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Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody. I hope you’ll all be feasting today and enjoying either good company or welcome peace and quiet.

I don’t like the forced sociability of the holidays, but I like taking a day for gratitude. I have much to be grateful for, not least the community of individuals around this blog.

Today I’m debating between feasting courtesy of a lodge in the next town over, which is putting on a whatever-you-want-to-donate banquet with my Neighbor J as one of the volunteers, or eating lite with goodies already in supply here. Someone at Claire’s Cabal posted linked a simple recipe for good old southern spoonbread, which I’ve never tried. And I have the makings of split-pea soup on hand — a good thing to do with part of the ham that’s in the fridge. Those two sound like a great combo and like perfect comfort foods for a rainy, windy day.

Blogging will be quiet over the weekend. I might post some oldies but goodies. OTOH, unless the the world falls apart between now and Monday I probably don’t plan to blog any news or views.

I have Lethal White, the latest Cormoran Strike mystery (from the series by Robert Galbraith, aka J.K. Rowling), and a recent addition to Middle Earth mythology, The Fall of Gondolin, to keep me busy. Although I fear the latter might be one of those dry things interesting only to people who know the family tree of every Tolkein elf and ranger, 650 pages of Rowling’s hulking one-legged illegitimate son of a famous rock star solving murders should keep me going.

So enjoy the holiday weekend, my fellow Americans. All you Canadians, Costa Ricans, Welsh folk, Germans, and others out there who aren’t getting stuffed on turkey or ham, may your days be uneventful in the best possible way.

23 Comments

  1. James
    James November 22, 2018 7:01 am

    Happy Thanksgiving, Claire!

    I loves me some roast turkey anytime, but somehow I never roast one unless it’s late November. Part of the problem is that I’ve gotten spoiled by those Amish-raised ones that haven’t been antibiotic’d, enhanced, or frozen, and this is the only time of year I can buy one. But they tell me that they freeze some for sale later on, and that should be almost as good. Maybe this time I’ll remember that, maybe in late February and early March when I’m sick to death of the snow and ice and slush but they aren’t going away anytime soon.

    However you decide to do it, enjoy the time. And know that you are appreciated for all you do!

  2. Joel
    Joel November 22, 2018 7:17 am

    Pot pies and friendly conversation with neighbors for me. Enjoy the holiday whichever way you choose, Claire, and may things continue to go well for you.

  3. ProGunFred
    ProGunFred November 22, 2018 7:37 am

    “O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.”

    Happy Thanksgiving.

  4. Desertrat 1
    Desertrat 1 November 22, 2018 7:44 am

    By the time I finish counting my blessings, the food’s cold!

  5. Pat
    Pat November 22, 2018 8:07 am

    Claire, I assume that your recipe for Decadent Potatoes is being saved for Christmas.

    Happy Thanksgiving, all!

  6. coloradohermit
    coloradohermit November 22, 2018 8:53 am

    Happy Thanksgiving Claire.

  7. larryarnold
    larryarnold November 22, 2018 9:36 am

    Canadians, Costa Ricans, Welsh folk, Germans
    [trivia]
    Don’t know about the Welsh.
    Canadians had their Thanksgiving October 14. (Earlier freeze, earlier harvest, earlier festival.)
    The Germans have Oktoberfest, which celebrates the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig, later to become King Ludwig I, to Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen on 12 October 1810.
    And the Costa Rican Thanksgiving, today, has turkey-smuggling-Freedomista origins:
    http://www.ticotimes.net/2018/11/22/thanksgiving-in-costa-rica-a-long-time-coming-2
    [/trivia]

    We have a couple of Cornish game hens thawing, bought a breakfast quiche from our local senior center, and will celebrate again Saturday with extended family.
    Happy Thanksgiving!

  8. Owl
    Owl November 22, 2018 10:31 am

    Happy Thanksgiving, all!

  9. lairdminor
    lairdminor November 22, 2018 10:45 am

    Happy Thanksgiving, Claire! Among other things I’m thankful for you, your books and your blog. (I don’t often post here, but usually read.)

    We’re roasting a turkey, as usual. Sometime I want to try deep-frying one, which is common here in the South. They’re really very good, moist and (despite what you might think) not at all greasy. But so far I’ve been too cheap to buy a fryer and all that oil, plus I would really miss the stuffing. So it’s roasting again.

    Enjoy a quiet holiday weekend!

  10. free.and.true
    free.and.true November 22, 2018 11:20 am

    Happy Thanksgiving — and much joy in your blessings — to Claire and all you Commentariat friends!

  11. Kurt
    Kurt November 22, 2018 2:24 pm

    Claire,

    As this the only holiday we celebrate around food, we normally go all out. In the past, we’ve invited as many as 12 people over, but this year we’ve only invited one couple.

