Let us Give Thanks, Part I

Because I didn't have enough to do, I went to the Washington Capitals game tonight with ADR. It was a good time, but bad hockey. The chants of "Fire Hanlon" (the coach) began when the Atlanta Thrashers went ahead. They won the game 5-1. Mrs. BA and I will attend a second Caps game on Saturday night, when they will face off against the Carolina Hurricanes. On December 12, ADR will accompany me to the Capitals-Rangers game, after I received an early birthday gift from Mrs. BA.

Because God has a great sense of humor, I arrived home to find a clogged sink and water in the basement. Much work was done to try and rectify the situation, but I have to admit, Thanksgiving Dinner at the Brave Astronaut home is in danger of cancellation.

While I have several posts that I need to get to, I have lifted the meme below from Anna Van Schurman from her stitching blog. Enjoy your holiday.

Which do you like better: Cooking at your house, or going elsewhere? I would like to say that cooking at home is nice, but this year might not have been that year. But Thanksgiving to me has always been about family and I am glad to have as many of them around for the day (somewhere, my mother is happy with me).

1. Do you buy a fresh or frozen bird? Butterball, baby, is what I am used to as that was what was on the table growing up. This year, we are having a 19 lb. bird purchased from the organic market. Should be delicious.


2. What kind of stuffing? My father is always a meat stuffing kind of guy, but I am a plain old Pepperidge Farm or Arnold bread stuffing kind of guy, with the onions and the celery mixed in. And I prefer it in the bird, but that's evidently not allowed anymore.


3. Sweet potato or pumpkin pie? Um, ick. Desserts are always big, but pumpkin pie usually came out of the freezer and then out of a box at my house growing up. And there was usually another dessert option available. Tomorrow there will be four of them.


4. Do you believe that turkey leftovers are a curse, or the point of the whole thing? Duh, whole thing. C in DC and I are currently in negotiations about whether she should bring her stockpot so she can take the carcass home to make stock for soup.


5. Which side dish would provoke a riot if you left it off the menu? I have to lobby for vegetables, so tomorrow we are having three different ones. My mother always said you had to have pearled onions because her grandmother did, and she hated them. They are one of the three tomorrow. I have no problem with more sides than people, but I am not sure which one I would agree to throw under the bus, except maybe for sweet potatoes, because they are icky, but I won't take away someone else's desire to eat them.


6. Do you save the carcass to make soup or stock? Stock then soup, see number 5.


7. What do you wish you had that would make preparing Thanksgiving dinner easier? I'm actually looking forward to the prep this year, as I have a real kitchen and an opportunity to use the good china. But it would be nice to not have to crush the final prep moments into a blur of time. So the ability to slow down time would be nice.


8. Do you get up at the crack of dawn to have dinner ready in the early afternoon, or do you eat at your normal dinner hour? We are aiming for 3:00pm tomorrow, which means 4:00. You have to eat in the middle of the day so the 9:00pm turkey sandwich tastes that much better. And don't even get me started on my brother-in-law who plans dinner around the Cowboys game each year.


9. If you go to somebody else's house, what's your favorite dish to bring? I like to cook, so I don't know. But I would usually bring wine, too. Then there was the year that friends were invited to another friends for the family Thanksgiving and when asked what the friend could bring, the hostess (the friend's mother) said, "Oh yes, could you bring this? And here's the recipe I'd like you to use . . . "


10. What do you wish one of your guests wouldn't bring to your house? I'm on the fence with this one. I like when people bring things along to contribute, but when it's something I don't like, I feel some sort of obligation to try it. Yes, I know, I'm weird, but we've already established that.


11. Does your usual mix of guests result in drama, or is it a group you're happy to see? Hi, I'm Brave Astronaut, have we met? Drama in families? Never happens [snicker].


12. What's your absolute favorite thing on the menu? Tomorrow? I think it's my mom's cheesecake, followed by the mashed potatoes.