Best. Thanksgiving. Ever.

be thankful to wiki for furthering your knowledge ;)

 

Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is a traditional North American holiday to give thanks for the things that one has at the conclusion of the harvest season. Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States.

Thanksgiving Day is part of four- or five-day long weekend which usually marks a pause in school and college calendars. Many workers (78% in 2007) are given both Thanksgiving and the day after as paid holidays. [but America runs on Starbucks, so if you work at the drive thru in State College PA I'd like to personally thank you for that grande pumpkin spice latte last thursday]. The day after Thanksgiving is promoted as the unofficial holiday of Black Friday: the beginning of the traditional Christmas shopping season. Many retailers open very early (for example, 5 A.M. or earlier) and offer "doorbuster" deals to draw people to their stores [hence me going on that day to a cabin in the woods of central pennsylvania with no internet connection and no cell phone service]. A countermovement to this exists, calling the day after Thanksgiving "Buy Nothing Day" to campaign against commercialism of holidays.

Thanksgiving meals are traditionally family events where certain kinds of food are served [and by traditionally they mean ALWAYS, as in that day all of America eats the same thing. they're extremely attached to what should or shouldn't be done. they would not understand if someone suggested to cook something new. I put whipped cream next to my pie and not on it, seven people saw me and said: you're supposed to put it ON the pie you know.] As is evidenced by the tremendous level of travel, significant effort is made by family members to gather for the Thanksgiving celebration [what no one talks about is that after all the eating and the partying, everyone decides to go home at the same time and it'll take you about 2 hours to get to Manhattan, from the other side of the river]. Turkey is the featured item in most Thanksgiving feasts (so much so that Thanksgiving is sometimes facetiously referred to as "Turkey Day"). Stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy [i'm stating the obvious, but you have to make a volcano], sweet potatoes [topped with roasted marshmallows! not my personal favorite, i like my sweet potato with butter and brown sugar], cranberry sauce [really just like cranberry jello if it comes from a can, which it does 90% of the time. ps: it's gross], corn, turnips, rolls, pecan pie, and pumpkin pie [my personal favorite. you have to top it with whipped cream. and get the spicy kind, not the wimpy. variations are allowed, but most people just use the recipe on the can. tried it. loved it.] are commonly associated with Thanksgiving dinner, although it was quite probable that many of these culinary items did not feature in the first Thanksgiving in 1621. Often guests bring food items or help with cooking in the kitchen as part of a communal meal.

1621 Thanksgiving, The Pilgrims in Massachusetts. The early settlers were particularly grateful to Squanto, the Native American and former British slave who taught them how to fish and grow corn and also served as their native interpreter. The Plymouth settlers (who came to be called "Pilgrims") set apart a holiday immediately after their first harvest in 1621. They held an autumn celebration of food, feasting, and praising God. The Governor of Plymouth invited Grand Sachem Massasoit and the Wampanoag people to join them in the feast. Evidence to support that claim came from diaries of Plymouth. The settlers fed and entertained the Native Americans for three days, at which point some of the Native Americans went into the forest, killed 5 deer, and gave them to the Governor as a gift. [so that's a nice and clean version of the story, but also, a couple decades later, as the pilgrims were pretty successful with the whole let's-kill-the-indians plan, many new england towns and churches decided to celebrate those victories with thanksgiving days, and by you know, kicking the decapitated heads of native americans around manhattan. now that's what i call a happy holiday!]

 

 

 

now my experience also includes finishing a 1000-piece puzzle at 1:30 in the morning, playing speed with the kids, having pumpkin waffles, kicking ass at trivial pursuit*, stirring the gravy, eating too much pie, eating too much mashed potatoes, laughing until my cheek bones hurt, perfecting all the ways there are of saying pfff with the grandpas, facing awkward goodbye situations, sleeping til 1pm, eating too much. 

 

 

"me: you know what's so awesome about this family ?
anneke: no?
me: it's not mine! man i can fully enjoy the experience ;)"

 

 

seriously these people make me happy. every other month, when there's too much cynicism in my life, i just go see them for a couple of days, and all is well again, it's like magic. i'm actually all sad and bummed out that i'm not going to spend christmas with them (they have stockings with their name on it for cryin out loud!), so no pressure, but you better be happy to see me :p

 

 *especially when the question is "Where's the Austerlitz train station?" hahaha

Welcome to the monkey house.

 

 

ne le dis à personne mais ça fait un mois que jdis autour de moi que je suis des cours en ligne alors que jgalérais encore avec les inscriptions. début de l'année scolaire ? 16 novembre! ;) une tonne de cours à lire, des devoirs prévus toutes les semaines, double licence, jvais enfin avoir de quoi me plaindre :p 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don't give up on me.

raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

 

so. will someone get me like sparkly things, a push-up bra, and maybe a dress or a skirt of some sort, that would make me look like a girl ? when you're at a party and you realize that besides the cute shirt and the pink pointy shoes, you're basically dressed like the guys and not the girls, i have the feeling it's not such a good thing. maybe i should get one of those shirts for newborns that says i'm a girl. 

 

and ps, since when is it ok to have a perfectly interesting conversation about french politics and alabama with a guy who goes to med school and looks like justin timberlake (seriously) ?

