Thanksgiving 2010

Timi's How To
Not Ever Host Thanksgiving Dinner 

Yes I'm 29- 39ish and I still don't cook one stinkin thing for Thanksgiving!

It's not because I don't know how or because I don't want to.  It's because my family revoked my holiday hosting privileges many years ago.

Back in the early 90's I worked for a company in downtown Seattle.  I loved working for this company. They are now out of business so the name isn't important, but this was one of the best jobs I ever had.  I worked with really great people, met some friends who I'm still close to, and I got to travel for the first time with this company. 
This is also when I got bit by the travel bug.

We were a young group at this company. Most of us were single, no kids, and barely makin it on our own.  This company also liked to recruit employees from all over the country and send them to towns where they had no family or friends. 

Well Timi decided that she would host Thanksgiving at her little 2 bedroom apartment for 9 of her orphan coworkers, parents and brother.

Super excited! 
Went shopping days before, got my big 20+ lbs. turkey in the fridge defrosting, special cocktail recipes found, spent days cleaning, decorating and making things beautiful for hosting my first Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving came and I got up at O'dark:30 in the morning to get started! 
Just like my Grandmothers always did... and my mother.  Dinner would be served at 2 and guests would start arriving about noon.  Cocktails, apps, and football was on the agenda before dinner.

When I went to get my turkey out of the fridge it was FROZEN SOLID!  That sucker had been in there for 4 days and not done a damn thing to help me prepare for my big day! 

I panicked! 

What to do? What to do?

So I filled the sink up with warm water and let it sit, with warm water running on it.  There I sat on a stool staring at a frozen turkey freaking out trying to figure out what to do. 

Finally after a couple hours I got that ole' bird to a point where I could at least try to attempt to get the guts out of it. 

I fished around in there, got the flashlight out and looked in there, and could not for the life of me find them.   What's a girl to do?
I needed to get this bird in the oven!

Totally stressed out!

Call Grandma!  
I called my Grandmother to find out where else they may have hid the guts.  After she gave me some pointers on how to get that turkey more thawed out I was able to find the frozen solid packet of giblets stuck up inside of that bird.

Time to get that bird in the oven! 

So I prepared it and in the oven it went.

Now to get the other items prepared.

Next up............. The sangria! 

It was important that this be made early so it could sit for a while and all the flavors could marry together.  Because I was 20 something the booze was always important.

Here's the recipe.
This seriously is one of the best sangria recipe ever!

Timi's Sangria Recipe

2 16 oz bottles of Cabernet Wine ( I have always used St. Michele cab)

1/4 bottle of Dubonnet I leave this out most of the time; it’s not something always on hand.

3 oz Brandy

3 oz Peach Schnapps

6 oz Triple Sec

Sugar to taste about 4 Tablespoons

Simple Syrup works better because the sugar doesn’t always dissolve.

32 oz Orange Juice (1 Quart)

I use the Orange Pineapple Juice concentrate mix when I can find it or the carton in the refrigerator section. It works really well.

6 oz Pineapple Juice
Mix and garnish with

Lime Slices

Orange Slices

This makes a lot and you will need a pretty good size bucket to mix it in. All amounts are approximates. You will want to taste as you mix. Always taste before you serve it. Especially if it’s been sitting for a day or so. The flavor changes a lot.

This keeps for about a week and it’s always better the second or 3rd day. I suggest mixing before hand and let set over night at a minimum.

So I'm mixin, a tastin, a mixin, a tastin and trying to get this recipe just right.  While doing this I was multi-tasking and trying to get everything else ready too.

Well then BAM!
Out of  no where it hit!
 I was drunker than a skunk!

My guests started showing up and I was H A M M E R E D!

images from Apron Goddesses

Things went a bit downhill from there. 
Ok,  a lot downhill!

Thank GOD for Mom's. 
My Mom showed up, didn't pass judgment and stepped right in and got dinner going. 

She wasn't frazzled at all by the drunk daughter and the husband (my Dad) telling her "I told you, she should have just done BBQ Hamburgers!"

2 pm.............The turkey................. NOT DONE! 

It took that mostly frozen bird about 2 hours longer to cook than planned and Mom getting dinner ready by herself took a little longer.

Mom saved the day!

This would be a Thanksgiving that guests were spared the disappointment of no dinner and chewing off their arms from starvation.

It's been almost 20 years and I have never been asked to host Thanksgiving dinner

again!

When I suggest that I might like to do it

I'm given the "look"

Yes the look of

"no I don't think so"

Then I'm quickly reminded of "that Thanksgiving"

I called my mom the other day to see what I could bring on Thursday

This was her response;

"oh I think I got everything, why don't you just bring a banana for the fruit salad"

Now none of this was planned out... it was just an unfortunate sangria accident, but now that I'm older and not so ambitious...........

It's worked out pretty well.

That my friends is how you get out of all work involved with the holidays.

It just takes one incident of drunken irresponsibility and you are off the hook for years!

 

Have a wonderful day and take a moment to be Thankful for all the good in your life.

Me..........

I'm thankful I accidentally got drunk 20 years ago!

I'll be enjoying a day of lounging in my eatin pants.

Happy Thanksgiving!