Thursday – 24/11/2016 – It's Turkey Time in the US – Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving and a happy thanks for being you. I’ll have to send a bit of (completed boneless) turkey to all our kits through the wormhole. But don’t tell meowmy! 😮

I’ve heard of Turducken but why and who invented it is beyond me. (Turducken is a dish consisting of a deboned chicken stuffed into a deboned duck, further stuffed into a deboned turkey.)

And of course, for our vegan friends there’s Tofurkey (a portmanteau of tofu and turkey) is faux turkey.

I’m watching the Bourne series again. It never gets old for me.

Hi Pucca. I don’t remember ever meeting you. Happy Thanksgiving to you and Amos from my gang Miss Gaea, LilBit guy and Miss Moppet.

Cya and have a happy~

PG
Night

Happy Thanksgiving!
Oh, here comes Aunt Bertha – hide! PG, I seem to recall John Madden talking about turducken. Doubt he was the inventor, but he sure talked it up!
The wee tortie in the wicker turkey basket is adorable!
Yesterday I made brownies. Also made mac & cheese with turkey shaped pasta. Today I’m making the mashed potatoes and stuffing.
Watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. I’m always a bit disappointed as I like to see bands and floats and they air more broadway stuff. At least they show the balloons and a second or two of the bands. Charlie Brown the balloon made his debut and kicked off the parade. It’s a cloudy and chilly day around here, but the winds have diminished so thankfully they are able to have the balloons.
I’m thankful for this awesome TDK forum and everyone who participates here. Also thankful for my cats, my family and my brand new great nephew!

The Macy’s parade “inflatable” pussycat has a strong resemblance to my late Renzo, who was on the cusp of very dark tuxie and pure black cat. Overwhelmingly black, but with white toes (even less white than the cat in the photo), a bit of white on his lip and a little v. Very distinguished gentleman. I have no way of knowing whether he and Livia ever met – it is probable, as she was living in the alley behind our building and he still went out almost until the end.

Turducken is a riff on a type of aristocratic food presentation that goes back to the ancient Romans: carcasses from huge to tiny stuffed into one another. A show of skill but also of excess. I don’t know if any earlier peoples did that; I doubt the Greeks did as their civilisation tended to look askance upon excess.

A vegetarian friend of mine has actually tried Tofurkey and found it not bad. Most forms of it aren’t a “fake turkey” but a rugby-ball shaped roast that resembles those boneless turkey roasts. There is another company called Field Roast that makes even better faux meats, and they make a “Celebration Roast”. Just don’t try feeding it to your cat. There are many other celebratory foods though, and here where it is late autumn now, I’d do some kind of stuffed squash – I have a beautiful potimarron squash (similar to a Red Kuri), which is tastier than those big pumpkins bred mostly for decorations.

There is no celebration here this time of year, but at the year’s end holidays, a big item in Québec is the tourtière (a meat pie, often made with game). There are vegetarian versions.

The most customary, if not made with game, incorporates ground or finely hand-minced pork, beef and veal. I don’t make that as some friends don’t eat pork (some don’t eat any mammalian meat); usually I make a couple of duck tourtières and a couple of vegetarian ones; I’m thinking of experimenting with quinoa as an ingredient in the veggie ones this year as it is rich in complete protein and has a good texture. Of course there will also be mushrooms and onions!

So far, Livia seems uninterested in “people food”, except goat’s milk yoghurt, so I guess she’ll just get some of those fancy little tins from the vet’s office or a pet food shop.

Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate the day and for those who do not because it is not a part of your country’s history, I hope you have a lovely day.

KZ and JJ, your remarks tenderly touch my heart–so true.

Oh my Gosh, PG, I didn’t see that the turkey chef had cooked his OWN leg until I went through the pics a second time! This cartoon somehow reminded me of the second, awful “Silence of the Lambs” movie where he has sliced off part of Ray Liotta’s brain, cooked it and fed it to him–and Liotta’s character thinks it’s delicious. (Another movie I wish I’d never seen.)

I heard on the radio (I don’t have TV.) that the Macy’s parade will have a “Felix the Cat” balloon, a cartoon character from the 1900’s. I suppose that’s the one you’re referring to, Lagatta. I know about him but don’t know how because I don’t think there were still any of the cartoons being printed when I was little. I’m sorry for your losing Renzo but his description reminded me of Spot, one of my”homeless” cats. He is entirely black except for a quarter-size white spot on his belly–hence his name.

Alice’s Restaurant: I nearly fell out of my seat laughing in the theatre when I saw that movie years ago! Great song “City of New Orleans”.

MS, I could hardly believe someone actually took the time to knit that hat. Other than being hideous, it looks like it was an awful lot of work! I’m somehow comforted to know KJ knits (Of course, I know you didn’t mean it toward her.) because, coming from Scotland my mother knitted. She began at 4 years old. She could also tat, crochet and sew but I can do none of those things. She said she would sit me and my friend Donna down to teach us but would look around and I’d be gone. Even though I’ve never been interested, thanks to my mother, “Grannie”, my daughter does all those things and does them well.

I’ve been a vegetarian for 43 years but, when I used to go to my daughter’s for the holidays, I would eat the meat rather than make a spectacle of myself. But no Tofurky for me; I’m stopping soy.

Aren’t the little Pilgrim-hat kitties precious!?! All the pics are great as usual but the ones of the cat keeping the bird from jumping and and the Aunt-Bertha-traumatized cat are hilarious. Even when I don’t have time to post, I always run through the pictures. They are such a bright spot in my the day and I sincerely thank all of you for them.

My best friend here, Kathy, invited me to her home for dinner but there will be a lot of people I don’t know and it’s a family thing. She understands and will be bringing me a plate. I moved here in 2002 and we’ve been friends nearly all of those years. She delivers my mail and, because she’s a wonderful person, we have a great friendship.

