It was fairly cold in Toronto on Wednesday night as the Raptors played host to the Nets, which naturally meant that Drake rolled up in a giant teddy bear fur coat to watch the game from his customary courtside seat.
He had the coat on the scorers table next to his seat, which is close to the Raptors’ TV broadcast crew of Matt Devlin and Jack Armstrong, and for the first half Armstrong decided to wear Drake’s coat, which led to some hilarity on the Raptors broadcast. Drake threw on a headset and joined the guys as they joked about how the teddy fur was “changing” Jack, with Drake saying he had turned into a walking meme of “listens to ‘Her Loss’ once.”
Jack Armstrong stole Drake’s coat and Drake took over the Raptors broadcast. What a night in Toronto! pic.twitter.com/aVSNDSdTCM
The best part is, Armstrong didn’t just have the coat on briefly as a bit, he sat there in the giant fur throughout the first half, which made for an incredible visual every time the two teams went down to that end of the floor, as he was unmissable at the scorers table in Drake’s coat. I hope Drake just lets him keep it, because he is really pulling it off and I’m sure Drake can afford to get himself another fur.
Being an Amazon delivery driver is no easy task. You have to deliver the packages on time, to the right address while keeping them away from porch pirates. But a driver in the southern Chicago suburbs really had his work cut out for him when he unexpectedly had to deal with a wandering chicken.
The driver opened a garage to deliver a package when a chicken named Fancy started walking through the door. He dropped off the package and then placed the chicken safely back in the garage. But it wasn’t going to be that easy.
The driver had to pick up the chicken and place it in the garage three times before he knew it would be safe and he could leave.
The video was caught on a Ring camera in the garage by the chicken’s owners. They told ViralHog that Fancy “loves human interaction” and was living in the garage because she was injured and needed to be kept away from the other chickens. “So she is very used to people coming in and out,” the homeowner told ViralHog.
Some people may be wondering how the homeowners were able to get their packages delivered to their garages. Amazon Prime members with compatible smart garages can set up Amazon Key In-Garage Delivery where their packages and groceries are delivered into their garages free of charge. In-Garage Delivery is a great way to beat porch pirates. But, for extra protection, there’s nothing wrong with having a security chicken on duty, too.
Sometimes you meet a friend that becomes the second part of your name. You know the friend. The Ethel to your Lucy or the Sookie to your Lorelai. You go together like all of the cliche things that complement each other. A duo in California now have more things to add to their close relationship, their kidneys.
Chris Morales and Debbie Thompson have done everything together since they were teens, even moving into their first apartment together at 18. It shouldn’t be surprising, then, that when Thompson found out in 2015 that Morales needed a kidney, she immediately offered it to her.
The twist came several years later when Morales’ husband, Ron, also found himself in need of a new kidney. That’s when Debbie’s husband Brad stepped up to be a donor for his friend. Ron told Good Morning America, “He called me up on the phone and was like, ‘Hey I hear you need some extra body parts.'”
Brad did have a couple of stipulations, “I said you can’t call it little Brad. You can’t bring me flowers every year on the anniversary like Chris does,” he told GMA. Amazingly both Thompsons were a match, though Ron had to receive multiple blood transfusions before the transplant to decrease the likelihood of rejection due to the men having different blood types.
The two couples now share four kidneys between them and have a lot to be thankful for this holiday season. It’s the gift of friendship that will last a lifetime. Watch the interview below:
Amazon delivery drivers don’t have the easiest job in the world. Sitting through traffic, working in extreme temperatures, hauling boxes … not exactly a fun time. So when a driver goes out of their way to be extra considerate—people notice.
One delivery driver has gone viral for the way she delivered a little bit of safety education, along with some lighthearted advice. The TikTok video of the encounter, which now has more than 4 million views, was shared by Jessica Huseman, who had only recently moved into her new house.
The clip shows the doorbell cam recording of the driver approaching the house. As the delivery driver makes it to the front door, she sings, ”Hello … I hope your Monday’s going well. You have no markers on your house that says what number you are.”
