Belated Thanksgiving pictures!

[milleniumgypsy]

Here's a picture of the hubby during the dinner prep! There was something in the stove that was smoking a bit, so I had opened the sliding glass door to air the place out. It was really cold out though and Scottie was sitting on the couch next to the open door so I was like 'OMG you must be cold!' so I put a blanket on him. Then I decided that wasn't warm enough. So I put his jacket on top of that. Then I put my hat on him. Then I put his hat on top of that. Then I put my scarf on him. Then I put my jacket on top of his jacket. Then for good measure I put a pillow on top of everything. He allowed me to take a picture of the ridiculousness. xD


Here's a picture of the bird!


And here is a picture of dinner on the table! He had spicy steamed sweet potatoes, a sweet potato casserole, homemade cranberry sauce (might be considered more of a relish), garlic mashed potatoes and gravy, crescent rolls, stuffing, and of course the turkey!

It was a super nice Thanksgiving. :D

Comments

[manda-kitty.livejournal.com]

looks delish!! Hope you had a great birthday!!

[invsagoth.livejournal.com]

Thank you! It was delish and I did have a great birthday! I need to make a post about that soon! I've been so tired from work I just haven't done it yet!

[arctic-comet.livejournal.com]

Looks yummy!

[invsagoth.livejournal.com]

It was! :D

[diemme.livejournal.com]

Looks like a great time! Happy belated birthday!!

[invsagoth.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :D I need to write a birthday post, I've just been so tired from work that I haven't had the time to yet!

[eofs.livejournal.com]

For all that there's a fundamental similarity between the traditional US Thanksgiving dinner and a UK Christmas dinner, I do find the profound differences quite interesting. Not just individual things (the US love for mashed potato vs our love of roast potatoes) but broader trends too. US Thanksgiving dinner seems to be very, very heavy on the carbs whereas our Christmas dinner traditionally has up to 4 types of meat (five if you count the bacon on the turkey/wrapped around the chipolatas/often in with the brussels sprouts).

In fact, a couple of years ago one of our celebrity chefs was filming her Christmas episode and as the crew sat down at the end to eat the dinner they realised that not one single thing on the table was vegetarian. Even the sprouts had been cooked with bacon and the potatoes roasted in goose fat. They had to send out for curry!

[invsagoth.livejournal.com]

But mashed potatoes are so good! hehe Though I do love me some roast potatoes. xD

Normally we do have some veggies on the plate, but we'd made quite a few dishes at that point and since it was only for the two of us we didn't want to go too overboard! xD Scottie had actually apologized for the brownness of the plate. n_n' It does tend to be carb heavy though! I can't imagine having that much meat in a meal though! Of course, that would make more sense for a larger gathering.

The celebrity chef story is funny though! xD

[eofs.livejournal.com]

Mashed potato is so everyday though. (Not that we have them that often.) It belongs with fish fingers and baked beans, or on top of a piping hot cottage pie. Roast potatoes are sinful and heavenly. Especially now that Christmas is my only chance all year to eat my mother's amazing roast potatoes. (I haven't got the knack yet.)

We do have veg too - carrots and parsnips are common, brussels sprouts are an eternal presence (supposedly nobody likes them but everybody eats them because they're traditional), I imagine that we're not the only family to have peas, leeks perhaps, red cabbage might appear (it will in our household this year). Of course you can add to the fat content by roasting your carrots and parsnips too...

When I say 4 types of meat - turkey is the main beast (or goose more traditionally). The sausagemeat is used in stuffing the turkey - in our family it's partly stuffing, partly sausagemeat, but I don't know how common that is. I imagine some people just put the sausagemeat in the stuffing. Chipolatas (bacon-wrapped - known as pigs in blankets) are a traditional accompaniment, though not served in our household. So that's the main three. And then there's the roast gammon, which a lot of households will have on Christmas Eve or Boxing Day but some people I believe do have with the main meal.

I'm not sure how much of it is to cater for large gatherings - turkeys feed a lot of people already. It's mostly just gluttony, and to give yourselves a bit more choice in your leftovers for the coming days. Instead of a week of turkey sandwiches, you could have ham every so often.