 

EDIT// apparently i forgot to mention that but the guy is obviously somebody's boyfriend :)

The Freaks Are Coming.

j'avais sérieusement la trouille. quand tu vois pas tes parents pendant 10 mois, les retrouvailles sont censées être heureuses, et en même temps si t'es normal les trucs que tu supportent pas chez eux sont probablement toujours là.

jcrois qu'on s'en est pas trop mal sortis. cela dit 5 jours sans espace perso et sans temps folk-free, c'est à peu près ma limite. à part quand ça m'échappe, j'ai l'habitude de rien dire quand quelque chose m'énerve ou que j'ai la flemme de commencer une conversation, les conflits sont justes trop fatigants. du coup jdis jamais rien :p. mais j'ai horreur qu'on utilise mon ordinateur sans me demander la permission.

les parents:dis donc on a l'impression que tu parles beaucoup plus en anglais qu'en français.
moi: ouais moi aussi j'ai remarqué.

mais c'est pas ça le plus intéressant. pendant ce temps là ma soeur a eu 13 ans et à l'air d'en avoir 17. elle se prend pour une parisienne avec des jeans slims des converses un caban et des fausses ray-ban. elle se met à chanter des trucs de tektonik (semble-t-il) à tout bout de champ. et aussi la SEULE chose qui l'a interessée dans ce voyage c'est H&M et Zara, ce qui tu admettras prouve une ouverture d'esprit et une curiosité hors du commun.

lady from store: so you're brother and sisters ?
me: yep
[part of the dialogue i can't remember]
lady from store, looking at sis: so how old are you ?
me: she's thirteen
lady from store: thirteen ?! how old are you? (lookin at me)
me: i'm 21
lady from store:well it looks like she should be 21 and you should be 13
me: ugh maybe, but i got the good ID.*

anneke: so how old's your sister?
me:13 something
anneke: and your brother?
me: almost 18. yeah i know, they could be twins these days.

et donc le frère en question va à la fac maintenant, et ça fait plaisir après une scolarité médiocre il déchire tout. il a changé de coiffure, un brushing subtil qui a de la gueule et jserais pas foutue d'en faire autant. et aussi il est a deux doigts de laisser tomber les baggy, ce qui fait dire à ma soeur qu'il va bientôt se mettre aux skinny, ce qui pour le coup serait bizarre.

et bon les parents ça change pas. mon père a été obligé d'admettre que mon quartier est cool, et que les burgers de burger joint déchirent tout. ma mère jsais pas elle dit jamais trop squ'elle pense.

si toi aussi tu veux être guide touristique dans new york quand tu seras grande, jte dis ce genre de groupe c'est un bon test. yen a pas deux qui veulent faire la même chose, t'en a une qui se plaint 24/7, deux autres qui parlent pas un mot d'anglais, ya que ma maman qu'est pas chiante. et faut s'adapter à leur niveau extraordinaire d'ignorance de la culture américaine de base. je les emmène chez magnolia, ils savent même pas sque c'est qu'un cupcake.

si tu veux savoir comment va new york ces jours-ci, la bibli principale, le pont de brooklyn et l'empire state building se portent bien. la parade de greenwich village pour halloween tu peux l'ajouter à ta liste, et enchaîne avec un halloween cupcake de magnolia. ils ont installé des patinoires au rockefeller center et dans bryant park, le sapin de noël arrive le 28 novembre. jcrew vend ses wellies à -30%. owen wilson fait du vélo dans tous les sens sans casque. et on a vu le tournage d'à peu près toutes les scènes de sex and the city, a priori personne ira voir le film. pour l'instant la ville est envahie par les citrouilles et autres cucurbitacés; et des balots de paille. tu devrais essayer la tarte à la citrouille**. matt pond pa en concert pour $15 à williamsburg c'est bien, même un lundi soir. et c'est con pour toi si t'étais pas à nyc pendant ces vacances de la toussaint, parce que le reste de la france était là, littéralement.

 

 

 arthur, ça c'est des cupcakes.

 

 

 

 youhou tralala c'est presque thanksgiving!

 

 

*ps:she was making friends to try and sell us jeans, which is not about to happen since i'm the one she insulted, and i'm the one with the big bucks.

**For 2 pies
4 large eggs, 1 large can of pumpkin (about 30 oz.) > livraison des conserves de citrouille sur demande, à partir du 21
décembre. 1 1/2 c. sugar, 1 tea. salt, 2 tea. cinnamon, 1 tea. ground ginger, 1/2 tea. ground cloves, 2 (12 fl. oz. each) cans of evaporated milk- NOT skim.
Beat eggs in large bowl. Add pumpkin and other ingredients. Pour into pie shells. Bake in preheated 425 F oven for 15 min. Reduce temperature to 350 F. Bake 35 - 45 min or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire racks.
Pie crust (2)
2 c. flour, 1 tea. salt, 2/3 shortening (Crisco) > utilise du beurre. 4-5 Tbsp ice water.
Mix flour and salt. Cut in shortening with pastry blender (has wire loops on a handle) until shortening particles are small and whole thing, as they say, looks like coarse cornmeal. Add just enough water, small amounts at a time, to make a dough that holds together. Stir lightly with a fork and don't overmix. Form into 2 balls. Roll out and line pie pans. Finish edge with fluting. > traduction: fait une pâte brisée.
This is a standard recipe for regular 9" pans, but I roll it a little thinner and use it in my 10" pans. The filling recipe really fills 10" pans.

Si ça t'as pas le temps, je t'en fait une pour noël ;) jte montrerais bien une photo de celle que j'ai faite la semaine dernière, mais on avait dja tout fini quand jme suis rendue compte de l'oubli.