mmmmmmmm........turkey

As I may have mentioned in other posts, I am a devoted TiVo user. One of the interesting features you can enable is "TiVo Suggestions", in which the recorder will grab shows it believes you will like (interesting that I state the the machine "believes") based on other shows you record and watch regularly. For instance, I regularly watch The Office and The Daily Show, so the TiVo will often grab shows from Comedy Central for me. It can be hit or miss, of course, but it's interesting to see what it picks for me.

Because the lovely Mrs. Pinata is a fan of a few shows on HGTV and TLC (Small Space, Big Style, for instance), we sometimes wind up with interesting shows from the home/food/decorating world captured for us. I think that the combination of her shows and my inclination toward holiday specials led the TiVo to record The Secret History of Thanksgiving, which was a show on the Food Network that profiled both the history of the various foods that typically hit the table on Thanksgiving and an overview of how they can be well prepared. One hour of holiday food.

Watched it with the wife and kids and the four of us just sat there drooling. I am so hungry right now, and due to the power of suggestion, the only thing that will satisfy right now is turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes. Seriously - you would not believe how hungry that show made me.

Anyway, I was reminded of a Thanksgiving my wife and I shared with her family back when we were engaged. Her mother - who cooks mountains and mountains of food - has never been one to stick with tradition for its own sake, so she simply created her own menu for us. The food was brought to the table, and I was amazed to see...no turkey. Nope. No bird in sight. In its place was Alaskan salmon. Naturally, salmon at Thanksgiving has become a running family joke ever since.

And tonight, as we watched the show on the history of Thanksgiving food, the narrator suggested that lobster was likely a part of the first Thanksgiving. We just looked at each other and laughed as we noted that there was no salmon on the table.

I love Thanksgiving.

Teo/Vinnissimo: Remember the Thanksgiving in Miami - probably 1989? - where we cooked the bird ourselves and bought Stove Top stuffing and ridiculous amounts of beer? As I recall, we put the turkey in one of those plastic baking bags, which melted to the outside of the bird. I'm not sure if we had anything else to eat - apart from the Stove Top, that is. Good times.