Thanksgiving Mishaps

Tina2

Loved the cat, but loved the turkey in the critical MIL's lap more.

Annette47

No major Thanksgiving mishaps that I can think of here, but a couple years ago, when she was 11 or 12, my older daughter walked to close to the menorahs (we have three - one for the family, and one each for my two daughters) and her sweatshirt on the back of her arm caught on fire! Fortunately her younger sister was right there and between the two of them they had the presence of mind to smother it with a nearby damp dish towel as I was in another part of the house at the time and had no idea until the guilty looks started when I came downstairs, LOL.

Blessings2011

Biggest miss: we always had Thanksgiving at my sister's.... tons of family, everyone brought something yummy, but for some reason, one year Sis had me make the mashed potatoes... I looked around for a box of instant mashed potatoes, but nooooo, she had a pot of cooked potatoes on the stove. Never having made REAL potatoes before, I just winged it. Unfortunately, no one told me that the longer you whip the potatoes with the mixer, the more they resemble glue. So by the time I scraped everything into the bowl to put on the table, the spoon was stuck in the potatoes. Seriously. You couldn't pull it out of the bowl if you tried. So my nephews decided to cut chunks out with a knife. They never let me make mashed potatoes again.

Biggest hit: This year, my birthday was on Thanksgiving. For the past three years, either DH or I have been too sick to attend family gatherings..... me with BC stuff, him with kidney disease. We made reservations at the Tenaya Lodge just outside Yosemite. We had the BEST time! Beautifully decorated for Christmas, special touches everywhere, families from all over the world. We got there at 11 am; I had a special one hour massage in the Spa at 1pm, and at 3:30 pm we went to the Buffet in the Grand Ballroom. Incredible! Sadly, being gluten-free, low-sodium, and DH on a kidney-disease diet, we couldn't sample everything, but it was awesome just the same. Then we moved over to sit with some dear friends who where there, and had our coffee and dessert. And later, in our room, I had brought up a gluten-free pumpkin pie, and that was my birthday cake. The next morning, we got up early and went for a hike. Then we went back to the Ballroom, which was packed with families participating in a Gingerbread House making contest. OMG! Such fun, and I've never seen so much candy in my life! We had a nice lunch overlooking the forest, then left and went to visit the Steam Railroad just a few miles south, then took a nice drive with a few favorite stops, then home.

Thanks, exbrnxgrl, for this thread!!!!

ruthbru

Blessings, I am never asked to make the gravy; mine bears a strong resemblance to  paper mache!

Kay_G

My daughter was making home made toffee on Wednesday. She was toasting some almonds in the oven on parchment paper on a cookie sheet while she was melting butter and sugar in a pot on the stove. She took the almonds out of the oven and the parchment paper must have touched the flame. The paper went up in flames quickly. It could have been very bad, but luckily I was right there and able to put the fire out. I am pleased to know that I remained calm and acted quickly. Like you, I feel like it is always something.

amontro

All those years ago, I did Thanksgiving and my sister did Christmas.  For the last 20 years my daughter has taken over since my dad died, and loves hav ing us all

I'm pulling the cancer card to brag that I'm a very good cook (it's not bragging if you can do it). When my father came with the family to TG, he'd sit at the table and start eating the salad before I was finished cooking everything. Dad was an alcoholic and it was the right thing to do for him.

This year's TG was again at dd's house, which was wonderful  However, my SO decided that he wanted a turducken and nothing else would do.  So, the day after TG, we travelled quite a ways to buy one and he paid $110 (yipes!) He decided that "we" should make it as soon as we got home. I slaved over that thing (cancer and all) for six hours and it turned out well.  I made my own gravy, too.  I made sure that I got a good serving of duck and it's well that I did. The turkey was a 20 pounder and so it was all deboned, lots of breast meat, wings and legs. The "ducken" was the lower part of the bird, and I think I ate the "duck" part all by myself.  I have no idea where the "hen" was. At 10 pm, I was done in. I stayed in all day Saturday because I ached, but we had days of meals of "turducken" and some in the freezer.