From there, the driver’s song quickly changes tune, going from funny jest to helpful PSA.
“And that is hard to find your house my dude, and it’s unsafe, honestly,” the driver continues, adding, “what if you needed medical assistance and the paramedics didn’t know your town well? Come on.”
“Have a great day!” she says happily before walking off.
Huseman added the caption: “We just moved in and this happened today… she’s not wrong though. Guess I need to get some house numbers.”
The driver’s observation was clearly on point. Several medical pros commented to back her up.
“As someone who works in EMS I can verify house numbers are necessary! BUT ALSO MAKE SURE THEY ARE EASILY VISIBLE FROM THE STREET AT NIGHT,” wrote one person.
Another replied, ”yes! Medic here, we’ve had to call dispatch and ask for them to get [the] caller back on the phone and get [the] description of [the] house because there [are] no numbers.”
Besides her information being vital, people were mostly in love with the driver’s friendly attitude. Here are just a few of the compliments:
“Honestly, give them a raise. That’s awesome vibes right there.”
“She’s a whole friken mood, I love her she gives me pink vibes.”
“I need to meet this Amazon driver!!!! I love her!!”
The delivery driver (named Kelsey) eventually saw her viral video and decided to do a follow-up, where she added other unsafe things she’s seen on the job—primarily unclear entrances and exits—along with an additional sweet message:
“Crisis management and prevention education is essential and literally a part of my soul. So anytime I do go out and deliver packages … if I see something, I say something. Cause that’s how bystander intervention works. But keeping in mind that it’s more than that. It is about reminding each other that we are enough, and being there for one another.”
Whether it’s packages or something to smile about, Kelsey is a master of delivery.
Thanksgiving is a great day to be a dog if you’re looking for some tasty food scraps. There’s a lot of activity in the kitchen, folks are walking around with plates dropping food and there’s always someone who had too much wine that loves to give a few treats to the dog.
However, your dog’s innocent Thanksgiving snacking can be hazardous for its health.
The Pet Poison Helpline (PPH) shared a story from Tennessee that’s a great reminder to be careful of what your dogs eat, especially during the hectic holiday season.
Last Thanksgiving, Pippa, a playful golden retriever from Knoxville, had a scare after eating six unbaked rolls and had to go to the emergency room.
“I had left a dozen unbaked bread rolls on the kitchen counter to rise, covering them with a towel,” Rebecca Collins, Pippa’s pet parent, said in a statement shared by PPH. “When I went to put them in the oven, I found that half of them were gone. I knew I didn’t eat them, but it took me a while to figure out what happened. It didn’t occur to me Pippa would be interested in bread dough.”
“I noticed that Pippa was acting sleepy, which is very unusual for her. Normally, she’s running around when company is over. Once I figured out that she must have eaten the rolls, I called the Pet Poison Helpline. We discussed what and how much Pippa had eaten, and they instructed me to take her to the veterinary hospital.”
After calling PPH, Collins took Pippa to the local veterinary emergency hospital. They found that Pippa’s belly was distended, meaning the dough had expanded. The vet tried to prevent the unbaked rolls from rising any further by feeding Pippa ice chips to lower the temperature in her stomach.
If the rolls continued to rise they could cause a fatal stomach torsion.
“What would be occurring sitting on your kitchen counter ends up occurring in your pet’s stomach,” Dr. Renee Schmid, a board-certified veterinary toxicologist at Pet Poison Helpline told TODAY. “That dough rises and causes a stretching of the stomach, or a distention. And then that yeast as it ferments produces ethanol, an alcohol. So these animals can develop alcohol poisoning.”
The good news is that Pippa was able to expel the rolls herself without requiring any surgery. “Luckily, it didn’t come to surgery,” added Collins. “It was a very expensive Thanksgiving Day at the dog ER, but she’s back to full health now.”
This year, Pippa and her mom are sharing their story so dogs everywhere can have a safe and happy Thanksgiving. For Collins, it’s a lesson that she won’t forget while cooking this year’s meal.
