I’ll get to that. But let’s start from the beginning, shall we? It wasn’t a bad day for a Tuesday.
But I’m still thinking of that other holiday…the one we Yanks call Thanksgiving. And I impulsively decided to prepare a feast at home this year.
I also bought the fixin’s to make candied yams and my Aunt Pat’s recipe fruit salad. I’ll pick up some additional things next week after I’ve finalized the menu planning. It has been over a decade since I prepared a Thanksgiving dinner. Looking forward to it.
My box freezer died, so on the way back from Royal we stopped at the Savers appliance store. I decided a big side-by-side fridge/freezer was a better option than replacing the box-style freezer, and this big beauty was on sale:
I didn’t use to walk on Tuesdays, but every step counts in my quest to lose weight, so for the second week in a row, I strolled through the neighborhood.
We spent our Tuesday evening on Baloy Beach.
No other customers this time, and none of that cursed videoke crap.
So, the bar staff invited me to plug into the Bluetooth speaker and play whatever I liked from my Spotify app. The music was extra special last night! I caught myself singing along with some of my old favorites and noted the hypocrisy of my karaoke complaints. It’s okay when I do it!
When it was time for some grub, we took a beach walk back to Treasure Island. I was getting a little tired of ignoring my favorite dishes and settling on salad instead. So, I perused the menu and checked the ‘net for calorie content. I found one item I rarely eat, but it seemed like a bargain at 325 calories.
During our Treasure Island visit, our neighbor Mike came by and joined us at the bar (he ate my fries). We attended the same high school, so we share the commonality of a Westminster, California upbringing. I invited him to join us for the Thanksgiving feast I’m plotting. When it was time to go home, we had a comfortable ride in his automobile.
Once inside the house, I set about making a batch of sugar-free pudding for my dessert. And that’s when Swan discovered the keys to the bedroom were missing and the door was locked.
I had unlocked the door when I returned for my phone and locked it again when I left. It didn’t make sense that I wouldn’t leave the keys in the usual place, but maybe in my rush, I left them in the room. Now what? We grabbed a hammer and screwdriver and thought about breaking the lock, but we didn’t really have a clue about how to proceed with doing that. Swan then said she would borrow the neighbor’s ladder and climb in through a bedroom window. Nope, that was way too risky for my thinking (and I’m way too big to crawl through a window to do it myself). So, we fetched my part-time helper’s boyfriend up from the basement. The new plan was for him to climb the ladder to the bedroom patio and then cut through the screen door to unlock it from the outside. Let’s do it!
Once inside the newly unlocked bedroom, the keys were nowhere to be found. Had I put them in my pocket and then lost them somewhere on the beach? The mystery was solved when my helper Teri returned home. She had gone into the bedroom to finish cleaning after we had left and then taken the door keys with her by mistake. Thanks for that, Teri. Well, I now carry a bedroom key on my keychain, so an event like this will never reoccur.
And I also just realized that I have posted online a method for breaking into my house for the world to see. Oh, well, I’ll take my chances.
In other news, today was the viewing of John Kim’s body before his burial tomorrow. I didn’t attend because I prefer to remember people as they were, not their dead bodies.
Today’s YouTube video tells the story of a guy who got caught with a married woman. I guess I’m in no position to judge. Swan has never been married. I think this guy goes too far in his criticism of dating married women. Many have been abandoned. I met one whose “husband” was working overseas and had started a new family there. But divorce is not legal in the Philippines, so she was stuck. Anyway, unless the spouse files a complaint, you can’t be charged with adultery. So, be aware and do what works for you.
Alright, how about these?
Nothing specific in my plans for tonight, but it is likely to involve bars and alcohol. We shall see.
Just a little over 3K, but better than nothing.
Thanks to that little crossover bit right at the beginning/end of the walk, I have no idea which direction you walked in. Was the first turn a left turn or a right turn? That’s all I need to know.
re: key situation
I live an entirely keyless life these days, but I remember being in the States and having occasional senior moments involving car keys, house keys, etc. I was once asked by some church friends to house-sit while they were away, and when I came back from an evening walk with their (very nice) black Labrador, I somehow managed to lock myself out of their house. I stood stupidly in their patio while I cast about for a solution, the dog looking patiently at me. I finally looked through the house’s window into the kitchen and saw the keys just lying on the table. Thank goodness the kitchen window turned out to be unlocked. It was too small for me to crawl through, but using some items I saw on the patio, I constructed a makeshift fishing rod and managed to snag the keys, allowing me to open the door. The dog must’ve thought that this was the weirdest walk it had ever been on.
