Not likely as no American relatives or friends, but you never know - perhaps someday. It wouldn't be the same if I tried it myself.

mama where are you in the country? We are having ours tomorrow and always try and have a new person along every year. Over the years we have made some lovely new friends this way. (Also defuses potential family tensions...!)

Kickassangel, another question here about the "Indian Americans" training you had- definitely Indian and not Indigenous? So what do you call somebody like Deepak Chopra? "South Asian Americans?"

I find it interesting that in the UK "Asian" is used for ( and by) people from the Indian subcontinent whereas In the US "Asian" by default means Chinese/ Korean/Vietnamese etc etc. suppose it's because the UK had far more Indian than South East Asian immigrants and the US vice-versa.

squoosh yes please do - you can and Tee can rent this camp and we can have a huge clambake

We are living in USA for a few years and going to a Thanksgiving dinner today - we are taking half the food though so hope it goes well!

We're having:

Roast Turkey
Baked ham with marmalade glaze
Roast potatoes (yes I know it's supposed to be mashed but....)
Homemade stuffing
Brussel sprouts with pecans and cranberries
Roast carrots with rosemary

Pecan pie & ice-cream for dessert

Loads of booze for everyone else (am pg)

Can't wait!

Good on you berri, waving the flag for roast potatoes!

How can anyone prefer mash to roasties in the context of a roast dinner?