“If I bake bread, I let it rise on the top of the refrigerator now,” Collins said. “But this Thanksgiving, I think I’m going to let someone else bring the rolls.”
I think it’s safe to say that Kate Hudson and Goldie Hawn have one of the most aspirational mother-daughter relationships in Hollywood. Sure, aspects of their inseparable closeness—following very similar career paths, never going a day without talking to one another and even living on the same street—might not be everyone’s ideal, but their strong, healthy bond is something that virtually every daughter would like to have with her mom. We all want mom to be equal parts bestie and role model, and Hawn has seemingly aced that balance.
So it’s probably no wonder that for Hawn’s 77th birthday, Hudson posted a loving tribute on Instagram showing photos of them together throughout the years, along with some lovely words. However, no one could prepare for the level of pure heartwarming, tear-jerking goodness her message would contain. Seriously, Hudson is a fabulous actress, but she might have missed her calling to write amazing Hallmark cards.
“So lucky I get to celebrate my beautiful mother everyday BUT TODAY Nov 21 was the day she was born!” her caption began, followed by wondering out loud to the cosmos about how such a radiant being could have come into being.
“I wonder if God knew what had been concocted in the stars to create this beaming light? I have a feeling it was by no accident that she shares this otherworldly lust for life and joyous spirit,” she wrote.
She then commended her mother for her unwavering fierceness, saying, “Be not fooled, my mother has depths that reach far beyond a tip toed dance through life. She has challenged the toughest minds, stood tall for her worth, she blazed trails for us to walk a little easier through and cut a lot of those weeds that love to scratch at women’s ankles trying to get us to turn back, she follows through during the toughest moments and never takes no for an answer.”
She continued, “My mothers life is a treasure trove of wisdom that I feel deeply honored to know intimately. Most importantly, she always wanted and continues to aspire to be the best mother and grandmother. And well … let’s just say, she’s winning at that.”
May we all have a Kate Hudson in our lives to write us a birthday message.
Hudson wrapped up the post with a simple, eloquent, “You’re my everything.” Along with some heart and birthday cake emojis—it’s still a birthday, gotta keep things festive.
The gushing love that Hudson and Hawn share isn’t just reserved for birthdays. Recently the pair were making headlines for their matching glows at the premiere of “Glass Onion” (which Hudson stars in). And back in October, Hudson shared Hawn doing a fitness routine along with the caption “Does it get any cuter…?! I can’t 🥰” to help support her nonprofit Mind Up.
Hollywood might be full of posturing and illusion, but the pure love Hudson and Hawn share rings so authentic. It’s basically the definition of mother-daughter goals. Long live their inspiring chemistry.
Let’s first put your mind at ease—yes, there was a plane crash involving more than 50 shelter dogs but they all survived.
On Tuesday, Nov. 15, a twin engine aircraft transporting the canines from Louisiana to Wisconsin crash landed on a golf course at the Western Lakes Golf Club in Pewaukee, Wisconsin. But—as ABC News assured—all the dogs, along with the three people onboard, survived. The worst injuries were just a few bumps and scrapes.
With that out of the way, let’s get to how this unexpected event led to many pups finding their forever homes much sooner than anticipated.
Apparently, it was love at first rescue for the first responders who arrived on the scene. “As soon as I found out all of them were OK, my first thought was: one of them is coming home with me. So this is my little Lucky,” Elle Steitzer, a firefighter and EMT at Lake Country Fire Rescue, told ABC Milwaukee affiliate WISN 12 while cradling her newly adopted furry friend.
Similarly, Amber Christian, a firefighter and paramedic at the department, told WISN 12 that her new dog Artemis “just kind of fell out of the sky in front of me, so here he is.”
Marley, the last named pup in the article, allegedly jumped into the arms of Deputy Chief Tony Wasielewski right after the crash. Wasielewski went in to find her the next day. “When they let her in the door she bypassed my wife and ran to me, jumped into my arms, gave me kisses. I started to tear up a little bit and said, ‘Oh boy, I guess we got a dog,'” he shared.
