User-Supported News Commentary Hosted by Craig Crawford
Happy Thanksgiving
from Trail Mix Southern Command
Author: craigcrawford
Trail Mix Host. Lapsed journalist, author & retired pundit happily promoting nothing but the truth for Social Security checks.
View all posts by craigcrawford
Happy Thanksgiving to the trail! I am grateful for the mix!
We are breaking bread with the trump supporters today…no politics allowed. All of the dems in the family are dreading the day…damn you putie! You ruined Thanksgiving. It is interesting to note that since last year? the trump supporters have self-exiled themselves. They only call or visit when they need something. For that? We are all very grateful as they have changed into bots with faux news programming.
something to think about while prepping the traditional turkey and trimmings.
from yesterday’s wapo: ‘This is not a trend’: Native American chefs resist the ‘Columbusing’ of indigenous foods And reducing a deeply spiritual food culture to its trend potential or its nutritive value is another example of a phenomenon called “Columbusing” — the practice among white people of acting as if something created by people of color didn’t exist until they took note of it, like the intrepid explorer who “discovered” America, where indigenous people had been living for centuries. This happens frequently to food that becomes suddenly trendy: pho, collard greens and matcha have all been Columbused in the past year, becoming the domain of bearded white chefs with full-sleeve tattoos. And now, Native American food is going through the same thing. “I’ve seen some pop-up restaurant start-ups start to come around where nonnative people are trying to do Native American food,” says Sherman. “And we had a conversation with them — ‘You know, you can do whatever you want to do, but if you call your food Native American food and you don’t even have any native people on your staff, then it’s completely cultural appropriation.’ ”
Not all native chefs share Sherman’s view. For Lois Ellen Frank, a longtime Kiowa native chef and researcher who lives in Santa Fe, N.M., it doesn’t matter who’s making the food as long as Native American providers, such as wild rice harvesters and salmon fishermen, are reaping benefits.
“The truth is, we’ve been sharing recipes for millennia,” she says. “How is someone else cooking a rack of venison and using a chokecherry reduction appropriation? If that encouraged them to buy their wild rice from a native organization, I’ve succeeded. I haven’t been appropriated.”
[….] Moreover, preparing a meal is about much more than techniques and ingredients. It’s about spirituality: Sherman, for example, starts every dinner with a prayer and an offering of a “spirit plate,” with samplings of all the food. It’s also about teaching guests the history of the food and the native people, which can get into some uncomfortable conversations for people on either side of the hospitality relationship: You can’t tell the story of decolonizing Native American food without talking about genocide. “It’s not necessarily that I do it over every dinner, but we do just lay it out there that this is stuff that has happened,” says Sherman, though the subject wasn’t part of his speech at the $175-a-plate James Beard House dinner, where he served braised elk leg and maple red corn pudding.
[…]
“For us, part of it is righting a wrong, part of it is putting something back” into the community, says Sherman. And part of it is showing people the beauty of what nature provides to the Native American menu. “When you want to learn people’s culture, it’s so much easier to approach it through food.”
So Thanksgiving is both a sore spot, and an entry point.
“It’s the one time of the year that people, whether they know it or not, are largely making indigenous-based foods,” says Sherman. “There’s turkey, squash, cranberries — and all these pieces that represent indigenous America.” That’s why Bitsoie has planned a big Thanksgiving meal at the Mitsitam Cafe, with maple-and-thyme-glazed turkey, wild rice salad and corn bread. It’s another chance to tell that story, and honor the ingredients. “Even though Thanksgiving is the biggest lie in American history,” he says, “it’s a lie told over dinner.”
The moscow mueller altar continues to burn. trump may be through most of his term as I type this and it will take about a year to get him and the election heist gang out-of-office. I hope they take that nasty, naked joe barton with them. (thanks sturge, wilson was you lie, not barton.)
From a tradition of celebrating some event, a battle, a massacre, harvest, ship landing, this has been formalized to an American start of the shopping season for another holiday. I think back to the 1950’s and childhood. Studying Native American culture, Michigan is home to several Native American tribes and reservations, we created our traditional American activities. Many years we traveled to Iowa to visit my grandparents. Other years we stayed and visited my other grandparents.