I have many, many blessings in my life and am truly thankful for all of them, especially my friends–those here and those dear ones I have met through the cafe.

Before I go, a question: Does anyone know about an herb called kratom?

Lois, I may indicate urls for a couple of vegetarian tourtière recipes once I settle on one. The only soy that might be in them is some of the faux ground meat KJ mentions, and that can be omitted, it just helps with the texture. Seitan is also good, but it is gluten, so not for the gluten-intolerant.

KJ, I checked, the tofurky is also kosher, and organic. Their only non-certified K products are: Gravy (that accompanies the Roasts), Burgers, Pizzas, Pockets – since they are vegan they contain no pork or shellfish; I guess they couldn’t source K ingredients. And kosher pizzas and turnovers (pockets) are easy to buy or make. There are also good Israeli veg products such as schnitzels, as you must know.

Lois, no, I don’t think I’ve ever seen that parade when I had access to a TV; there are or were Canadian “Santa Claus” parades, but I haven’t seen those since I was a child, decades ago. I meant the almost solid black cat posted upthread, with little white feet, who had jumped into midair. It is in Moonshadow’s post.

I can watch TV content on my computer, but don’t often do so.

Opinions differ on soya – some say highly-processed kinds such as tofu are the problem, and that tempeh – a fermented product (like cheese) that is a staple Indonesian and Malaysian cooking, is less so, but I am not a physician!wq2 Livia added the last three letters, so I’m leaving them…

In summertime I get my fill of wild blueberries, but I don’t think I’d go to the expense of buying goji berries and such.

I have a MacBook, but I bought it from a friend. I also had to have it cleaned out recently. Just hope it keeps chugging along. I work on it but also goof off on it at cat, travel, cookery etc sites.

When I was younger, my flatmate was a med student at Université de Montréal. Of course, since I read everything, I read a lot of her textbooks. That was a help later on, as while I’d never pretend to be a medical doc, of either the “human” or “critter” kind, it gave me a good basis for doing medical translations. Indeed a vet friend who lives in another town here was too busy with their spay and neuter clinic to continue translating and editing, so she has passed work on to me. I’m very happy about the clinic, as it is a small city in a semi-rural area, and a lot of people there don’t have money to have their critters “done”.

She was always furious that they learned next to nothing about nutrition and other preventative factors.

PG, would you please give me the publishing information on the book you are citing. I put in “Traditional Medicines book” and got a lot of unhelpful info. Thank you, Dell

Oh, okay, PG, thanks for telling me. I and thousands of others in America are in a struggle against the DEA who tried to make kratom a schedule I drug so that no one could buy it any more. If you don’t know, Schedule I is for drugs that have no benefit and are, in fact, harmful such as heroine. This happened because the herbalists who sell kratom are making a significant amount of money that Big Pharma is not getting and the pharmaceutical companies’ lobbyists have a great deal of influence on our government. So, when the DEA announced its intention, the American Kratom Association and thousands upon thousands of kratom users created a great uproar. There was a march on Washington and many thousands of letters and emails sent to Congress and the DEA backed off. They have dropped the intention to schedule kratom and have given a time period for “us” to write letters and have scientific reports presented proving that kratom has no mind-altering or behavioral effects and is not addictive. The only property that is important to kratom users is that it is an effective pain reliever. I do understand that people with severe anxiety disorder get some relief with kratom but it is no way an opium-like substance. Kratom is a leaf from certain trees in Southeast Asian countries like Indonesia and Malaysia and has been used medicinally for centuries. (This you know.) The only commonality between kratom and opium is that kratom sits on the mu receptors in the brain, as does opium. I have taken kratom for several years and, when I had to “clear off” the mu receptors for pain medicine with my two surgeries, I quit taking it for about a week and had no withdrawal symptoms at all. Kratom doesn’t even show up on drug tests—I know that’s true because I took one when my boss first found kratom for me. She researched the internet for something to help me with this terrible chronic pain. The Medical Board in my state would not let me practice if I were on a controlled substance so this was a god-send when she came up with kratom. My pain is so severe that without kratom I couldn’t work or do any significant physical activity. Without it I cannot sweep and mop my floors or even run the vacuum for more than 5 or 10 minutes at a time. Kratom has gotten a bad name at times because stupid kids and stupid adults seeking to “get high” have taken it and, not getting high, have taken too much and/or added other substances and have gotten sick and poison control gets a call. No one can “get high” on kratom and, if one takes too much, all that happens is nausea and sleepiness. Most doctors and pharmacists know nothing about kratom and often, when hearing about it from misinformed people, think it is a “street drug.” When these same people go to their state legislatures to have it banned, representatives from the local chapter of the Kratom Association and scientists appear and the proposed ban is dropped.

I’m sorry to have been so long-winded but, since I have revealed that I take it, I want whoever reads this to know more about it.

Yes, very interesting. I have arthritis and as it is very damp and chilly now, I am so stiff that I’m having trouble cleaning the house today (I was expecting a friend for supper, who’d also take pictures of Livia with a decent camera, not ony to share with friends (including TDK) but also for identification, if she ever (perish the though) gets lost. I only had baby pictures of Renzo when he was lost for 5 weeks; I did a sketch but a photo is much better for that purpose. I may ask her to come over tomorrow (Sunday) instead.

I have the heat on, but there is something in the atmosphere (low pressure?) that affects arthritics anyway.

A friend who takes medical marijuana advised it but I do NOT want to be remotely on a buzz during my working hours, although I don’t need a professional licence or drive or otherwise operate machinery. I really need all my awareness, and not a pleasant foggy veil.

Lois, we all know that heroin is harmful and potentially lethal, but can’t it also be useful in some cases, in particular in palliative care?