“Several first responders on the crash scene of a plane transporting 53 shelter dogs have adopted the dogs they helped rescue. One rescue gave the workers “first dibs.”” https://t.co/h6k0zJ8cyO
The remaining doggos were taken to various shelters throughout Wisconsin. And by the sound of it, folks couldn’t wait to take them home. Elmbrook Humane Society, which took 11 dogs, gave “first dibs” to the first responders of the plane crash. And as Stephanie Deswarte, the shelter’s front desk manager, told ABC News, there were quite a few calls.
Though people aren’t normally allowed to adopt before a dog goes up on the website (to keep things fair), Deswarte thought that the situation called for an exception, “since they were obviously in the thick of it, and they did such a great job trying to help with the whole crazy situation.” As of Nov. 22, puppies Charlie Brown, Linus and Sally have been adopted, and another first responder plans to take one home on Saturday.
First Responders Adopt Dogs They Rescued from Plane Crash in Wisconsin: ‘Fell Out of the Sky’ https://t.co/8Q5QlNIUox
While the cause of the crash is still unclear and under investigation, it’s a huge comfort to know that not only was no one hurt, but that it ended up saving many dogs from shelters. According to the ASPCA, around 3.1 million dogs enter shelters each year, with approximately 390,000 being euthanized. In many ways, these sweet pups escaped death twice. A double whammy, heartwarming, tail-wagging miracle all around.
As families across the U.S. start prepping for family gatherings and feasts of turkey and mashed potatoes, people are engaging in the usual debates over the origins of Thanksgiving. Kids in American schools are learning various versions of the Pilgrims in Plymouth story, most of which are overly simplistic and many of which are flat-out wrong. People in Native communities are experiencing the familiar whitewashing of their side of that story, and people of goodwill are feeling torn about how—or whether—to celebrate Thanksgiving in light of the problematic history that has been ascribed to it.
Considering the whole, long evolution of the holiday, here’s an idea: Let’s officially decouple Thanksgiving from U.S. history entirely and make it a holiday that celebrates gratitude for gratitude’s sake and nothing more.
To be clear, I’m not suggesting we “erase history” here. I’m simply suggesting we stop associating this holiday with any specific historic eras or events and distill it down to its pure essence. Despite the elementary school dramatizations seared into our collective psyches, there is barely a shred of a thread actually linking the Pilgrim origin story for our modern Thanksgiving holiday. Not only do we have the problematic mythology surrounding that “First Thanksgiving” event, but the entire idea that the Pilgrims are why we celebrate Thanksgiving as a holiday today is totally untrue.
According to Britannica, there was evidence of a meal shared between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag people, but that didn’t lead to some big, widespread holidays of thanksgiving, and the “thanksgiving” celebrations that were held early in American history were not associated with the Pilgrims.
“For the Pilgrims, giving thanks for the autumn harvest wasn’t a new concept,” shares Britannica. “As a tradition with roots in European harvest festivals and Christian religious observances, ‘days of thanksgiving’ were fairly common among the colonists of New England. Throughout America’s colonial era, communities held their own unofficial Thanksgiving celebrations, and few people associated them with the Plymouth settlers.”
In fact, the more direct link from U.S. history to our current Thanksgiving holiday came more than 250 years after the Mayflower landing. In 1863, just a few months after delivering his Gettysburg Address, President Abraham Lincoln declared a Thanksgiving holiday proclamation, which reads:
“I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, …to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving… And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him …, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.”
That proclamation is seen as the beginning of the national holiday, according to the National Parks Service, and largely thanks to the 36-year effort of a woman named Sarah Hale. As editor of Boston’s Ladies’ Magazine, Hale had publicly called for a national Thanksgiving holiday and she wrote to President Lincoln directly pushing for the holiday just a few weeks before he made the proclamation.
Notably absent from Lincoln’s proclamation? Any mention of the Pilgrims and Native Americans. According to research shared in The New Yorker, it was the late 19th and early 20th century panic over immigration that led to the mythology of the Pilgrim-oriented origins of Thanksgiving—nearly 300 years after the fact.