Years go by and traditions build. Life goes on, people move or die. Life changes and traditions die. Freed of old traditions, it is time for new ones to be created. Now I can also add new found old traditions back in.
Happy Thanksgiving – add a moment for all those whose traditions extend before Europeans showed up in America.
Spending it w/ LP & Mrs. P’s mom in NYC – woke up at 3 to a marching band 25 floors below in front of Macy’s practicing for their finale. Thank heavens only 1 felt the need and practiced only one tune. Going to see the Rockettes and have a traditional turkey dinner near Rockefeller Center. All good.
What’s the consensus on brining the turkey? I go back and forth on whether it’s worth the trouble. This year we’ve got a bone-in breast that fits well in the fridge, so mixed a cup of salt and brown sugar in a stock pot of cool water with ground thyme and sage, and rosemary leaves, in the fridge overnight. Will report results.
Craig – I understand the chemistry involved in brining the bird. I do not like the taste or texture. Others do like it. So I let my brother fill his birds up with salt and sugar, I allow my birds to go au natural to the smoker.
craig, I like to flavor my turkey with an onion, celery and carrot in the cavity (pecan dressing cooked separately) and a sprinkling of herbs on the buttered bird.
not sure how this would work with just abreast… maybe if it’s bagged?
Didn’t think I’d have time to visit, but since we’re starting our festivities a few hours later I thought I would pop by to say Happy Thanksgiving again and add my 2 cents on the discourse…
I have to disagree with the original premise of the WAPO article. As someone who grew up traveling/living around the country and in other countries I’ve been enjoying the foods of many cultures all my life. I appreciate them for what they are and have never thought of them as American. Some of my favorite foods originated somewhere else. Indeed, my favorite Thanksgiving food Toutiere (French Meat Pie) is from my own family’s original culture. When I see it on a menu I don’t think they’ve stolen my Canuck heritage, I think, cool I’m glad to see other people able to try my family favorite! I have sampled “store/restaurant bought” and it’s usually lacking compared to the pies my family has made and enjoyed for many generations. That doesn’t make me feel diminished, it just makes me appreciate my home made pie and I usually vow never to bye it again LOL! My Canadian heritage also includes being part of the First Nations gene pool too.
The truth is that everything we eat on holidays or any other time, originated somewhere else. Most intelligent Americans probably know that. Using the Thanksgiving holiday to gestate opinions on the many ills done to others by Americans takes away from the importance and meaning of the day. It wasn’t a natural part of our American way of life until President Lincoln made it so. The day was set aside for families to share their favorite foods with their loved ones and find ways to be thankful when their hearts were heavy during the Civil War.
I do agree that more important than the meal we eat, is the getting together with loved ones and sharing old family traditions, no matter where they came from, as well as adding new traditions from time to time. It means venerating and being thankful that humans have shared the mealtime feasting experience since we lived in caves, igloos, on grasslands and forests. It’s good that we have a special day of feasting started 150+ years ago so we never forget to stop and give thanks once in a while!. I’ve had a couple of years where I didn’t have anyone around or available to share a Thanksgiving dinner with so I served at our local food pantry/shelter. It was a wonderful, communal experience that I was very grateful for. Today, I’m going to a Thanksgiving buffet with #1 son & his partner. I expect to enjoy the occasion and eat whatever strikes my fancy and just be thankful that I have so much sumptuous food to sample and loved ones to share it with.
I got to reminiscing about my favorite Thanksgiving up at The Royal Hotel in Moose Jaw and along the way remembered that it was actually my favorite Christmas….it gave me a chortle.
Wishing all hands a lovely holiday filled with all of the people and things that make you happy.
My Lady and I will spend the day with football and college basketball, texting or phoning with friends and family, and eating our traditional tuna casserole. We do not do turkey because it’s a hassle and we prefer hassle-free. We shall also have cranberry sauce, which makes for an odd taste with tuna but has memory associated to it for both of us so we have it. We shall top of the day with pumpkin pie. There will be assorted snacks throughout.
