Pumpkin Time

Tony Peters | October 31, 2006
I love Haloween though I'm not happy with the whole candy thing so we're giving out pencils and gummy toys. I found this http://www.pumpkingutter.com/ talk about artwork

Jackie Mason | October 31, 2006
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Lori Lancaster | October 31, 2006
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Jackie Mason | November 1, 2006
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Tony Peters | November 1, 2006
sadly Pumpkin pie makes me nauseous...the last time I had anything to do with a pumpkin was when I was in school at Fort Meade

Jackie Mason | November 11, 2006
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Amy Austin | November 12, 2006
Heeheehee... yes, Jackie -- I cannot stand to see Christmas decorating before Thanksgiving... but I know this is a discussion that we bring up every year. I think I mentioned it here before, but it simply nauseates me how the really hyper "Reason for the Season" crowd just *has* to get their Christ on ASAP... but then they are almost always the same crowd bitching come New Year's if everyone's lights aren't put away by that weekend! Like they totally forgot when 3 Kings Day/Epiphany is (January 6 -- yes, the 12th day is AFTER Christmas, not before!) -- but I guess it's all just part of the never-ending Christian hypocrisy...

(Sorry -- I know they aren't *all* that way... just the really obnoxious/irritating ones! ;-p)

Tony Peters | November 12, 2006
hey I'm just happy not to see Xmas stuff up in Sept/Oct like I did while in Japan

Kris Weberg | November 12, 2006
I, uh, hate to tell you this, Tony, but in North Carolina...

Tony Peters | November 12, 2006
yes well Japan doesn't have the buffer holidays of Halloween and Thanksgiving

Jackie Mason | November 14, 2006
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Tony Peters | November 14, 2006
The major religion in Japan is Buddhism and Shinto, so Christmas is more commercial event. The main celebration revolves around Christmas eve and not Christmas day.

In Japan it is common to give Christmas presents. Within the family parents give presents to their children, but the children do not give presents to the parents. The reasoning behind this is that only Santa bring presents, so once the children no longer believe in Santa the presents are no longer given.

Most Japanese families would have a Christmas tree and now it is becoming very common to have lights on the outside of houses as you would see in Australia.

For single women in Japan it is really crucial to have someone to spend Christmas eve with. It is also really important for them where they spend Christmas eve and what present they receive. The whole evening must be very special, gorgeous and romantic. Japanese women who have a boy friend tend to show off, so women who don't are not happy to talk about the topic.

There also used to be a sarcasm that Christmas is compared with a woman's age. Cake shops throughout Japan always try to sell all their Christmas cakes before Christmas eve. Any cakes left after Christmas are seen to be very old or out of date. Women over 25 years old used to be said 'unsold Xmas cake.' It's a bit bad joke, though. However, nowadays, the average age for marriage has changed, getting older and older, and it is a history.

Tony Peters | November 14, 2006
this is a as good a desription as I have ever found.

The major religion in Japan is Buddhism and Shinto, so Christmas is more commercial event. The main celebration revolves around Christmas eve and not Christmas day.

In Japan it is common to give Christmas presents. Within the family parents give presents to their children, but the children do not give presents to the parents. The reasoning behind this is that only Santa bring presents, so once the children no longer believe in Santa the presents are no longer given.

Most Japanese families would have a Christmas tree and now it is becoming very common to have lights on the outside of houses as you would see in Australia.

For single women in Japan it is really crucial to have someone to spend Christmas eve with. It is also really important for them where they spend Christmas eve and what present they receive. The whole evening must be very special, gorgeous and romantic. Japanese women who have a boy friend tend to show off, so women who don't are not happy to talk about the topic.

There also used to be a sarcasm that Christmas is compared with a woman's age. Cake shops throughout Japan always try to sell all their Christmas cakes before Christmas eve. Any cakes left after Christmas are seen to be very old or out of date. Women over 25 years old used to be said 'unsold Xmas cake.' It's a bit bad joke, though. However, nowadays, the average age for marriage has changed, getting older and older, and it is a history.