Again, condolences about John. A friend of mine, when his grandma died, told me he thought viewings were barbaric. I’ve been to three viewings in total, and I’d have to agree. There’s no real way to pretty up a corpse. It’s cold and hard and unnatural-looking, and it’s not the person. The person is gone. The Jews and Muslims (and some Hindus) have the right idea: get the burial over with within 24 hours. Or cremate ASAP. That’s what we did with Mom; it’s also what I want for myself. I had a friend in college who said she wanted to be cremated, mixed into a can of paint, then painted into her favorite room. We all looked at her funny. What happens when the family moves out?
@Kevin, my take is that he initially turned right. LOL
Your lost key saga reminded me that I have no keys for my house. In the US, live in a rural area, so dont usually lock the doors. If I do, I go out through the garage and use the opener to get in and out. But now I envision a scenario where I have locked the doors and the power goes out. Time to get a new lock/key for at least one of my doors.
As you said about John Kim, too young to pass. 🙁
Since you’ve started listing what you’ll be making for Thanksgiving, I’m throwing down the gauntlet and showing off my own menu. Ten items:
1. Turkey breast
2. Maple-and-brown-sugar-glazed Ham
3. Stuffing
4. Mashed Potatoes + Gravy
5. Sweet-potato Casserole (+ marshmallow & candied-nut topping)
6. Creamed Corn
7. Green Beans, Bacon & Shrooms
8. Homemade Cranberry Sauce
9. Dinner Rolls
10. Pumpkin Pie
The most carby day of the year, and right before I leave for my walk. I’d better not die the next day.
Kev, Wow! That’s an amazing menu and much more extensive than what I have planned. I’m going to steal a couple of these ideas, though. The biggest issue will be finding some of the items I want. Seeing cranberries in a can is rare here, and I doubt fresh cranberries exist in my corner of the world. Pumpkin pie is my favorite, but I’ve never seen the ingredients for sale. I’m going to stop into Myleen’s today and see if they will bake a couple for me.
Yep, Thanks for Giving us a day of carb love. Then we can walk it all off!
Brian, turning right is my usual path, but I started out that day going left. Then I made a HARD right and continued on my way. 🙂
It’s great that you don’t need to lock up when you leave home, but yeah, relying on the garage door opener could leave you stranded. I assume those keypad entries also depend on electricity. Now, there was a time when I used the “hidden key” strategy. Not under the mat, that’s too obvious. Of course, coming home drunk and remembering the hiding place could be problematic. Looks like keys in the pocket are the safest way to go. Until you lose them.
Ah, well. Francis Scott will always be my favorite Key. I should put that on a banner. Spangled with stars.
Kev, the first turn was to the left.
Ha! That was a creative solution to your keyless adventure. Didn’t even have to break anything. Well done!
The death rituals here are like none others that I’ve seen. Maybe it’s a Catholic thing. You’ve seen the funeral banners I post from my walks. That’s the precursor to erecting a canopy in the street near where the deceased lived, with chairs and tables underneath. Those are up for two or three days, and friends and family come to hang out, play cards, and reminisce. On the final day, the coffin is displayed with the corpse in full view. It’s freaky to walk by and see a dead body lying there.
Anyway, like you, I don’t want to see the body of the dearly departed. The living memories are the ones I hold onto. I’d never thought of that ashes-to-paint idea, but yeah, it seems a tad haunting to me. I won’t care what happens after I’m gone, of course, but my preference is to be cremated and have the ashes scattered on a Hash trail. On-On to whatever comes after!
John,
This year’s luncheon will pretty much be last year’s, but with homemade pumpkin pie only, not two pies from Costco. The dinner rolls will be store-bought this year (there’s a nice bakery at the B1 level in the building where I work). The bread for the stuffing will also be store-bought, but almost everything else, including the stuffing, will be homemade or home-prepped.
Good luck with your whole turkey! You got a recipe you’ll be following?
