Snow is on the way, apparently. Fantastic. Isn’t it a bit early in the season for this kind of madness? If it starts getting crazy out there, I might be taking another day off. Know what I’m saying? I have a 36-mile ride and am in no mood for “adventure.” We’ll see how it goes.
A couple of night ago I joined Planet Fitness, through their website. Ironically I was eating a delicious apple cider donut while doing it. However, as I type this, I still haven’t actually set foot inside the building, and don’t really know where it is. Feel the burn!
Also online, I was reading about the various offerings for pre-cooked and ready-for-pickup Thanksgiving dinners at Cracker Barrel. They have one that is extremely tempting. It feeds six and features all the must-haves: turkey, ham, cornbread dressing, turkey gravy, cranberry relish, choice of three additional sides, choice of bread. Feeds six, for $68. I mean… that sounds almost too good to be true. No ripping apart the kitchen… no arguing… everything’s super-good…
Have you ever gone that route? Not necessarily Cracker Barrel, but just farmed out most of the cooking to a third party? How’d it work out for you? I don’t think it’s going to happen for us this year, ’cause Toney already has plans in motion. But I’d be willing to go all-in on it after Thanksgiving 2018. The picture at the top is directly from the Cracker Barrel site. Man, that’s good stuff.
Of course, you’d have to supplement with a lineup of pies. I’m not really a fan of pumpkin pie, and I’m definitely not a fan of “punkin'” pie. But I like many other pies, including apple, cherry, lemon meringue, blueberry (yum!), chocolate cream, and (controversial!) coconut cream.
On my “no thanks” pie list you’d find pumpkin, pecan, sweet potato (blecch), and peanut butter.
What do you have on this? And I’m talking about dessert pies… not chicken pot pie or those Euro meat pies. Sheesh. You know what I’m talking about. What goes on your Yes! list, and what goes on your No Thanks list? Specifically in the realm of pies.
What are your Thanksgiving plans? Do you travel? Do you do all the cooking? My parents are in Florida already, and Toney doesn’t talk to ol’ Sunny anymore. In fact, it’s been seven or eight years, I think. So, it’ll just be the four of us, and everything will be cooked in our kitchen, which might lead to arguments and all manner of unpleasantness. Or maybe not. We’ll see.
I couldn’t get Black Friday off, and more importantly… the easy creation of a big-honkin’ four-day weekend. Wotta ripoff. So, I’ll be back in there on Friday. My birthday is coming up though, and I took some time off around that. Not sure why, ’cause I don’t generally participate. But I’ve got time to burn before 12/31 and figured it made sense. Right? …Hello?
Speaking of “home” I saw this article yesterday about some fugitive drug kingpin from Detroit being captured in my hometown. WTF? Another article I read about it said he was part of some kind of gang called the Detroit Boys and was mistakenly released from prison about four years ago due to a clerical error. A clerical error?! And he was barricaded inside a house on 16th Street in Dunbar, WV?? I grew up on 17th Street, and my paper route included 16th Street. I don’t care for any of it. Is it turning into The Wire down there? And by the way… that guy has to have a street name, right? No way he’s walking around with that name. Am I wrong?
And speaking of Black Friday, is there anything you’re hoping to buy this year? Not necessarily as a gift, but just for yourself? But gifts too, if you want to share. I have two items: a new desktop computer (maybe just a tower, but I’m open to a whole new setup if feasible) and some kind of stereo (not a boombox) with which to play CDs. Remember those? My computer is fairly new, but it’s a lemon. Full-blown piece of shit. It needs to be hurled deep into a landfill. And home stereos are rare these days. I’m not talking about some pulsating Bluetooth nonsense. I mean an actual home stereo. Even on Amazon, there aren’t many of them. <sigh> But I’ll be keeping my eyes open. Probably won’t buy anything, but I’ll be on high-alert. What about you.
Not sure what’s going on with the podcast. I don’t have it back yet and haven’t heard from the producer dude. I assume he’ll get it to me shortly, and I’ll post it ASAP. UPDATE: It’s up!
You guys have yourselves a great weekend!
Please don’t forget to use our Amazon links if you’re planning to do any semi-drunken shopping, or otherwise. Just click through, shop as normal, and they’ll peel off a tiny percentage of whatever you spend and send it my way. It’ll cost you nothing extra and helps me a great deal. Thanks in advance!
I’ll be back on Monday.
Now playing in the bunker
Support us by doing your shopping on Amazon! In Canada? Here’s your link. Thank you, guys!
You can find good vintage stereo equipment on Ebay. I have 3 stereos. The whole state is pretty much screwed by this drug stuff now.