Now it’s time for our traditional holiday breakfast – bear claws!
bw, your last candle at the Mueller altar may have done the job.
possible good news? if so, another thing to be thankful for today.
ny times:Split From Trump Indicates That Flynn Is Moving to Cooperate With Mueller
Lawyers for Michael T. Flynn, President Trump’s former national security adviser, notified the president’s legal team in recent days that they could no longer discuss the special counsel’s investigation, according to four people involved in the case, an indication that Mr. Flynn is cooperating with prosecutors or negotiating such a deal. Mr. Flynn’s lawyers had been sharing information with Mr. Trump’s lawyers about the investigation by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, who is examining whether anyone around Mr. Trump was involved in Russian efforts to undermine Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. That agreement has been terminated, the four people said. Defense lawyers frequently share information during investigations, but they must stop when doing so would pose a conflict of interest. It is unethical for lawyers to work together when one client is cooperating with prosecutors and another is still under investigation. The notification alone does not prove that Mr. Flynn is cooperating with Mr. Mueller. Some lawyers withdraw from information-sharing arrangements as soon as they begin negotiating with prosecutors. And such negotiations sometimes fall apart. Still, the notification led Mr. Trump’s lawyers to believe that Mr. Flynn — who, along with his son, is seen as having significant criminal exposure — has, at the least, begun discussions with Mr. Mueller about cooperating.
[…continues….]
Survived. Once again I was sent home with an assortment of leftovers. Once again i put them in the refrigerator for storage.
It was so noisy there, again, that I could not hear anything over the television and yelling because the television was so loud. Mom took her hearing aids out and that meant yelling even louder to “talk” to her. I did point out that a few of our ancestors were on the shore to greet our other ancestors as they arrived from Europe. That was a good thing as my nephew did not know that. He does now.
It is good to be home where the loudest noise is the fan in the laptop.
Enjoy. It is now time to read a little and let the little ones sprinkle sleepy glitter all over us and we can sleep the night away. Or at least an hour or two of it at a time.
Happy Thanksgiving to the trail! I am grateful for the mix!
We are breaking bread with the trump supporters today…no politics allowed. All of the dems in the family are dreading the day…damn you putie! You ruined Thanksgiving. It is interesting to note that since last year? the trump supporters have self-exiled themselves. They only call or visit when they need something. For that? We are all very grateful as they have changed into bots with faux news programming.
I may ‘take a knee’ before the appetizers!!
something to think about while prepping the traditional turkey and trimmings.
from yesterday’s wapo: ‘This is not a trend’: Native American chefs resist the ‘Columbusing’ of indigenous foods
And reducing a deeply spiritual food culture to its trend potential or its nutritive value is another example of a phenomenon called “Columbusing” — the practice among white people of acting as if something created by people of color didn’t exist until they took note of it, like the intrepid explorer who “discovered” America, where indigenous people had been living for centuries. This happens frequently to food that becomes suddenly trendy: pho, collard greens and matcha have all been Columbused in the past year, becoming the domain of bearded white chefs with full-sleeve tattoos. And now, Native American food is going through the same thing.
“I’ve seen some pop-up restaurant start-ups start to come around where nonnative people are trying to do Native American food,” says Sherman. “And we had a conversation with them — ‘You know, you can do whatever you want to do, but if you call your food Native American food and you don’t even have any native people on your staff, then it’s completely cultural appropriation.’ ”
Not all native chefs share Sherman’s view. For Lois Ellen Frank, a longtime Kiowa native chef and researcher who lives in Santa Fe, N.M., it doesn’t matter who’s making the food as long as Native American providers, such as wild rice harvesters and salmon fishermen, are reaping benefits.
“The truth is, we’ve been sharing recipes for millennia,” she says. “How is someone else cooking a rack of venison and using a chokecherry reduction appropriation? If that encouraged them to buy their wild rice from a native organization, I’ve succeeded. I haven’t been appropriated.”
[….]
Moreover, preparing a meal is about much more than techniques and ingredients. It’s about spirituality: Sherman, for example, starts every dinner with a prayer and an offering of a “spirit plate,” with samplings of all the food. It’s also about teaching guests the history of the food and the native people, which can get into some uncomfortable conversations for people on either side of the hospitality relationship: You can’t tell the story of decolonizing Native American food without talking about genocide.
“It’s not necessarily that I do it over every dinner, but we do just lay it out there that this is stuff that has happened,” says Sherman, though the subject wasn’t part of his speech at the $175-a-plate James Beard House dinner, where he served braised elk leg and maple red corn pudding.
