magid | Thanksgiving CD

Thanksgiving CD

There are all those holiday compilation CDs out this time of year, and some of us thought of what should be on an Thanksgiving CD.

Alice's Restaurant
Adam Sandler's Thanksgiving/Turkey song
something by the Cranberries (what?)
something by the Smashing Pumpking (ditto)

Someone mentioned Turkey in the Straw, but that feels like another genre completely.
Anyway. Suggestions?

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Some Native American music, and some church music.

Hm... I don't know if Pilgrims were the kind of zealots who frowned on music or not, nor what their preferred music would be if they allowed music.

Native American music sounds good.

Thanks for the memories

And how about this song (http://www.lyricstime.com/lyrics/40903.html)?

How could I not have heard about this sooner?
*And* there's no reference to any marshmallow abominations, either.
Definitely in!

My mother insists on abominating her yams with marshmallows. There seems to be nothing I can do to stop her.

Little dying screams from the drowned yams?
Little flags sticking out saying "help me"?
Add pickles and say that they go as well as the other two?
One of the cooking communities just had a recipe for deep-fried pickles; I bet that would be especially appreciated... ;-)

Furthermore, her idea of yams are canned yams packed in corn syrup. So they are already sweet to start with. One Christmas when I was there, I felt that I could never get my blood sugar under control. The menu:

Honey glazed ham
white bread rolls
candied yams
some vegetable cooked into a casserole with soups and things
waldorf "salad" made from apples, marshmallows, walnuts, mayonnaise, etc.
dessert

remind me not to dine in the midwest. ever.

Ugh! I can't quite imagine it, really. The yams are bad enough, but a waldorf 'salad' with marshmallows, too? There is absolutely no reason to have marshmallows twice in the main course of a dinner. Ever.
It does scream out "50s!" to me, definitely. I can just picture the awful-yet-compellingly-so color photo of this meal that would've made it into some older cookbook.

There were some other dishes on the menu as well, but I don't remember them right now. I do recall that it was very difficult to get away from things that either tasted of sugar (honey-glazed ham) or were chemically very similar (white bread). I think I ate a lot of celery sticks with fatty salad dressing, but that hardly satisfies an appetite.

Nowadays, I take a bit more initiative in the menu planning. I convince her to steam some vegetables (brussels sprouts for this thanksgiving) instead of making a casserole, and roast a real, free-range turkey rather than a glazed ham.

At my brother's house the day after thanksgiving, we had honey-glazed ham, green bean casserole, etc., but he had shrimp on the appetizer tray, so by the time the meal came around, I was already stuffed :)

Mmmm... Brussels sprouts.

I grew up with Thanksgiving (and other celebratory) meals being some kind of meat/poultry, a starch or two, and a greater-than-usual number of vegetable side dishes, which were either plain steamed something, or sauteed something (well, except for the fresh cranberry relish). So your descriptions fascinate me, in that I had kinda assumed that menus like this were more parody than fact...

Glad to hear you're managing to compensate/influence them :-).

Heavens no! Celebratory meals are done by everyone bringing something to the matriarch's home. She takes care of the big roasted meats (and the things that require some finesse, like gravy). Everyone else brings a casserole. As the years go by, everyone becomes known for the one they do best. My aunt Shirley was known for oyster stuffing. My mother had an amazing thing she did with brussels sprouts and hard-boiled eggs (!!), and of course, those candied yams. They were a big hit!! Granny did pies. Lots and lots and lots of pies, of assorted types.

Kids loved it - lots of weird sweet stuff. I can't imagine how the adults could put up with it.

At least half the time, Dad did the turkey, smoking on the barbeque outside, while Mom did the rest in the kitchen, usually with me and/or my brother in support roles. I don't remember ever having a family potluck sort of meal, though being far too geographically diverse plays into that. And my grandmother lived in a smallish apartment, not a house, with a tiny kitchen to match.

I suppose the adults put up with it because it's what they expected, and hadn't thought of anything better?

quit yer yammering and eat up, that's a good girl.

Just being my usual nutty self, trying not to be too starchy.

The best thing to do with marshmallow snowmen is to toast them in the fireplace. If you "accidentally" drop one in the flames, he'll keep on smiling until his face burns off.

Surely there's a theme from A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving that could be included?

George Winston's December (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000000NFI/104-1611257-3877555?v=glance) opens with a "Thanksgiving" track.

"All Good Gifts" (http://www.guntheranderson.com/v/data/allgoodg.htm) from Godspell... but of course there are lots of other hymns on Thanksgiving themes ("We Gather Together," "Come Ye Thankful People Come," and so on).

Google says a California band called Marley's Ghost (http://www.cyberbites.com/marleys_ghost/) has a song called "Turkey Day Rap-So-Dee" (http://www.cyberbites.com/marleys_ghost/ghostlyr.html#Turkey%20target). (I never heard of them before, but they sound interesting, actually!)

Alanis Morrissette's "Thank U" (http://www.absolutedivas.com/alanis/lyrics/index.php?sid=15), I suppose. Bob Dylan's instrumental "Turkey Chase"? Guns'N'Roses' "November Rain"? :-)

I knew someone with a more musical brain than mine would have lots of ideas :-)!

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Thanksgiving CD

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Thanks!