Author Topic: Thanksgiving To-Do List  (Read 55449 times)

Offline Ellemeno

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Re: Thanksgiving To-Do List
« Reply #40 on: November 25, 2009, 02:01:54 am »
Nothing like eggs that are

a) fresh

b) from hens that don't spend their entire short lives in airless dark cages the size of a piece of printer paper eating drugged food with their beaks burned off and wire cutting into their feet.

I recently read Jonathan Safran Foer's "Eating Animals." I haven't stopped eating animal products -- just stopped enjoying them. You're lucky you can eat an omelet with a clean conscience, FRiend.




Oh, I like the two novels I read by him.  I also know the lack of enjoyment in eating animal products.  (Have you read about turkeys?)


Offline Ellemeno

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Re: Thanksgiving To-Do List
« Reply #41 on: November 25, 2009, 02:10:16 am »
My Thanksgiving To-Do List is very different than the last three years.

I now order groceries online, so that is a huge change.  I've got a large-ish order arriving tomorrow morning, in time to prepare for Thursday's feast.

Thursday's feast is only going to be for Mr. Meno, Mini-Meno, and me, so it's smaller, simpler, and more vegetarian than usual.

Because it's only going to be the three of us, the level of housecleaning required to prepare is hugely different.

So it's been pretty easy so far.  I picture us making the food together on Thursday, and it not taking very long, because there will be no turkey, and just a store-bought pie for dessert.  Kind of odd, a bit melancholy, but kind of nice too.  I'm hoping it will be dry enough for a longer-than-usual walk after the meal.

The family members that usually come for Thanksgiving are coming on Sunday instead, and instead of the usual sit around the house eating til we burst, and then playing charades, we're going to take everyone bowling, and then out for dinner!

So in a way, my Thanksgiving To-Do List is:

Be thankful.


Offline Front-Ranger

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Re: Thanksgiving To-Do List
« Reply #42 on: November 25, 2009, 11:09:56 am »
It sounds perfectly lovely, Clarissa!

I'll be going to my daughter's boyfriend's parents' house for Thanksgiving. Whew, that's a lot of possessives! It will be fairly laid-back.

I know the To-Do list said don't shop on Wednesday, but my teenagers and their friends ate all the pie already, so I have to go get more pecans, more pie crusts, and more eggs! (I have maxed out the two hens!!)

Funny that you would mention JSF. There was an article by him in last Sunday's Parade Magazine called "Making Holiday Traditions Our Own." It's probably online too. Did you know that he lives (or lived) in the same building in Brooklyn as Heath, Michelle, and Matilda?
"chewing gum and duct tape"

Offline serious crayons

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Re: Thanksgiving To-Do List
« Reply #43 on: November 25, 2009, 12:30:39 pm »
(Have you read about turkeys?)

Yes. And chickens. And cows. And fish. And pigs.

I'm not a huge pork-consumer, but one good thing is that my local upscale grocery store supplies pork from the very non-factory producers that JSF portrays in a relatively positive way. He's a vegan and is opposed to eating animal products in general, but he demonstrates that if you must eat them, non-factory-farmed is the way to go.

Not that I didn't know much of this, of course, at some level. It's just that JSF raises the knowledge to a much higher, more uncomfortable, more tragic and sickening, level.




Now back on topic. Happy preparations, everyone!




Offline Front-Ranger

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Re: Thanksgiving To-Do List
« Reply #44 on: November 25, 2009, 01:20:34 pm »

Funny that you would mention JSF. There was an article by him in last Sunday's Parade Magazine called "Making Holiday Traditions Our Own." It's probably online too. Did you know that he lives (or lived) in the same building in Brooklyn as Heath, Michelle, and Matilda?

Here are two quotes from the article:

"We talk and talk, to and over one another, about the Orioles and Redskins, changes in the neighborhood, our accomplishments, and the anguish of others (our own anguish is off-limits)."

"My aunt always places a small pile of popcorn kernels on each plate, which, in the course of the meal, we transfer to the table as symbols of things we are thankful for." The popcorn comes back again at the end of the article, much like our beloved shirts.
"chewing gum and duct tape"

Offline Ellemeno

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Re: Thanksgiving To-Do List
« Reply #45 on: November 25, 2009, 11:16:40 pm »

Funny that you would mention JSF. There was an article by him in last Sunday's Parade Magazine called "Making Holiday Traditions Our Own." It's probably online too. Did you know that he lives (or lived) in the same building in Brooklyn as Heath, Michelle, and Matilda?



We know they worked on some sort of 'Save Brooklyn' project together.  There's a photo of the four of them somewhere here.  He's married to Nicole Krauss, the author of The History of Love.  I used to think he was married to Nicola Kraus, author of my beloved Nanny Diaries, but he's not.

Offline serious crayons

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Re: Thanksgiving To-Do List
« Reply #46 on: November 27, 2009, 02:31:42 am »
To tie this conversation to another thread, the first time I ever heard of JSF was in the New Yorker, when they did a special issue featuring child young writers. This was right before Everything is Illuminated came out, and his story was an excerpt from that novel.


Offline Front-Ranger

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Re: Thanksgiving To-Do List
« Reply #47 on: November 14, 2010, 08:51:26 pm »
Dang! I'm behind already! But one thing I did achieve: washing and polishing all the ceramic serving pieces, silver and crystal, as well as the glass shelves they are displayed on in my dining room. And...I didn't break anything!! I have no idea how I accomplished it all!!
"chewing gum and duct tape"

Offline Meryl

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Re: Thanksgiving To-Do List
« Reply #48 on: November 14, 2010, 11:20:28 pm »
Thanks for bumping this thread, Lee.  It's always fun to re-read.  And congrats on getting that big job done!  8)
Ich bin ein Brokie...

Offline David In Indy

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Re: Thanksgiving To-Do List
« Reply #49 on: November 15, 2010, 02:40:00 am »
Thanksgiving = Native American genocide.

And feel free to add Columbus Day to that list while you're at it.

I'm not saying you shouldn't celebrate it.... just celebrate it in the correct context. It didn't end happily for everyone. :-\



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