However, I maintain that the history of Thanksgiving, at least in terms of how and why we celebrated it, isn’t important. The Thanksgiving holiday doesn’t need an origin story, problematic or otherwise. Giving thanks, especially during a harvest season, has been a standard tradition in cultures around the world for millennia—it’s a worthy holiday all on its own. Gratitude is a value we all share and there’s no reason why we have to tie it to any particular historical era or event.
Gratitude is also good for us. Many studies have shown that people who regularly practice gratitude tend to be happier and less depressed. According to Harvard Medical School, gratitude “helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships.”
So let’s place our focus of this holiday on the beauty of gratitude and on how giving thanks can make us better humans. Let’s collectively agree to end ridiculous Thanksgiving school plays and make the holiday curriculum about why gratitude is good for us. Let’s focus on teaching accurate history all the time instead of watering down or misrepresenting complex historic events to explain to young children why we celebrate certain holidays.
Let’s give thanks for our loved ones and the yummy food we’re about to consume and officially make the holiday as lovely and simple and universal as that.
Feast Week is here and Thanksgiving brings high-profile opportunities for the NFL. A trio of games are set for Turkey Day and, with no byes in Week 11, there is plenty left over for Sunday and Monday. After a nice run in Week 9 and Week 10, Week 11 was a bit less kind, but we avoided total disaster with a 2-3 mark and spirits are high.
Before revealing this week’s quintet of picks, let’s take stock.
Week 11: 2-3
2022 Season: 28-26-1
Come get these winners.
Minnesota Vikings (-2.5) over New England Patriots
It would be fun to give something out during the standard Thanksgiving doubleheader in Detroit and Dallas, but nothing is screaming at us. Instead, we land on the nightcap and a perplexing line. Minnesota laying less than a field goal here is a harsh reaction to a blowout loss (shout-out to having Dallas last week) and likely some negative stigma on Kirk Cousins in primetime. Trust me, I do understand the cringe element of leaning on Cousins in this spot, but the Vikings should be 5 or 6-point favorites in this game. Lay the small number.
Jacksonville Jaguars (+4) over Baltimore Ravens
Baltimore’s offense isn’t exactly scaring anyone these days, myself included. I’m usually partial to the Ravens’ efficiency, but laying more than a field goal here against a Jaguars team coming off a bye seems wrong. I would pick Baltimore to win straight-up, but grabbing four is enough.
Houston Texans and Miami Dolphins OVER 46 points
I genuinely don’t enjoy giving out Overs in this space. Miami has scored 31 points or more in three straight games and, against a poor Houston defense, that streak should continue. We’ll need the Texans to help us a little, but fading Miami’s defense a bit something I’m comfortable with. Root for points.
New Orleans Saints (+9.5) over San Francisco 49ers
It won’t be fun, but this number is a touch high. San Francisco lit the world on fire on Monday evening in a thrashing of the Cardinals. The look-ahead number was 8 before last week, and I’d make it 7.5. There isn’t a huge gap in those prices, but I’ll “sell high” on San Francisco in a week in which I don’t show a ton of edges.
TEASER: Carolina Panthers (+8.5) over Denver Broncos and Pittsburgh Steelers (+8.5) over Indianapolis Colts
This isn’t the prettiest teaser in the world. In fact, it’s hideous, and I understand it. There is still value in these Wong teaser legs across two key numbers in each instance. Denver’s offense hasn’t been able to score enough to threaten the 8.5, even with very little trust in Carolina at home. Pittsburgh is the more appetizing leg with Mike Tomlin’s record in these spots and a trustworthy defense. Let’s get weird.
When a professional chef says that Thanksgiving dinner is “the Olympics of cooking,” you know that shit is serious. But every year, millions of well-meaning amateurs try their best to prepare a Thanksgiving feast for their families and friends, following complex recipes that haven’t been attempted since the last Thanksgiving (who the hell roasts a turkey in May?), in quantities that far exceed their respective comfort zones and skill levels.
