[subego]

Food was excellent. I rarely drink, so having a couple beers was nice. My crazy aunt unfortunately bailed. I successfully faked my politics.

[ghporter]

Our best friends’ daughter (our semi-official goddaughter) had her new beau in for the event. He was clearly in “best behavior mode”, which essentially made the whole meal/after meal feel really superficial. I’m happy for her, but it seems like this was not a great “meet her extended family” opportunity.

Oh, and we opted to have our Thanksgiving meal at a restaurant. The food was good, the crowd wasn’t crowded, but the server seemed to be close to phoning it in. Probably something else going on behind the scenes, but it was sub-par service for this restaurant.

[Thorzdad]

My cousin hosted Thanksgiving for the first time since her husband passed. They had always been the traditional host, so it was nice to gather there again. They deep-fried a couple of turkeys (a tradition for decades now) and else everyone pitched in. I brought stuffed jalapeños. Had a beer-and-a-half as well as a cranberry margarita (which, y’know, isn’t really a margarita, but, hey, it’s a holiday.) My nephew made collards, which I chowed-down on. Loves me some greens.

The house was full of little ones running around playing together. You know you’re old when it dawns on you that this was what your parents/grandparents/aunts/uncles experienced when you were the one running around playing

Gave my nephew’s 11-year-old an unopened box of first-edition garfield trading cards (circa 1992) He’s a big fan of the orange cat, apparently. In any case, he dug it quite a bit.

In a few weeks, we’ll be back there for xmas eve festivities.

[andi*pandi]

Had the SO's cousin and her family over, plus some good friends. Made the usual, and preparing to make turkey soup tonight. It was nice being all together but always a little hectic getting the house ready for company - worse so this year due to getting new windows and having shoved junk everywhere as a result. Now much less junk.

Hmm, pumpkin pie leftovers...

[Thorzdad]

Originally Posted by andi*pandi 

Hmm, pumpkin pie leftovers...

Two words...
Milk
Shakes

[Laminar]

We were supposed to take stuffing to the in-law's place and we accidentally made a double batch of stuffing, so we took half to my in-law's and brought most of that home, then the other half to my family's and brought most of that home. I also took cookies and deviled eggs to my family but none of those made it to the end of the day. So no tasty turkey-based leftover meals, just most of a 9x13 pan of stuffing but no gravy to drown it with.

Surprisingly politics didn't come up at all - I know my BIL was scrambling to get his greenhouse built before the election, presumably so they could be self-sufficient during the civil war that was coming if Trump lost. But he said they're planning to just make it a playhouse for the kids, presumably because Trump won so America is safe again.

[ghporter]

If you’d said that any deviled eggs survived first contact, I’d be worried about either your deviled eggs or your family.

My son’s godmother makes an extra batch of deviled eggs when he’s going to participate, just to make sure everybody else gets some. We have not yet come to fisticuffs over her deviled eggs, but…

[Thorzdad]

Deviled eggs seem to be having a mini-renaissance in my neck of the woods. For the longest time, you’d never see them at any get-together, but they’re now popping-up quite regularly, much to my enjoyment.

[subego]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

So no tasty turkey-based leftover meals, just most of a 9x13 pan of stuffing but no gravy to drown it with.

I somehow ended up with no stuffing but all the gravy.

[andi*pandi]

Due to an incident where an underchef left the whisk in the first batch of gravy (to the point of melting) we had very little leftover gravy. Lots of stuffing.
Turkey soup is a traditional leftover. Last year we made turkey enchiladas which were great.
Aside from that a plain ol turkey sandwich with mayo, gravy, stuffing, and cranberry sauce hits the spot.

I could go for a deviled egg. I've made them once. For something that looks simple it was a lot of work.

[Laminar]

I've starting making my hard-boiled eggs in the Instant Pot. From there into an ice bath and they're super easy to peel. The filling is just mayo and vinegar and mustard. I don't spend too much time making the filling look pretty going back in the eggs, I just sprinkle some smoked paprika on top to distract.