If your turkey is frozen (and I hope it’s not sitting anywhere warm, collecting salmonella), it needs about 1 day of refrigerator thaw time per 4 pounds. A 10-pound turkey needs about 2.5 days; a 20-pounder needs about 5 days. If you’re not currently storing your bird frozen… why the hell not?
Are you brining the turkey? Before you do… first, carefully separate the turkey’s skin from the flesh, pre-baking. Put on some rubber gloves, make a nice, herbed compound butter, then spread the butter under the skin. Spatchcocking is recommended for more even cooking of the white and dark meat. Here’s a good reference for turkey prep. You’ll need meat shears. You are, of course, free to ignore all of this and just prep the turkey in whatever way is most comfortable and/or most well known to you.
Good luck finding cranberries, but frankly, I’m not a snob about the canned stuff. I grew up on canned cranberries, so I’d say go for it. That being said, cooking the sauce from fresh berries is absurdly easy; the berries contain natural pectin; wash and de-stem them first before sticking them in a pot. Heat on medium-high, maybe lowering as you go. As the berries heat up and burst, the pectin is released, and it thickens up the sauce (the berries naturally turn into a sauce as they cook; the sauce thickens more as it cools). If you get a standard bag of berries, add about a cup of sugar (or less if the ladies in your house freak out at that amount), about 2 teaspoons of lemon juice or orange juice, and pumpkin spice to taste. If you don’t have the actual “pumpkin spice,” just sprinkle in a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves (but mostly cinnamon!). Adjust ingredients while occasionally tasting the sauce. Try not to burn yourself (blow on it before tasting!). Seriously, though, cranberry sauce is super-easy to make. But stick with the can if that’s all you can find. Or make do with your aunt’s fruit salad. There’s no rule saying you must have cranberry sauce. Besides, the meal components we think of as “traditional” these days weren’t really part of the original Thanksgiving: that meal was mostly game meats, local seafood, and local vegetables. So yeah—you do you. I’m sure you and your guests will enjoy the results.
I see a lot of YouTube videos, lately, about “The Most Common Thanksgiving Mistakes.” Fuck all that. Ignore the videos and just enjoy the process of making your humongous pile of food. If mistakes are made, who cares? Realize, though, that Thanksgiving is pretty much your one day to go nuts with the carbs. So any leftovers need to be doled out to your housekeepers, friends, neighbors, and other guests. You can’t leave the food there to tempt you. Have cheap containers ready for the people who declare they want to cart off your food that very night. Let them do so.
Righto—have fun and good luck with meal prep. I wish you enjoyed cooking more.
Kev, thanks for the tips and the links. Turkey is in the freezer, I’ll fridge-thaw starting on Monday.
You know me, I’ll keep it as simple as possible. I ordered some pumpkin pies pre-baked for delivery on Wednesday. I hope to find some canned cranberries (I prefer berries to sauce). I don’t think fresh cranberries are available here. Swan reminds me of you–she’s been checking out YouTube for some preparation ideas. I’m confident we will find the right mix of easy and tasty.
Yes, I had the same idea about having plenty of take-away containers on hand so I won’t be tempted by leftovers!
(I prefer berries to sauce)
I wasn’t sure what to make of this. Canned cranberries come from berries. Cranberry sauce also comes from the same berries. Are you saying you prefer the canned, jellied cranberry sauce to the fresh/frozen-cranberry sauce that’s served in a bowl? That’s what I’m guessing. Or is it vice versa?
As a kid, I used to love having the job of slicing the jellied cranberry up into disks. Truth be told, I’m not sure how much I liked the taste of cranberries the first few times I ate it, but it grew on me as I got older.
To add to the confusion: there’s also a goopy cranberry sauce that’s available in cans. Pour it into a bowl and serve. I think this one has the cranberry solids still in it (berry skins for the most part, plus maybe some pectin-y pulp). The jellied cranberry sauce has normally been strained of all solids.
Kev, what I was trying to say was that I prefer the “goopy” canned cranberry sauce over the gelatin style. I’ll eat either, though, and enjoy it.
To me, the cranberry flavor goes well with turkey. Or maybe it’s just that I only eat cranberry sauce at a Thanksgiving feast. I hope I can find some at Royal this week.