Ghosts of Turkeys Past

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. In fact, I'm going to my first of three dinners this Sunday. It's the annual "Apartment Thanksgiving" with my college friends, only none of us currently live in apartments. I will be making cranberry sauce (it's my thing), pumpkin roll, brownie cheesecake (for Ellen who dislikes pumpkin and pies), and spinach dip. The big day itself will be hosted at my house with 20-30 relatives from both family sides. Ugh. We'll have two turkeys--one oven roasted, the other deep-fried. I'm making rolls and cranberry sauce. The final meal will be at Elise's the Sunday after. It will also be the only boozy one. In addition to the sauce, I'll be bringing dressing and some sort of pie.

When I was younger, Thanksgiving was not my favorite holiday. There were relatives to contend with, televised parades to ignore, football games to avoid, and homework to procrastinate. But once I got to college, there were also friends to celebrate with and from many Friendsgivings, it has become one of my favorite holidays. Besides, I love to cook and eat. So here are my top five Thanksgivings.

2005
I was a sophomore in college living in the Villa apartments with five other guys. Gross. I was also working at Convergys where employees were guaranteed only one of the Big Three holidays off: Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years. I got Christmas off, which meant I would be on my own in Cedar City for the holiday and working. But it actually was really fun. Work was really slow, so we played games like Ten Fingers (I Have Never) and bounced bouncy balls all over the call room. The few people who did call in always wished me a Happy Thanksgiving. Then I went home to an empty apartment--all mine. I don't remember what I had to eat, but I did drink an entire bottle of Meier's Sparkling grape juice (that stuff is seriously good guys!) while watching The Rules of Attraction (something of a guilty pleasure). After the movie I was so wound up--sugar rush!--that I went cruising Cedar's Main Street (a favorite pastime of mine), and the street was decorated and lit up for holidays and Christmas music was playing on the radio. All in all, it was a lovely way to spend Thanksgiving by myself.

2010
Last year I hosted my first Thanksgiving with Heidi. We were going to feed all the iSchool orphans who didn't have family in the area, but in the end they all decided to fly home for family Thanksgivings anyway. (Even my dad called last minute, offering to fly me home for the weekend, but I didn't want to leave Heidi all alone.) This did not deter me from making an entire feast including my first turkey (well turkey breast--nobody was coming and Heidi's vegetarian). Heidi made the mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and a pumpkin spice cake. I made everything else--we had rolls for days. In the end Chloe and Cameron were are only guests bringing cranberry bread and sparkling pinot noir. We had plenty of wine and plenty of food. After dinner we played Trivial Pursuit. And then I did have to finish an assignment that I didn't understand (on Thanksgiving! evil!) drunk. The other nice part of last year was that campus operations were suspended Monday evening (just as I was leaving work) due to a little snow and cold weather that resulted in two snow days. No class for a whole week. It was a Thanksgiving miracle.

2008
The year before I left for Seattle, I had a Friendsgiving at Chez Whitney's. There was much drunkenness so I don't remember a whole lot of the food, except that it was delicious. Pecan pie, yum! There was even a fight/breakdown which just means that it is officially the holidays. We ended up watching Pieces of April drunk and doped out on fat calories. Good friend times. Dain, Whitney, Alex, Elise, I miss us.

The Gang (not on Thanksgiving)

2006
This was Apartment Thanksgiving my junior year. After dinner we moved all of the couches outside, huddled under blankets, and sang Christmas songs. It was very cold. and fun.

The furniture is outside!

Huddling under the blankets with Valerie. It was cold!

1995
This was one of the more unusual Thanksgivings I've had. We went camping in the Nevada desert outside of Boulder. My step-grandfather's nephew owns an old gold mine there, so there we went. It was also my first time eating deep-fried turkey. We kids explored the caves, shot potato guns, and went on a wild treasure hunt on ATVs.

(Dis)Honorable Mention
2007
My senior year I lived in an apartment with an oven that didn't work properly. It turned out one of the heating elements was broken. We did not realize this for the longest time. Even after the turkey had been roasting for quite some time, it still was not cooked. So we took the turkey over to Ellen's apartment, but in the end, Melissa carved the bird up and cooked the pieces in a pan. If it weren't for her, we may have all died or at least gotten very sick.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Ten Things

Is it November already? When did this happen?! And what's all this white stuff on the ground? Now that I again live (for the meanwhile) where snow happens, I hope we all have a milder winter than last year.

1. Ceremonials, the sophomore album by Florence + the Machine is no slump. If you enjoyed Lungs, I think you'll like this. If, however, you're no fan of Florence, this is not for you as it's Flo in overdrive--dark, sonic anthems full of harps and unrelenting drums. The BBC's critique that it's "all grandeur without any grace" may be legitimate; it is relentless, but I find it more exhilarating than exhausting. And it's provided excellent opportunities for awesome kitchen dancing in front of god and everyone. My favorite review is from the A.V. Club: "Ceremonials is Welch barreling off a cliff on wings made of dear-diary sentiment, art-school theatrics, and pure-cut sincerity, and somehow, against all odds, she manages to soar." Some of my favorite tracks include the singles "Shake It Out," "What the Water Gave Me," "No Light, No Light" as well as "All This and Heaven Too."

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2. I am loving the nonfiction book Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood by one of my favorite critics Mark Harris (who is married to Tony Kushner--what a power couple!). The book traces the five Best Picture nominees of 1967--In the Heat of the Night, Bonnie and Clyde, Doctor Dolittle, The Graduate, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner--just as the old Hollywood studio system was crumbling along with the Production Code. It's a brilliant piece of cultural history with fascinating profiles of key players such as Warren Beatty, Mike Nichols, Dustin Hoffman, and Sidney Poitier.

3. With the Halloween jack-o-lanterns moldering and the advent of snow, Christmas commercials have already begun. Ugh. Two full months of soul-crushing consumerism run amok.

4. Speaking of Halloween, my group of friends went as old people. I did not choose this theme as I found it borderline offensive and being old is not really a costume--it's something that happens if one is lucky to live long enough. Anyway, I ended up looking a bit like my uncle Richard. So this is probably what I'll look like when I'm sixty, god willing that I live that long and keep all my hair. Yes, I am wearing a tracksuit.

5. Speaking of Christmas, I may be jumping the gun, but I'm looking forward to making this year's playlist. As much as I enjoy effervescent pop like Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You," I really love melancholy Christmas music--you know, like "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and "River." So I'm kind of excited by the spare and bluesy sounds from A Very She & Him Christmas, the latest offering from Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward.

6. This mock vintage Inception poster. I want it.

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7. These applesauce oat bran muffins adapted from Martha Stewart Living. They're so moist, chewy, spicy, lightly sweetened, healthy, and delicious. A note: they are not very quick to whip up, plus you'll have to buy things like wheat bran, ground flax seed, and dried dates. Still, excellent. They keep well and they'll keep you regular.

8. If you were planning on reading Death Comes to Pemberley, yet another Austen sequel/reworking, you can just read this digested version from the Guardian. It's hilarious, so you should all read it, even if you're not an Austenhead. You're welcome.

9. The Occupy Wall Street movement has filled me with hope and on occasion tears (of joy). In my own small way I am in the middle of transferring my money out of the big bank Chase to the more regional Zions. One day--when I have a job and don't live with the parentals--I plan on using a credit union.

10. I wasn't really planning on seeing the upcoming film Immortals, but these two things have (mostly) changed my mind.
a) The truth in advertising of this commercial:

b) Henry Cavill naked and dirty:

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