Based on the thawing guidelines from Butterball (is it just me, or is that the best name ever??), mine should be more than halfway thawed. Instead, it's been in the fridge since Sunday and is still hard as a rock. Will inevitably end up in a water bath tomorrow night, as they all do.
Other than that, though, my plans for Thanksgiving are progressing well. We've only got 6 this year, so I figure 14 pounds of turkey with gravy, dressing, mashed potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, homemade cranberry sauce, sauteed brussels sprouts, buttered fresh corn, squash casserole, and my mom's yummy Parker House rolls should be just enough to see us through to the other side of the weekend. Oh, and Tim's mom is making pies.
How's about everyone else? Any secret recipes you care to share? Any dishes you absolutely would not be without on this bestest holiday of them all? Holiday horror stories? And just to remind us that it's not ALL about the food, what are you thankful for this year? (Besides the great food, of course.)
Margie
I found an awesome recipe in a Volkswagen magazine on how to make an authentic German Turkey.... :drool:
Spending Thanksgiving at my girlfriend's parents house. They are expecting me to get down on one knee and do this little proposal thing to her... I dunno...
Just thankful for such a fast, great year (except for the license debacle) with lots of family and friends...
(oh, always suckered into dishes every year...
)
The relatives will be here. Booze will be in hand. Everything will work itself out. 
Although, two years ago, had to sober up to fix the rotted out iron drain pipe from the kitchen sink to the main drain. It sucked to be tying up the kitchen to fix that while everyone else needs it to fix everything. Plus all the dishes that needed to be washed and couldn't except for the bathtub UPSTAIRS.
Brian
Day after thanksgiving biggest day for plumbers ! still up in the air hoping to goto hunting property and cook turkey in roaster oven shoot hogs and walk on keaton beach with wife and two puppies 
Thankful for my health, and that of my wife, family and friends. Thankful for a job to do, a house to live in, a bed to sleep in, and food to eat (lest we forget a garage to wrench in and a car to drive 
). The rest is just details!
Also, as for the cannot-live-without-holiday-dishes, my Mother in law makes a sweet potato casserole that is...well words cannot describe it adequately. I know its a pretty simple recipe, but dont know it myself. It seems basically like its a bunch of mashed sweet potatoes mixed with brown sugar and probably some vanilla extract. The whole deal gets cooked with a lump of brown sugar, some crushed walnuts and my guess is the better half of a stick of butter on top till the sugar and walnuts form a crunchy layer. Its delicious!
mtn
SuperDork
11/23/10 4:04 p.m.
Mom is making the food. I'll be making pies. On Friday dad and I are getting something special, and on Saturday the DMV is open so we can start enjoying that something special.
I'll be at the Magic Kingdom. They serve turkey and all the sides in their main little food area.
JFX001
SuperDork
11/23/10 4:12 p.m.
Somehow I must've missed the fine print in my marriage license that states that all Holiday feasts will be made from the sacred scrolls that were passed down from her side of the family. You get My Lovely Wife and her two sisters (coven?) plus the Grande Dame/MIL in the Kitchen (cue holy trumpets...3-2-1...) and it's all about Grandmomma's recipe for this...or that.
No Country for Middle-Aged Men.
I miss my Grandmother's stuffing. Best comfort food ever made....nothing exotic...just good country grub.Two days later you could cut a slab, put it between some bread with a chilled slice of cranberry sauce and and just know, that for one moment...that all was right with the World.
I'm thankful for just being here. I'm thankful for the relative health and well being of my family. I'm thankful for yesterday, today and tomorrow.
Since there are only two of us, we are getting a just breast meat, and will make up the rest with cornmeal, cranberries, green beans, asperegus, etc. It will be pretty simple.
BTW, Margie- if you are going to have to soak it to thaw if, ever considered making a brine to do it? They work awesome- just a little cumbersome. Since you are already doing some kind of soak- should be pretty easy.
I did brine a turkey one year. Wanted it to be extra-special, so I spent the extra money and got a kosher turkey to start. Didn't know that kosher turkeys are ALREADY brined, of course.