I hope some of you have a better turducken story, especially with more "duck".

proudtospin

can I confess that I did not get enough turkey and bought a turkey breast to make for me? it will be great sandwiches!

as single I get invites so only get a small amount of leftovers so this should cover me good!

exbrnxgrl

proudtospin,

Oh, you should have been at my house. I only had 9 people and way too much food. Everyone was sent home with abundant leftovers. I am growing a bit weary of turkey, although is made a delicious turkey pot pie last night (which I will eat again tonight). And... I still have turkey! I think it's destined for the freezer as I need a turkey break.

Amontro,

I've always wanted to try a turducken , but at that price, I'll have to wait until someone invites me to share theirs.

Caryn

proudtospin

Caryn, I guess I could have brought more turkey home but I just wanted to do mine~~~so will have fun with my flavors!  crazy me!  invite me for dinner in a couple of months!  I eat any and all things served!

exbrnxgrl

Time to resurrect this thread! Yes, Thanksgiving is just days away and the thread evolved to include Christmas and Hannukah. So, feel free to add your own mishaps, which often turn into great family stories and even take on legendary proportions.

So far, no mishaps. Yesterday with one or both dd's, younger SIL and granddaughter in tow (the groupings were fluid, depending on which store we were in), we hit Costco, Trader Joe's and Safeway. Younger dd came armed with the master list of who was cooking what and what ingredients were to be purchased where. I have been diligently consuming all the food in my freezer and refrigerator over the past two weeks in order to make room for the food that would need to be stored as a result of this mega shopping trip (not to mention stuff that we just had to buy in Costco 😉). I will work on housecleaning tomorrow and Tuesday (my school district is off all of this week), and then on Wednesday, let the cooking begin! So how are your preparations going? Remember, from mishaps, come memories 😜.

luvmygoats

Thank you for bringing this thread back. Looking forward to lots of fun stories.

50sgirl

Caryn -I was reading the posts from last year, and I just cannot stop laughing. This is exactly what I needed to start my day off right. Thank you so much for bringing it back.

MelissaDallas

From my sister's Facebook page:

How I cook a turkey: Cook turkey all day at 200 degrees. Pour off turkey broth out of roaster to smaller pan. Accidentally drop turkey on kitchen floor. Turkey is attacked by three ravenous dogs. Pick up turkey. Burn hands. Grab turkey leg from fleeing corgi. Debone.

exbrnxgrl

Melissa,

Love your sister's post. I could picture the scene perfectly and I could see my Pomeranian attempting to escape with a turkey leg, while my chihuahua/min pin tried to wrestle the carcass from someone's' hands .Keep the stories coming

MelissaDallas

She said things got a little fierce between the dogs there for a minute when it hit the floor:)

Hopeful82014

Melissa, thanks for that story. I can see it all too clearly.

Caryn, I'm so glad to see you resurrect this thread. Thanks for hauling it our and dusting it off. I really enjoyed it last year.

Happy Thanksgiving week to all!

sbelizabeth

I bought my wig before chemo in 2011 just before the Christmas. The saleslady said their busiest day is right after Thanksgiving, because women open the oven to peek at the turkey and--foof--the heat fries their wig.

It gives the term "wigged out" a new meaning.

dlb823

Thanksgiving a few years ago at one of my sisters-in-law's was by far the most mishap filled one ever. She had a houseful including family and work friends when two large sweet potato casseroles bubbled over really badly, starting a fire in her oven and setting off the smoke detector. No sooner was that handled than one of her dog's eye teeth collided with a toddler's cheek, leaving a deep enough gash to force hasty good byes and a trip to the ER. Sometime later she realized that one of her other dogs was missing, so there was panic while they looked for and eventually found him. Then, after dinner when the other guests had all left, my brother-in-law was doing something around a new pool water feature, and somehow managed to get so badly shocked, he literally had a burn mark across his chest when he appeared at the patio door..