Yup, and outsource Christmas to the Jesus of your own choosin’.
jtb
My own personal Jesus, you mean?
Someone to hear my prayers? Someone who cares?
(Thanks, jtb, that’ll be stuck in my head all day now)
There are worse things to be stuck in one’s head. than Depeche Mode. Jesus of your own choosin’ is also a slightly obscure Billy Joe Shaver song covered by Kinky Friedman and nobody. And once Billy Joe gets stuck in your head, he’s stuck. He is, perhaps, the most authentic outlaw country writer still alive, although God knows how. How’s that for outlaw sentence construction?
John
Your comments on Jeff’s blog are an unexpected source of info in the category “music I have somehow missed over the years.” Just went and looked up Billy Joe Shaver.
He does indeed seem like the real deal.
Pippa, that’s a kind compliment. My musical tastes aren’t as broad as Jeff’s, but they are different. So, as a thank-you for your nice comment, here’s a tip on a group with whom you might not be familiar. . .
The Hot Club of Cowtown. Been playing together, off and on, since 1994. Jake Irwin, standup bass; Whit Smith, guitar; Elana James (formerly Elana Fremerman), fiddle/violin. They attempt to, and succeed in, combining the music of Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli of the Hot Club de France with the Western Swing of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys (thus, Hot Club of Cowtown).
I would recommend either a mostly live album, “Continental Stomp” from 2003, or “The Best of The Hot Club of Cowtown” from 2014. And if you’ve not heard a lot of Django Reinhardt, you might try an album from the late thirties to late forties from Quintette du Hot Club de France. It’s fine music.
I’d go with a CD rather than a download because there are subtleties that don’t always get incorporated into the download mix, but, of course, you have your own listening preferences.
best,
John
Outsourcing Thanksgiving sounds like a marvelous idea, but I’ll probably still cook because bringing it all in seem like ‘cheating,’ for whatever reason.
Bring on all the pies. I do not discriminate within the world of pies.
Terrence Pointdexter. Lil’ Ter? No, that’s a rapper name. T’Point? Terror Point? The Dread Terrence Pointer?
It’s just Beloved and me (or is it “I”?) but we’re going to flee to Rhode Island on Wednesday and cook the whole she-bang. Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, fresh cranberry sauce and a slew of vegetables. The one thing we don’t have covered yet is dessert, but there’s still time.
I’m a big fan of fruit pies with blueberry being my favorite, then cherry. I like pumpkin but only during Thanksgiving and maybe Christmas.
Pies that will never cross my lips: mincemeat and pecan. Oh and sweet potato. I don’t like sweet potatoes and damn near gagged on a sweet potato french fry someone snuck on me.
It’s like the olden days for us. The women slave away for days, while the men oblige by eating as much as possible, tuning into the game, and supplying beers. It causes feelings of guilt, which I drown in gravy and stuffing.
They serve 5 or 6 pies, which is bittersweet, due to the degree of gluttony required to try them all.
Like the pies, apple, pumpkin, pecan, and coconut cream. Cannot imagine eating mincemeat or lemon meringue. Blueberry and peach are more of a summertime pie, and I’m not sure how they would sit atop the Thanksgiving feast.
For some reason I am thinking about the Fast food vs reality thing you did.
I’m good with most pies except mincemeat.
“Winner” pies: Peanut Butter; Butterscotch; Lemon Meringue; Apple; and Pumpkin.
“No-No” pies: Gooseberry; Rhubarb; Mincemeat; Strawberry; and Shoofly Pie.
I like the idea of a “Cracker Barrel” Turkey Day. But messing up every clean dish in the house is half the fun! However, I don’t even like turkey…it doesn’t taste like much of anything. But I DO love mashed potatoes and homemade gravy!
Gotta be careful of those store-bought Thanksgiving package meals. Last one I did everything was frozen and took as much time and trouble as from scratch. Fuk dat.
Partner and I barely have any family, so we’ll cook up some chicken breasts, get a pie (I like pumpkin, but no sweet potato please) and go to the movies afterwards. Then hit up some stores for Black Friday. I always stock up on DVDs and Blu Rays when the big Oscar-bait titles from last year are down to $5.00.
I like the idea of doing a Thanksgiving dinner from Cracker Barrel! In the future we will do reservations since we hate cooking Thanksgiving dinner, but I think that’s a good idea too if we do ever have guests, especially since the Cracker Barrel is only a few minutes from my house.
Pecan, strawberry, and chocolate pies are my choices. Travelling to Lakeland with my part time girlfriend, fulltime roommate, and obvious freeloader (all the same person) to have dinner with her parents, as I did last year. I wanna buy myself some time alone for Black Friday. Just a room or tent somewhere. Every aspect of my life is overwhelming my tired ass.