This isn’t just unrealistic, it’s unfair. Especially to the poor men and women slaving over lumpy gravy in the kitchen.
While making a perfect Thanksgiving dinner is impossible (even professional chefs recognize the insane degree of difficulty), we’ve teamed up with Jason Quinn, the head chef/owner at Playground DTSA, winner of The Great Food Truck Race, and judge on MTV’s “Snack-Off,” to help identify some of the most common ways you “make Thanksgiving a shit show” (his words), along with some helpful hints on how to avoid these culinary disasters.
Jason isn’t just a culinary-world star, he’s a Thanksgiving dinner specialist. Every year, he closes down his restaurant for the day and cooks a full Thanksgiving feast for his closest family and friends (along with a few stragglers), so the man knows a thing or two about cranberry sauce and stuffing.
Mistake One: You’re Roasting Your Turkey Wrong… Trust Us.
Shutterstock
It is tempting to say that roasting a turkey is the Rubik’s Cube of cooking, but that isn’t quite right; a Rubik’s Cube can be solved. Roasting a turkey correctly is about goddamn impossible, and there are a variety of reasons why.
According to Jason:
Even if you do know what you’re doing, there’s a lot of problems [with roasting a turkey]. Turkeys range from 13 to 23 pounds, so anytime someone is giving you advice, how likely is it they’re talking about the size bird you have? It’s a one in ten chance. So, right off the bat, misinformation is a huge thing. Secondly, people always want to peek and look inside [lowering the oven temperature], and everyone wants to baste [drying out the turkey], and there’s so many different ways that people go about it that can yield an inferior product or undercooked or overcooked. How many people can really say they’ve had truly outstanding turkey on Thanksgiving?
How To Fix It:
Because roasting a whole turkey to the proper temperature is extremely difficult, even for a skilled chef like Jason, he simplifies the problem by making that turkey considerably less whole:
Cooking the turkey is the hardest part of the whole day. There’s a million different ways to make mashed potatoes, and half a million of them are good. If you break down the turkey into smaller pieces and cook them separately, you’ll have a higher margin for success. Confiting the legs, covering them in some sort of fat and slowly baking them in the oven, no one’s gonna not like that. Roasting just a crown, just the two breasts, is much easier [than cooking the whole bird]. It’s easier to cook white meat perfectly than trying to cook white meat and dark meat perfectly at the same time.
And Jason isn’t the only chef who endorses this method. Everyone from Serious Eats to The New York Times have championed dissection roasting (not the actual name for the thing, but it should be). You may lose a few seconds of “wow” factor of carving the turkey at the table, but that process has its own pitfalls, and once your guests start eating a bird that is properly cooked (both white and dark meat), you won’t be hearing any complaints.
Need more convincing? According to Jason, when he was a kid and the turkey was roasted in the traditional way at Thanksgiving dinner, “no one ever ate the legs.” But the first time he confited the legs, “no one ate the breast.”
In America, we love carbs so much that we jam them into the body cavities of birds. And while the germ theory has taken the fun out this method, stuffing remains one of the most popular side dishes at Thanksgiving. Many amateur chefs embrace stuffing for the culinary canvas that it can be and insert delicious touches like cornbread and chorizo into the mix. But sadly, far too many families are stuck with the most basic of moist breadcrumbs and seasonings.
How To Fix It:
Jason not only sees the stuffing as a chance to showcase some of his favorite ingredients (he’s a big fan of a cornbread base), but he also considers it a perfect opportunity to fill in any missing gaps in the dinner’s flavor profile:
Everyone has family recipes. If at your family Thanksgiving there’s always green bean casserole, putting green beans in the stuffing is out of the question. But if there’s no mushroom dish at your Thanksgiving, then maybe a mushroom and Italian sausage and cornbread stuffing would be really killer. It really comes down to filling in the gaps of what’s not already being made at the dinner. Stuffing is a great vessel for whatever else isn’t being served.