We'll be at their house again this year.

ChiSandy

Here’s my horror story: I once decided to splurge on a Williams-Sonoma “Willie Bird” heritage-breed organic free-range turkey. Unfortunately, my 25-yr-old GE gas oven was not up to the task. Its thermostat was wildly inaccurate (sometimes hotter, sometimes cooler than indicated). So I cooked and cooked and cooked the turkey--and still the thighs & drums ran bloody and didn’t come up to temp. I ended up carving them off and nuking them. Meanwhile, the breasts were dry. Now I have a terrific, pro-style oven accurate to w/in 5 degrees. But ever since the aforementioned turkey debacle, my family has insisted we go to a restaurant or a friend’s home for Thanksgiving.

exbrnxgrl

LOL! Stories for the ages.

I too had an oven temp problem in 2011. Yup, about 2 months after my bmx and shortly after my stage IV dx (and I still had a chest tube in from my pneumothorax) I can't even remember how we resolved it, nor did I care at the time, but the story is now legend.

Oven fires? Haven't had one yet, but there's always this year 😉 . My older dd wants to take over turkey duty and I am happy to pass the torch, but we're still at my house. Thankfully, the oven has behaved itself since that awful year.

april485

Ahh, the insanity has begun! This is the first year in MANY that I am not cooking Thanksgiving Dinner. We are going to my son's Mother-in-law's home and I am bringing the pies. I began the baking last night and of course, I have already screwed it up. I was blind baking the crust for the chocolate cream pie and the pumpkin pie and forgot it was in the oven. I always set a timer but for some dang reason, I forgot. Has anyone ever seen a crust that baked for two hours? Not a pretty sight for sure...LOL I was planning to make the filling for the pies tonight and then just whip the cream on Thanksgiving day but now I have to make new crusts for those pies tonight and then make the fillings on Wednesday I guess.

At least my dough is ready and in the refrigerator for my apple pie I will make tonight. If I have energy, maybe I will make my fillings for the other pies. HA! After working all day, that is highly unlikely.

exbrnxgrl

Two hours? I guess that moves it from the flaky category and into the crispy realm 😉.

Seriously, this is life and aren't we glad to be experiencing it (and laughing as well!)

Moderators

This thread is a delight! Thanks for resurrecting, exbrnxgrl!

Can't wait to read more!

sandilee

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

exbrnxgrl

I woke up this morning to find that one of my dogs had tummy upsets (both ends, I'll leave the rest to your imagination). Ugh, more cleaning..

Spookiesmom

give a tablespoon or so of canned pumpkin. Not the pie mix. Should help. My two loveit.

queenmomcat

Peppermint extract instead of vanilla in pecan pie. Shoulda just gone with apple tart, but Thanksgiving's so fraught with tradition! and pecan meant Thanksgiving dinner to a couple of attendees.

exbrnxgrl

Thanks, spookie!

I also discovered that mice have been having a field day in my pantry cabinets, which are in my garage. This has never happened before and like so many critter invasions people are experiencing in Northern CA, I think the drought has driven them to places they wouldn't usually go. Just finished cleaning and throwing out lots of things 😓. My butternut squash is in the oven, so I'll take a shower and then move on. The dog, chihuahua/min pin mix, seems better. The elderly Pomeranian is good, so far... This is Mary Lu of the tender tummy

cjafarm

As a college student I needed to dye a shirt for a skit. I use my mom's roaster and I guess I didn't get it very clean. Six months later - She removed the lid to baste the turkey and it was dark blue - the same color that I dyed the shirt

We had ham for dinner.

Spookiesmom

upset tummies aren't fun! She's a cutie.

I *think* I may have put the turkey in breast side down. Will find out later. Doing it today, SIL at work by 3 tomorrow, will eat early then.