    Appetizers and wine at around 18:00: three different kinds of cheese, duck liver pate, crackers

    Dinner around 19:00: Roast goose, mashed potatoes, asparagus, and salad – more wine.

    Dessert whenever: pot de creme, and possibly port.

    No TV, no football, but possibly some bridge.

    The only other holidays I celebrate sincerely are in July – the 4th and the 20th. Next year’s should be spectacular: 230 years and 50 years, respectively.

    Best to you, and all of the commentariat.

    Kurt

    P.S. If my previous post made it through, you can ignore it.

  12. Comrade X
    Comrade X November 22, 2018 3:05 pm

    Happy Thanksgiving, Claire and all good liberty loving co-patriots!

    This very moment I am looking out at the great Pacific on a rainy day in the PNW watching a couple surfers and a couple of Kite surfers and the sun is gleaming between a couple of clouds with part of the tribe at me side thankful that I still have the breath to continue to fight for FREEEEEEDOOOOOOOOOM and the right to even write this email!!!

  13. Ron Johnson
    Ron Johnson November 22, 2018 3:20 pm

    My family converged on Green Bay for a wonderful turkey lunch and some typical low-key-sardonic-frere to frere fooling and joshing, then back home for a quiet afternoon and a nap with the dog. Out tonight for some Thanksgiving pizza with friends. This has been a good day.

    Work tomorrow.

    I don’t dread Thanksgiving the way I sometimes dread Christmas. I’m not one to go looking for socializing, but when my wife or my family get me to go I always have a good time.

    May everyone have a wonderful day, and remember the things and people we have to be thankful for.

  14. Jorge
    Jorge November 22, 2018 4:23 pm

    Happy Thanksgiving, Claire. Also to all of you in the US. Enjoy.

  15. Kathy
    Kathy November 22, 2018 7:05 pm

    Happy Thanksgiving!

  16. E. Garrett Perry
    E. Garrett Perry November 23, 2018 12:23 am

    Our Thanksgiving feed is tomorrow- we’re hosting half the village it seems. Of course our village is only about 120 people, but these are Czech rednecks. You wanna talk ’bout some meat-eatin, beer-drinkin, give-thanks-for-harvest-time-an-huntin-season folks! We’ve got a keg of beer, a 25lb turkey, a 7lb duck, and a 5lb chicken going onto the big spit roaster, and guests who spell “love” or “welcome” as “F-O-O-D” and “L-I-Q-O-U-R.” One of the neighbors mentioned something about pheasant…

    I really hope we don’t end up with literally half the village, that 50L of beer wouldn’t last ninety minutes…

    This oughta be fun!

  17. Myself
    Myself November 23, 2018 3:13 am

    E. Garrett Perry
    wins Thanksgiving!

  18. E. Garrett Perry
    E. Garrett Perry November 23, 2018 4:35 am

    Hold off until the smoke settles- like I said, we just gotta hope that God and Uncle Mordechai don’t take me literally! We’re hoping for four or five of the other young families in the village, but we’re still a bit of a curiosity- lots of the older folks in Miškovice haven’t met an American before, and certainly didn’t expect one (or 2.5) to buy the old BnB at the crossroad- so there’s no telling who’ll show up. Unfortunately hunting season got off to a slow start this year thanks to weird temps and ucky weather, so game meat is fairly thin on the ground yet, but hopefully my bird-dogging neighbor wasn’t joking about the pheasant. We do, however, have a rotisserie big enough to roast my old ’71 Midget, a big yard for the kids, and most importantly a -bar- for us grown folks. My wife is gonna laugh her head off taking Silly Drunken Husband Blackmail Pictures, of course, but she’s bi/poly/switch and I have half the video-distribution rights, so I’m safe from everything but a hangover or jealous husband.

    Now where’d I put that Old Bay…

  19. James
    James November 23, 2018 5:05 am

    Of course our village is only about 120 people, but these are Czech rednecks.

    Reminds me of a guy I saw at Wurstfest down in New Braunfels (Texas) a few weeks ago. He was wearing a T-shirt that proclaimed him “half German, half Czech, and half Texan.” Pretty good, I thought.

  20. E. Garrett Perry
    E. Garrett Perry November 23, 2018 6:02 am

    That’s that Mathematička Hospudků- pub math. Definitely at least half Czech.

    These folks make damnfine rednecks, so I was unsurprised to learn that the two biggest ethnic Czech/Moravian communities in the US are in Texas (mostly Czechs/Bohemians) and North Carolina (mostly Moravians).

  21. John
    John November 23, 2018 9:55 pm

    Happy Thanksgiving Claire,
    A puppy video for you…

    THE CAUCASIAN SHEPHERD (!)

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