You do what you got to do!

True story...

The first Thanksgiving I did all on my own, Urban Shaman and I were at my college on the East Coast. It was just to be the 2 of us. At that time I was living in a house that had a full kitchen, so I brought all the traditional stuffs, including the turkey (this was back when I was eating meat, although only poultry meat).

I got up the morning of Thanksgiving and took the turkey out. I don't remember if I just set it out, or if I put it in a sink of cold water, or what.

While the turkey was working on thawing, I prepared the other stuff -- stuffing, mashed potatoes, some kind of green vegetable, etc.

It was time to put the turkey in the oven. I just had to get that little bag of organs out of the back end of the turkey. I put my hand in there (ewww!!) and attempted to get the bag out. It wouldn't budge. It was still frozen solid inside the turkey. At this time it was later in the afternoon, and it really was time to put the turkey in the oven, otherwise we'd be eating well past normal dinner eating hours. The rest of the turkey was relatively thawed, but I had to get that bag out.

After several more attempts to get a frozen ball out of the back end of the turkey, I had a brilliant idea. I ran upstairs, returned, plugged in the cord, and aimed my hair dryer at the back end of that turkey.

It worked. The bag came out and the turkey went into the oven.

We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

My Thanksgiving

We're on our own for Thanksgiving this year. Thought we might have friends come up, but that didn't happen. That's okay, I'm just glad we won't be with family this year. (I think this will be a 3rd Thanksgiving without family?)

I love my family, and I love holidays with them, but not this holiday. My mom insists on making all of the traditional fare every single year, and it is a very non-vegan spread. And she tries not to feel offended, but she is anyway, and I just get annoyed by all the food that is in front of me that I don't really want to eat, and the fact that I am regulated to a dish or two plus what *I* bring.

So since we are on our own, I get to completely plan my own, delicious menu.

This year we are having a corn chowder that I make every time we have Thanksgiving on our own. It is sooooo yummy. I also brought a small-size Tofurky -- can you believe that I have NEVER tried Tofurky before?!? I decided we should try it this year for fun.

Corn Chowder
Tofurky
Green Salad
Homemade bread (possibly millet cornbread)

And then I need to try to make a pumpkin pie. My past attempts at vegan pumpkin pies have been total failures. However, I think it just might work and be yummy if this year I use the eggs I get from the farmer's market plus hemp milk which is just about as thick and sweet as that condensed milk that you are supposed to put in those pies. I am excited to try this and see how it turns out. Urban Shaman really wants pumpkin pie.