Though roast turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce are mainly seen as holiday foods, mashed potatoes are a year-round staple. But despite our familiarity with this dish, mashed potatoes are often still a culinary dumpster fire of gummy paste and/or bland lumps.
How To Fix It:
For Jason, tasty mashed potatoes start with the right equipment:
Mashed potatoes are probably one of the things that are the easiest to mess up. You have to use the right potatoes, a Yukon gold or a new potato, something that’s nice and waxy, so not a russet potato. I peel them and boil them in nicely salted water. Don’t skimp on the salt; that’s the best opportunity to flavor the potatoes. I would invest in a potato ricer or a food mill. These will make the potatoes into these nice, small, broken up pieces that mix really well into dairy.
My favorite method is to taking a little bit of room temperature butter — and when I say a little bit, I mean ‘a lot’ — and some cream that has been warmed up with garlic, and a little bit of Boursin cheese would be killer, and I put all that in a bowl. Then once my potatoes are boiled, I put them through the ricer or the food mill right over the dairy mixture, so as the hot potato hits it, it starts to melt even more. Then I mix it up with a rubber spatula, and it’s the silkiest, creamiest potato puree. It’s really easy, but just delicious.”
Mistake Four: Your Cranberry Sauce Comes From A Can
Wikimedia Commons
Though we spend the other 364 days of the year actively avoiding gelatinous, cylindrical foods, some people think that serving canned cranberry sauce on Thanksgiving is somehow acceptable.
Shutterstock
For reasons that are difficult to fathom (though probably involve Stockholm syndrome), some people even claim to like canned cranberry sauce. Some of these poor misguided souls even prefer it over cranberry sauce that is actually a sauce. So, if you are hosting a Thanksgiving dinner, please keep several cans of the stuff on hand for these finicky guests. Then please throw those cans at them until they agree to leave.
How To Fix It:
According to Jason, cranberry sauce is one of his favorite foods to make for Thanksgiving. Not just because the tart cranberry sauce balances the other dishes, but also because it is one of the easiest components to prepare:
For me, [cranberry sauce] is one of the easiest things in the whole making of Thanksgiving dinner. It doesn’t have to be served hot and it can totally be made ahead of time. Also, fresh cranberries are readily available, so there’s no reason to use anything out of a can or a jar or anything like that. I’ll usually take whole cranberries and cook them with orange juice and brown sugar or maple and some cinnamon sticks. I’ll cook them until the berries start to pop a little bit and make sure that it’s the right kind of sweet, tangy balance. That’s it; super easy. You can do it in an hour, you can do it in 15 minutes if you need to rush it. Or you could stew it all day if you like your texture a little bit softer with no bite on the cranberries at all.
As much as most people love pumpkin pie and expect it during Thanksgiving dinner, Jason brings up a simple, but thought-provoking observation: Why in the hell do we eat this stuff after Thanksgiving dinner? After all, we just finished stuffing ourselves with turkey and potatoes and dinner rolls and a food that is a literally called stuffing, and then how do we put a topper on that sweaty cavern rave of carbs and lard and sugar? With several more slices of carbs and lard and sugar.
Thanksgiving is supposed to be a feast, and it should be, but it doesn’t necessarily have to end with us passed out on the couch, with our belts unbuckled, and our guts bubbling, and family political arguments only a faint buzz in our ears.
[Author’s note: Faking a nap is a stellar way to avoid family arguments both political and otherwise. Consider that a bonus Thanksgiving tip.]
How To Fix It:
After courses of roast turkey, mashed potatoes, homemade cranberry sauce, stuffing croquettes, and other amazing dishes, Jason serves his guests something entirely unconventional, but entirely delicious for dessert:
Lately, I’ve been using persimmons and marinating them with a sweetened lemon juice and serving them with a Kurdish yogurt cheese called labneh. I mix cinnamon and brown sugar into that, and serve it with the persimmons. And that’s a pretty awesome light dessert for after Thanksgiving.
Here’s how you can make a light dessert of your own. But maybe keep a pumpkin pie (or two) around just in case you have a few traditionalists at the table.
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