Tuesday, August 30, 2011
The Second Step: Recipe Testing
This year will be a little different from the past couple years. I am making the focus not on the roasted bird, but on the variety of leftovers. The only turkey leftover I have ever made with an regularity is Turkey Salad. Which I make exactly the same way I make chicken salad except with turkey. The other recipes I need to do some research. Turkey a-la King: Ill look in one on of my 50's cook books first, I think. Turkey Soup: I was thinking of going with some creamy, almost like a pot pie consistency, but a little thinner, lots of orange and green veggies. Turkey Hash: I had very little idea of what this even was, but Ralphie was looking forward to it in "A Christmas Story" so I'll make it (btw: it's basically turkey stir-fry). I like chili, so I think a really spicy Turkey Chili will be nice this year. I will have to make two batches though. One batch I will use my special mix of hot spices; the other batch will not be spicy. Other than providing bread and rolls for sandwiches I'm not sure how many more I will attempt. Its going to take the 2 weeks prior to get these recipes perfected. If anyone has any ideas please comment.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Why Thanksgiving 2 and not Easter 2 or other big holidays?
I didn't really put a lot of thought into starting to celebrate a second holiday. I knew that during Thanksgiving most of my friends celebrate with their immediate family. The same can be said for Christmas. I don't really know too many people who make a big deal about Easter, so Thanksgiving seemed the best candidate. Choosing a date for the sequel was a tough nut. I could not pick the actual day because I like going to my families Thanksgiving so that was out. I thought about the weekend directly after Thanksgiving, but I want the shopping options open to me. (I like to shop for Christmas presents. . . . don't judge me:). So, it seemed I had two options. I could use the weekend prior or the weekend after Black Friday. The weekend after Black Friday is sometimes my friends birthday. The very first Thanksgiving 2 I had to reschedule because of this. I figured that most of the time his birthday will not fall on that Saturday, and this left the week before Thanksgiving Actual to put up my Christmas Tree. I am pretty sure most years from now on I will be doing it this weekend. Now, if I could just figure out when to do Christmas 2!
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Non-Food Attractions
The food is the main event for this holiday (other than the being with people part), but since I don't have a huge kitchen there have to be other things to occupy the guests time. I figured if I describe what went on in past years maybe through comments or my own brainstorming I can add a few to future years festivities.
The living room is the indoor space most capable of entertaining the largest number of people. The living room is home to the TV and a lot of seating (15-18 people). I figured that since not everyone is super familiar with each other the TV would be the best non-drinkable social lubricant. So last year I recorded the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and played it in its entirety. It's about 3 hours long and I thought it went over pretty well. Who doesn't like giant balloons and Al Roker? After the parade I think I put "A Christmas Story" or "Christmas Vacation" on. This year I want to add a new Christmas or holiday movie, possibly "Scrooged" or "Muppet's Christmas Carol". The middle/display/library room I used for purely a conversation area. I don't think I have any other options there. The Kitchen is just about as packed as I can make it with food. There is minimal walking space and I need that space for any last minute dishes. Nothing new will be in there. Finally, there is the backyard space. I'm going to ask Ben's mother if I can borrow the fire pit again. We may also be acquiring a ping-pong table, but I don't know if that would even be feasible to set up. I do think I will set up our new tent though. It will let people spread out a bit more than last year. I hope. If we get significantly more people than last year it will be . . . interesting.
The living room is the indoor space most capable of entertaining the largest number of people. The living room is home to the TV and a lot of seating (15-18 people). I figured that since not everyone is super familiar with each other the TV would be the best non-drinkable social lubricant. So last year I recorded the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and played it in its entirety. It's about 3 hours long and I thought it went over pretty well. Who doesn't like giant balloons and Al Roker? After the parade I think I put "A Christmas Story" or "Christmas Vacation" on. This year I want to add a new Christmas or holiday movie, possibly "Scrooged" or "Muppet's Christmas Carol". The middle/display/library room I used for purely a conversation area. I don't think I have any other options there. The Kitchen is just about as packed as I can make it with food. There is minimal walking space and I need that space for any last minute dishes. Nothing new will be in there. Finally, there is the backyard space. I'm going to ask Ben's mother if I can borrow the fire pit again. We may also be acquiring a ping-pong table, but I don't know if that would even be feasible to set up. I do think I will set up our new tent though. It will let people spread out a bit more than last year. I hope. If we get significantly more people than last year it will be . . . interesting.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Why the leftover plan this year?
It's very early yet to decide whether any of the regulars will demand (request?) a traditional roasted turkey, but I figured I'd go through my thought process of why I chose to go another route this year.
Last year I was lucky enough to get 4 free turkeys. One from my friend Ben one from my parents, one from Sean's Aunt, and I from Giant. Three were made on the day of last year. The smell of a newly cooked turkey is awesome. It is right up there with the smell of bacon or cookies, in my opinion. The entire fried turkey was eaten, and the first roast turkey was eaten, and about half of the 2nd roasted one. This left me with one half eaten bird and one frozen bird. I cooked the frozen one a few days later and over the next several weeks came to a realization. I do not like just turkey. Turkey salad I really like, and turkey chili is pretty good, but just . . plain . . turkey is not something I want to eat again for over 2 weeks. If there are enough people who want the traditional bird I will gladly make it, but I will be giving it away at the end of the night. So bring a doggie bag if you are coming and have requested the roast turkey.