Jackie Mason | November 14, 2006
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Scott Hardie | November 16, 2006
I'm already mentally preparing myself for this year's barrage of indignant editorials about how sales clerks are either wrong to say "Merry Christmas" or wrong to say "Happy Holidays" instead. Bill O'Reilly won't stop mentioning it until it stops getting him ratings.

Amy Austin | November 16, 2006
Jesus, that day can't come soon enough, either. Is it wrong that I should mention Jesus -- either because I blame him for it or because I pray for him to make Bill O'Reilly a mute??? ;-p

Jackie Mason | November 17, 2006
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Scott Hardie | November 18, 2006
I'm used to seeing something for Veterans Day, American flags flying and moments of silence, but nothing this year. Without the two costume parties I attended, I wouldn't have noticed Halloween either. I wish Christmas could pass by so invisibly...

Anybody doing something special for Thanksgiving this year? I'm taking Denise and my mother out to dinner, and when we racked our brains for ideas we remembered that the Castaway restaurant in Tampa has a pretty great buffet spread. (You might remember that place, Jackie.) I'm taking a chance that my girlfriend and my mother will get along well enough to spend two hours in the car together on their first meeting, but if they don't, hey, what's Thanksgiving without bitter family arguments?

Jackie Mason | November 18, 2006
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Steve West | November 19, 2006
Ah yes, Thanksgiving traditions. My personal family favorite is being face-down on the lawn in handcuffs. Again.

Lori Lancaster | November 19, 2006
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Amy Austin | November 20, 2006
That doesn't sound like a very festive tradition you've got there, Steve... dare I ask about it??? ;-7

As for me... my Turkey Day "tradition" appears to be spending it with relative strangers! As in "non-relatives", but kind people I barely know (if at all)! Which has produced some of my very best holiday memories, actually: Thanksgiving '04 Three of my very best/most memorable Turkey Days were spent in a similar manner. Here's hoping that this one follows suit... ;-)

Steve West | November 20, 2006
So hard to express sarcasm in print. I was referencing my family's affinity for fighting with each other to the point of police involvement. I, personally, have never been arrested and I'm being slightly hyperbolic but not by much.

Amy Austin | November 20, 2006
Oh, I understood you were being sarcastic, Steve -- I, in turn, was being sardonic in my curiosity (think David Caruso, CSI: Miami-style)... so you've really had the police over at Thanksgiving?!?!? Holy shit... and I thought my family was fucked up! ;-D

Denise Sawicki | November 20, 2006
I'm taking Darrell and Darrin to my parents' house. Everybody probably thinks I have two husbands. (Not true! :) ) Anyway... I've had a Thanksgiving with strangers before too, while I was in college, and I am thankful to them still for taking me in when I was in a deep lonely depression.

Amy Austin | November 20, 2006
The first of my three was in college, too, Denise. A group of the fine art students who were all stuck in town for the holidays posted a flyer: "Stuck in town for the holidays? We are, too... come spend Thanksgiving as it was meant to be -- bring a dish, and we'll do it up right!" And do it up, we did. There were about 6 or 7 of us, and I was working at Winn Dixie bakery at that time. I brought 3 fruit pies (apple, cherry, & peach, I think) and some French or Italian loaves... which was perfect, as they had provided all the main dishes -- and it was really a pretty decent spread! We feasted and laughed and had a right merry time for a group of people who didn't know each other, except maybe by sight for one or two of us. Good times, good times. (I was very grateful for the break in my depression, too... it was an otherwise tough holiday for me, and that dinner was certainly the shining highlight of it.)

This is the beauty of a holiday that is dedicated to the purpose of giving thanks: almost everyone goes out of their way to be hospitable and make sure that everyone around them is taken care of -- I have always been asked what I was doing for dinner that day, and if I had no nice plans to speak of, I have always had an invitation... or a nice plate of food brought over, at the very least (like last year!). One of these days, it will be mine and E's turn to provide that ray of light for someone else's gloomy holiday by inviting a lonely soul to dinner -- I know how it feels... I am so thankful, and I look forward to giving that to another who needs it.

