Mama's House

Today we give thanks! So have at it, what are you thankful for this year?

Updated to include what Faye and Roland have promised to bring. That only leaves Joni, Mehran, and Oliver who have yet to say what they'll bring.

Turkey - Mark & Tita Agnes
Tri-Tip - Tita Evelyn
Vegetable Casserole - Faye
Pansit - Jade & Annette
Arroz Caldo - Mama & Lindsey
Mashed Potatoes - EJ
Mac & Cheese - still trying to find the right recipe
Caesar Salad - Tita Evelyn
Balut - Jade & Annette
Stuffing - Faye
Drinks - Vanessa has the liquor and Roland thought it was the easiest thing to bring so he'll be bringing drinks of some sort.
Desserts - Austin and Faye have promised us desserts and I'm thinking of providing one as well.

Both EJ and Lindsey have requested Rock Band 2. I'll be happy to help oblige, but I was wondering what DLC would you like to play? Check out the list, make your suggestions, and we'll see what can be done. Maybe put up a poll, take up a collection, and select the most popular or something.

And damnit Austin, no Roam. Unless that's what the people want.

UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: Updated to include EJ's comment.

What we have:

Mark & Tita Agnes - Turkey
Wayne - Mac and cheese w/bacon (pending successful trial runs)
Annette & Jade - Pansit
Vanessa - Liquor
Tita Evelyn - Tri-tip and Caesar salad
EJ - Mashed potatoes and soda

Another breakdown:

Main Dishes
Turkey
Tri-tip

Side Dishes
Mashed Potatoes
Mac and Cheese w/Bacon
Pansit
Caesar Salad

Drinks
Hard liquor
Soda

That looks solid to me but still not quite Thanksgiviney enough to be called biggest meal of the year. But we have yet to hear from Austin, Lindsey, Mehran, Oliver, Faye, and Joni. So we're probably going to get there eventually. And what follows is a Thanksgiving wishlist of sorts.

What else we would like to have:
Yams
More sides
Desserts

Another main dish like a ham or a beef roast of some kind for the non-turkey eaters would be nice. More sides are needed (potatoes please). Vanessa is planning on bringing a bottle of hard liquor with a mixer or two, so if anyone else wants something other than that to drink.... Non-alcoholic drinks are needed as well as desserts.

Last year's Thanksgiving went pretty well, people seemed to fill up nicely on all the offerings and hardly any leftovers at all (which is a good thing to some but not others), as the following contributions were made:

This year's Thanksgiving will be held at EJ's - I think. I know Annette wanted it there so that the kids would have something to do and I did ask EJ about it. But before he got back to me, I told Tita Malou about Annette wanting to have it there and she said that Tita Evelyn already said she would host it this year. So is that confirmation? If only EJ would take time away from gloating for a bit we could maybe get a hard confirmation.

Anyway, it is left up to us, the cousins, to once again plan out the Thanksgiving meal. Tita Malou figured that we should prepare enough food for 30-35 (that's not counting the kids because they don't eat all that much anyway especially since they'll have each other to play with all day) people this year. It should also be taken into account that it's probably going to be a late lunch with sporadic episodes of eating until everyone leaves after dinner. Don't forget that some of us though will be having one meal at EJ's while having another meal with their significant other's family. Though it is Thanksgiving so everyone is expected to eat quite a bit. So count on 50 or so servings. Of course, because of the number of dishes that will be at hand, those would be small servings rather than individual servings that can make somebody full.

I know the above may be confusing but you all have common sense and can figure it out on your own.

If it is at EJ's, then it would probably be best that EJ cooks the turkey this year. Aside from turkey, it might be nice to have a ham and/or roast beef as well, to give us the trifecta of poultry, pork, and beef. Those would be the main dishes of course. Now on to my favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal.

So what about side dishes? Potatoes are a must. I'm giving some thought to doing some sort of roasted potatoes dish. But it would be nice if someone else also did mashed and or scalloped potatoes. You can't have enough potatoes I say. I'm also thinking of making mac and cheese w/bacon.

What else can we have for sides? Cranberry sauce (does anyone in our family even like that stuff?), some sort of mushroom dish, a salad? We need more vegetables I suppose. Let's figure it out, just throw out whatever suggestions you have, whether it's something you'd like to make or something you would like someone else to make and bring.

Now on to dessert. The only dessert maker I know in our family is Melanie. So what will it be? Cookies, cheesecake, tiny muffins? Of course, someone else can always go out and just buy a pie and some ice cream.

What about drinks? Soda is a must, but is this going to be a dry event? Or are we going to have a Thanksgiving themed ale or perhaps some cider to imbibe on?

So what will Thanksgiving be like this year people?

Here are some of my photos posted on Lindsey's flickr account. It was difficult this time around with the crappy lighting.