Caramel apple walnut, shoofly, strawberry and rhubarb, cherry, steak and ale, steak and mushroom, steak and kidney, chicken tikka, pork… savory pies rule, I have no idea why they’re not popular here. Aussie meat pies are fast food masterpieces.
Pumpkin pie is nasty. Pumpkins are nasty to eat. If it was good we’d eat pumpkin pie year round like apple pie, but it’s not good isn’t? See eggnog too.
Limey is right: savory pies are da bomb. I will add that mincemeat is good too, and that sweet potatoes are Of The Devil.
When I’ve hosted Thanksgiving dinners, everything was homemade (by me). Deep-fried turkey, sausage-and-bread stuffing, garlic mashed potatoes, Campbell-free green bean casserole and so on. I don’t make pies, but I have been known to make a pumpkin cheesecake now and then. With bourbon-enhanced whipped cream.
Like Limey and Chill, I rise to speak in defence of the meat pie. Just made a steak and ale last week, but would also go out of my way for a chicken and leek. My husband loves steak and kidney pies, which he still calls ‘snake and pygmy’ from childhood.
And (fruit) mince pies at Christmas – the little individual ones from the shops. But pecan pie must be home baked. I was a child in the South, where good pecan pie was one of the sacraments.
It’s been my experience that the only really good pecan pies to be had are made and sold by 400 pound black women at Baptist church bake sales.
Ha! I’m glad I’m not the only still calling it that. I think I prefer a snake and pygmy pudding with mushy peas, and neeps and tatties (there’s one for the locals to parse).
Chicken and leek is excellent too 🙂
Neeps and tatties makes for some good eatin’. Goes great with haggis.
They do, but I prefer mine in a 50/50 mix and mashed. I don’t think the Scotch do that, they always seem to roast them.
The Cracker Barrel route sounds interesting. We have gone this route with Bob Evans, Kroger’s, and City Barbaque and each one was good but not great. A few years ago we finally settled on recreating the Earl of Sandwich holiday sandwich making some kielbasa and ending with cornbread/sausage stuffing. Very little cleaning and all the holiday flavors. The pumpkin supreme pie from Bob Evans is the one thanksgiving dessert everyone agrees on (the cheesecake layer cuts the ick factor).
We did the prepared Thanksgiving once with a entire meal from Kroger. Everything was cooked but is all cold right out of their refrigerator and you have to heat it all up. It is like eating leftovers on Friday except none of it has been picked through.
We were disappointed with the whole deal and never did it again. I cook everything except the oven Turkey that the wife does, but I do the deep fried turkey or turkey breast (depending on the crowd size) because we need extra white meat and it’s my favorite.
Fruit pies except any kind of lemon. Love coconut and chocolate cream pies, boston cream too. We are also fan of pumpkin pies but only from November through December.
No meat pies (except chicken pot), pecan or other nut pies and especially sweet potato anything.
That so-called 1 – 3 inchesof snow we were supposed to get last night turned into 8 inches. It took me 4 mofo hours to get home from work and my commute is 8 miles.
Here in the DMV we only got a half inch, maybe less. But it was slippery as shit. It turns out that all the ways to get out to the main roads are uphill from my house. My RWD car got stuck trying to go up a barely-perceptible hill. I finally locked the car and walked home, which was all of two blocks.
Husband will be out of town for turkey day, I have two friends coming in from CA. I found a biker bar down the road that has FREE THANKSGIVING DINNER with all the fixings!!! I’m so excited. Stuffing and pull tabs what a holiday!!!
Lost my bike and vinyls in the divorce, but remain hungry. How far is this fine establishment from Tacoma?
John
It’s in Carnation!! Just shoot up 18 to Snoqualmie — to 202 — to 203
Pete’s Club Grill in Carnation!
Thanks, JR. I’ll have to show up with my minivan instead of on my bike (see above) but I might decide to make the trip. It’s only about an hour away. You are a fine tour guide. Thanks again.
John
cool. I’ll wear some type of WV gear!
Peanut Butter Pie? WTF, how does that qualify as pie? Just becuase something is in a pie shell don’t make it a pie.
Apple & blueberry pie for me thanks.
Cracker Barrel dressing is wonderful. Very close to homemade. I’ll be working Thanksgiving, so I’ll be eating whatever I can pack and take with me. Or peanut butter crackers from the vending machine. I’ll be off Black Friday but I refuse to end up getting trampled to death for a microwave. I’ll be in my pajamas all day.