Many years later, my FIL still refers to that turkey as "Lot's wife."
Margie
My son smoked one this year.
It was pretty awesome.
DukeOfUndersteer wrote:
I found an awesome recipe in a Volkswagen magazine on how to make an authentic German Turkey.... :drool:
Errrrr...
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but there is no such thing as authentic German Turkey (we use(d) goose for a holiday type meal).
We'll be on our way to Deland to the P-I-L tomorrow night, get turkey'd Thursday, then go to the Daytona turkey run Friday/Sat. Plenty of cool cars to look at there. Fly back home on Sunday.
mndsm
Dork
11/23/10 4:34 p.m.
I'll be cooking a ham- to go along with a bird some friends of mine are cooking. His wife had suggested she go get KFC for everyone, and I was like "Ummm, I got the turkey" and got a message from him later that was like "Dude, I got the turkey, I don't know what the hell she was thinking".
mndsm
Dork
11/23/10 4:46 p.m.
I think that needs to be wrapped in a cow of some sort after that.
In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:
Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...... Some day I will have to try that!
Brian
i am thankful for that deep fryer i bought a couple years ago on clearance after thanksgiving, and for the bird who gaves its life so that that i may drop it into hot oil for a little over an hour.
My first Thanksgiving after getting married I told the in-laws that I would take care of dinner. I made my fathers usual Thanksgiving feast. Ham, massed potatoes, green bean casserole, brussels sprouts among other things. No turkey, duck or goose. I was informed that this was not a Thanksgiving dinner. But it was for my entire childhood so I was very confused.
No wonder I am divorced.
Since i have the biggest house in the family, all the relatives are coming to my place this year. As I am a bachelor and still using most of my serving dishes from college on a daily basis, its been a windfall of nice stuff from the 'rents. Silver service for 12, some crystal wine glasses, my mom's old china set that had a few "close but not exact" pieces thrown in to get it up to maximum capacity, etc.
I am going to an after-work party at my friend's place tomorrow night, so I am gonna be a wreck @ thanksgiving dinner. Fortunately, the only thing I need to do is turn the heat on so the old folks are comfortable, go get some punch fixings, ice cubes, and some booze, and clean the bathroom. Which reminds me I need to get my bathroom cleaned and stop trolling forums trying to prolong the inevitable.
In reply to Marjorie Suddard:
Lots Wife- that will last for eternity! Good family story.
I'm pretty sure the butterball isn't brined, but IF it is, you do need to add some salt to the water- the whole point is to make an equalibrium of the fluids, so if it's brined, and you put it in water, it will take that out.
Last year, our group was in Santa Fe for T-Giving, and we had an oven that would not be controlled- at well below the "warm" setting- the point where you know it's on- we would get 375F (we bought a termometer). Led to some seriously dry turkey. And we SHOULD have used one of the two Weber grills. Would have tasted really yummy.
Learn something every year.
Although, for family get to gethers, you need to learn to expose Tommy. 
Something that you can bring up at future milestones of his....
That's what thanksgiving is for.
Well, my new wife is Vegan. We make a Tofurkey, and before you judge it that little plant bastard is better than every one of the poor dry turkeys my family ever made growing up
Anyways, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, a carrot and onion broth, stuffing, butter rolls, blackberry pie, and a chocolate cake!
I am thankful for the wonderful year. Got engaged and married, left my old career for a new one after graduating college, re-connected with old friends and made some new ones. It's been a damn good year.
I work for a pizza delivery chain, and Thanksgiving is supposed to be a fairly busy day for us. I'm thankful I'm not working.
Gonna let Mom and Gramma cook. I can play MacGyver, turn wrenches and scope out wiring etc but kitchen wizardry is above my pay grade.
The clan is headed to visit my paternal grandparents this year. My grandmother is in declining health and has trouble climbing stairs so we decided we will visit them this year instead of having Thanksgiving at our house as usual. They live in a small apartment and there are 5 of us going, so it will be cramped. Two of my younger sisters are studying abroad in Ireland and Italy, so it won't be as cramped as it could be. We juts got a new oven for the house so the turkey will be a good inaugural meal to cook.