Well other than the untimeliness of some - it's ok, we're all filipinos - this year's Thanksgiving went really well. Nothing that made it on to this year's Thanksgiving table was offensive. In fact, it wouldn't be hyperbole to say that all the food was pretty damn good. Mike's candied yams were nice and sweet. Melanie's cheesy mac and EJ's mashed potatoes were gobbled - pun intended - up quickly. Mehran's enchilada casserole were good enough to have been ordered up again by my mom. Oliver's guacamole recipe was asked for. There's no more of Sara's fruit salad. Jason's Fayes's ham was moist and full of flavor. Annette's pansit didn't disappoint the filipinos. Vanessa's and Lindsey's pies tasted better than what anyone else in this family could bake. And lastly, I didn't burn the house down when cooking the turkey. It all made for a very successful Thanksgiving.

Thank you all for cooking! And again, happy Thanksgiving!

Joni: Balut
Tita Elma: Egg rolls

Along with Mehran's chicken enchiladas and Annette's pancit I would hardly consider this year's Thanksgiving to be a "white" Thanksgiving as Vanessa put it.

And can someone tell me exactly when and why Thanksgivings started being classified by race? Is that like some new affirmative action program I haven't heard of? If that's so, should I be considering (i.e. leaning towards) a more minority oriented Thanksgiving?

In case any of you are worried about how the turkey will end up, and you would be right to, I thought I'd make the occasional progress report to keep you all informed about what's happening with the big bird. By the way, if it sounds like anywhere in my preparations for the turkey that I'm in danger of giving anyone food poisoning or, as Faye puts it, mud butt, l strongly encourage you to give me a call.

Well I've been reading everywhere that it takes 24 hours for every 4-5 pounds of turkey to defrost it in the refrigerator. I've also read that it will keep in the fridge, after it has been defrosted, anywhere from 1 to 4 days. I bought about a 16 pound turkey and decided to be on the safer side of the 1 to 4 days. Given that I want to brine the turkey I started defrosting the turkey yesterday late afternoon. Now after over 12 hours of defrosting the turkey is still hard as a rock.

If all does not go so well in the refrigerator I suppose I could finish the defrosting process in the sink before I start to brine it. That's the backup plan anyway.

Here's what we have so far:

Annette: Pansit and snacks
Melanie: Mac and cheese and jams
EJ: Mashed potatoes
Faye: Ham dinner package
Mehran: Chicken enchiladas
Vanessa: Pie
Wayne: Turkey

That's a lot of food right there. I guess we could use another dessert and maybe a salad, but we definitely don't need anymore main course type of dishes and I think we're fine with the side dishes as well. However, we do need drinks and perhaps a bag of ice. Otherwise we're pretty much all set as far as the menu is concerned.

Make note that it's going to be at Mama's this year and that the turkey will be ready to serve at 12:30. It's pretty much going to be going on all day though so feel free to come early if you want, especially since I have the potential to burn down the house by deep frying the turkey, trust me you wouldn't want to miss that. And if you have significant other's families to visit that day too, then feel free to come early or late but if you're bringing food please drop it off first if you're going to be having dinner instead of lunch with us.

Also, let me get a head count of who is coming so that everyone can know how much food to prepare. Thanks!

UPDATE: Annette, ignoring my wishes for a traditional Thanksgiving menu, has said she will make pansit palabok and Jade said he would make BBQ. I suppose the bbq can serve as a main dish alternative to the turkey - and seeing that I could totally screw up the turkey, that might not be such a bad thing to have - and I suppose the pansit can be some sort of side dish or stuffing alternative.

Not a bad start to the Thanksgiving menu.

So apparently I've been charged with making Thanksgiving happen. Actually, I more or less said us cousins could handle it. Now I know what you're all thinking, it probably ranges from, "Goddamnit Wayne!" to "What the fuck were you thinking Wayne?" Now before you all get upset over this, let me remind all of you that we pretty much pulled off Christmas last year when many of the titas and uncles were away. This is going to be a lot like that Christmas but with a lot more food and hopefully less of those terrible jello-shots that were made.

First things first in planning this year's Thanksgiving, the food. Of course, we gotta have turkey and since Joni got me this turkey deep fryer last Christmas, I'll be making the turkey. Yep, that's right, deep fried turkey. Doesn't this sound like it's going to be the most awesomest Thanksgiving already?

Outside of the turkey the only things we absolutely need to have are side dishes, stuffing, dessert, and drinks. Now I want to try to keep this a more traditional Thanksgiving. That means instead of dinuguan, maybe mashed potatoes. And really nobody has to cook anything if they don't want to, but remember what Robert Rodriguez has to say about cooking, "Not knowing to cook, is like not knowing how to fuck." And it would be nice if we could pull this off, seeing that we are old enough to pull something like this off. Also, you could just buy this stuff instead of cooking it yourself.

Anyway, so what would you people like to have for this Thanksgiving and what are you willing to cook or buy precooked for the meal?