Jackie Mason | November 22, 2006
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Aaron Shurtleff | November 22, 2006
I like your ideas, Jackie, but I have to have a green veggie of some sort on Thanksgiving! I'd add green beans (or possibly the green bean casserole!) to add a bit of color to the mix.

Do you opt for fresh cranberries or canned? I know people (I'm related to some of them!) who have to have the canned cranberry sauce. I never knew what I was missing until I had fresh cranberry sauce!!

Good luck with the pie!!

Denise Sawicki | November 22, 2006
Pecan pie is usually one of the easier flavors to make and comes out delicious (unless your oven temperature is set wrong in which case it may have a bit of a weird texture). Cherry pie with fresh cherries is what you'll be making when you're a real pro :). But you wind up with purple fingers for days from pitting all the cherries with a paper clip. I love pie. Good luck :) Are you making crust from scratch as well? Frankly I'm not sure if that's worth the effort as the frozen ones are cheap and taste great, but if you make your own crust, more power to you :)

Tony Peters | November 22, 2006
My family has some dedicated dishes...If my wife and I are attending Oyster stuffing and Mashed celery root instead of mashed potatos are always on the menu. My brother loves the celery root as he is a diabetic and can't eat potatos. My dad makes our apple pie from scratch...his mother's recipe.

Jackie Mason | November 23, 2006
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Amy Austin | November 23, 2006
Believe it or not, Jackie, no... it's not just a New England thing. I was introduced to the then-very-bizarre-to-me concept of oyster stuffing when my dad married my step-mom 20 years ago. And she is from the South, as well as the rest of her family. I think she said it was traditional fare in her house... But it's been fairly standard in mine ever since, too (and when I say "mine", I mean "those family who prepare the meals"... i.e., my parents, i.e., my step-mother). And now that I'm in New England, I do tend to think it's probably not uncommon here. Green bean casserole is a pretty universal T-day dish, too.

I think that people who just *have* to have canned cranberry sauce: 1) have never had it fresh; or 2) disdain the fresh because all they've ever had growing up was the canned, and it evokes a certain kind of childhood nostalgia in them like most childhood food/scent associations are prone to doing in a dramatically positive or negative fashion; or 3) have never had it fresh. I'm with you, Aaron... didn't know what I was missing for a sad number of years -- and I laugh scornfully at those who turn their nose up at it, especially if they've never even *tried* it! Narrow.

Tony Peters | November 23, 2006
actually up here in new england there is a distinct lack of fresh oysters (I think oyster country ends at like New Jersey) but Scallops, Clams, quahogs (larger ocean clams) and LOBSTER sorta make up for it...we have at times included other shellfish into our stuffing.
Fresh Cranberry Sauce is the only way...hell we've been known to make cranberry salsa for Turkey day...I tend to ignore canned cranberry sauce and as a matter of fact I'm looking forward to cranberries again after 4 years away from the states

and in honor of turkey day 18 things you can only say on thanksgiving

1. Talk about a huge breast!

2. Tying the legs together keeps the inside moist.

3. It's Cool Whip time!

4. If I don't undo my pants, I'll burst!

5. That's one terrific spread!

6. I'm in the mood for a little dark meat.

7. Are you ready for seconds yet?

8. It'sa little dry, do you still want to eat it?

9. Just wait your turn, you'll get some!

10. Don't play with your meat.

11. Just spread the legs open and stuff it in.

12. Do you think you'll be able to handle all these people at once?

13. I didn't expect everyone to come at once!

14. You still have a little bit on your chin.

15. How long will it take after you stick it in?

16. You'll know it's ready when it pops up.

17. Wow, I didn't think I could handle all of that!

18. That's the biggest one I've ever seen!

Happy Thanksgiving!