Last year I was lucky enough to get 4 free turkeys. One from my friend Ben one from my parents, one from Sean's Aunt, and I from Giant. Three were made on the day of last year. The smell of a newly cooked turkey is awesome. It is right up there with the smell of bacon or cookies, in my opinion. The entire fried turkey was eaten, and the first roast turkey was eaten, and about half of the 2nd roasted one. This left me with one half eaten bird and one frozen bird. I cooked the frozen one a few days later and over the next several weeks came to a realization. I do not like just turkey. Turkey salad I really like, and turkey chili is pretty good, but just . . plain . . turkey is not something I want to eat again for over 2 weeks. If there are enough people who want the traditional bird I will gladly make it, but I will be giving it away at the end of the night. So bring a doggie bag if you are coming and have requested the roast turkey.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
The To-Do List 1
This post is more for me than any readers.
- Evite-Done
- find 5-7 "leftover" recipes and new stuffing recipe (I didn't like last years)
- buy malheur from somewhere
- get free turkey to test leftover recipes (week of Nov 13)
- make pasta salad (around Nov 28)
- make macaroni salad (around Nov 29)
- buy soda, veggies, baked beans, noodles, walnuts, bread flour, potatoes, mayo, stuffing bread, plates, cups, plasticware
- buy rolls from Wegman's or The Italian Peoples Bakery (Dec 1)
- clean 5 gallon bucket, and/or cooler
The First Step: The Invitations
If you're going to have a large gathering at your house you need to invite people. I prefer to use Evite, but only because I'm familiar with it. A few of our friends use Socializer, but it doesn't offer me anything super special.
I re-used the template for the Evite that I used last year. 1.little story, 2.info, and then the rough menu. This isn't a super complicated affair. It is just a lunch/dinner with lots of food, so I think I have it done right at this point. I had my wife do some grammar maintenance and away it went. I have sent it to 57 individual e-mail addresses, so I suppose if everyone came I'd have around . . .114 people in my house. I think that's against some code, but I'd be amazed if that many came. The wider the net the better my chances. I sent the Evite on August 22 and I have 9 adults and 3 kids booked already. Pretty good for the second day. Since I decided to do most of the food myself (I'll save why for another post) I periodically have to edit the menu to add in the specialty foods that people will bring. I'm expecting heavy traffic to the Evite for about 3 more days, then if last year is any indicator a huge drop-off for a couple months. When I start sending out weekly reminders it will kick back up again. I hope.
I re-used the template for the Evite that I used last year. 1.little story, 2.info, and then the rough menu. This isn't a super complicated affair. It is just a lunch/dinner with lots of food, so I think I have it done right at this point. I had my wife do some grammar maintenance and away it went. I have sent it to 57 individual e-mail addresses, so I suppose if everyone came I'd have around . . .114 people in my house. I think that's against some code, but I'd be amazed if that many came. The wider the net the better my chances. I sent the Evite on August 22 and I have 9 adults and 3 kids booked already. Pretty good for the second day. Since I decided to do most of the food myself (I'll save why for another post) I periodically have to edit the menu to add in the specialty foods that people will bring. I'm expecting heavy traffic to the Evite for about 3 more days, then if last year is any indicator a huge drop-off for a couple months. When I start sending out weekly reminders it will kick back up again. I hope.
The New Tradition
Since this is my first post I figure I should explain where I got the idea for Thanksgiving 2.
The idea was born from one of my favorite holiday movies. Although not one you might expect. It came from Santa Claus: The Movie. In the movie the main antagonist, played by the great John Lithgow (of Buckaroo Banzai fame) creates "Christmas 2". He set Christmas 2 in July to sell "The Special Thing" figuring to rake in the cash. Now where he simply has money on his mind, I wanted to bring the fun of the holiday to my friends. I have heard a few stories and learned that some of my friends haven't had the best holiday experiences. I figured if I could bring what my family does on that awesome Thursday to them, well that would be pretty fun. I talked it over with my girlfriend at the time (now wife) and she agreed to try it out. And so Thanksgiving 2 was born in December 2008.
The idea was born from one of my favorite holiday movies. Although not one you might expect. It came from Santa Claus: The Movie. In the movie the main antagonist, played by the great John Lithgow (of Buckaroo Banzai fame) creates "Christmas 2". He set Christmas 2 in July to sell "The Special Thing" figuring to rake in the cash. Now where he simply has money on his mind, I wanted to bring the fun of the holiday to my friends. I have heard a few stories and learned that some of my friends haven't had the best holiday experiences. I figured if I could bring what my family does on that awesome Thursday to them, well that would be pretty fun. I talked it over with my girlfriend at the time (now wife) and she agreed to try it out. And so Thanksgiving 2 was born in December 2008.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)