[…]
“For us, part of it is righting a wrong, part of it is putting something back” into the community, says Sherman. And part of it is showing people the beauty of what nature provides to the Native American menu. “When you want to learn people’s culture, it’s so much easier to approach it through food.”
So Thanksgiving is both a sore spot, and an entry point.
“It’s the one time of the year that people, whether they know it or not, are largely making indigenous-based foods,” says Sherman. “There’s turkey, squash, cranberries — and all these pieces that represent indigenous America.”
That’s why Bitsoie has planned a big Thanksgiving meal at the Mitsitam Cafe, with maple-and-thyme-glazed turkey, wild rice salad and corn bread. It’s another chance to tell that story, and honor the ingredients.
“Even though Thanksgiving is the biggest lie in American history,” he says, “it’s a lie told over dinner.”
in today’s ny times: Thanksgiving for Native Americans: Four Voices on a Complicated Holiday
The moscow mueller altar continues to burn. trump may be through most of his term as I type this and it will take about a year to get him and the election heist gang out-of-office. I hope they take that nasty, naked joe barton with them. (thanks sturge, wilson was you lie, not barton.)
From a tradition of celebrating some event, a battle, a massacre, harvest, ship landing, this has been formalized to an American start of the shopping season for another holiday. I think back to the 1950’s and childhood. Studying Native American culture, Michigan is home to several Native American tribes and reservations, we created our traditional American activities. Many years we traveled to Iowa to visit my grandparents. Other years we stayed and visited my other grandparents.
Years go by and traditions build. Life goes on, people move or die. Life changes and traditions die. Freed of old traditions, it is time for new ones to be created. Now I can also add new found old traditions back in.
Happy Thanksgiving – add a moment for all those whose traditions extend before Europeans showed up in America.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Spending it w/ LP & Mrs. P’s mom in NYC – woke up at 3 to a marching band 25 floors below in front of Macy’s practicing for their finale. Thank heavens only 1 felt the need and practiced only one tune. Going to see the Rockettes and have a traditional turkey dinner near Rockefeller Center. All good.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Going to Rick’s brother’s place… eating lots… watching football. Perfect day.
Everyone enjoy whatever you’re doing!
Dateline: Low Country, South Carolina
Hunkered down against the cold and wet, Sturgeone et al are thankful for no trips, no visitors, and little stores which stay open on holidays.
What’s the consensus on brining the turkey? I go back and forth on whether it’s worth the trouble. This year we’ve got a bone-in breast that fits well in the fridge, so mixed a cup of salt and brown sugar in a stock pot of cool water with ground thyme and sage, and rosemary leaves, in the fridge overnight. Will report results.
I think “You lie!” Was Joe Wilson, an upstate SC advocate of Tea Party non-sense.
Turkey is nice, thanks to the tryptophan……nothing will put you back to sleep like a 2 AM turkey sandwich…….not even baloney
ha, sturg, exactly why I love a massive bone-in turkey breast instead of whole bird — sandwiches for days and days (and nights)
Craig – I understand the chemistry involved in brining the bird. I do not like the taste or texture. Others do like it. So I let my brother fill his birds up with salt and sugar, I allow my birds to go au natural to the smoker.
craig, I like to flavor my turkey with an onion, celery and carrot in the cavity (pecan dressing cooked separately) and a sprinkling of herbs on the buttered bird.
not sure how this would work with just abreast… maybe if it’s bagged?
Didn’t think I’d have time to visit, but since we’re starting our festivities a few hours later I thought I would pop by to say Happy Thanksgiving again and add my 2 cents on the discourse…
I have to disagree with the original premise of the WAPO article. As someone who grew up traveling/living around the country and in other countries I’ve been enjoying the foods of many cultures all my life. I appreciate them for what they are and have never thought of them as American. Some of my favorite foods originated somewhere else. Indeed, my favorite Thanksgiving food Toutiere (French Meat Pie) is from my own family’s original culture. When I see it on a menu I don’t think they’ve stolen my Canuck heritage, I think, cool I’m glad to see other people able to try my family favorite! I have sampled “store/restaurant bought” and it’s usually lacking compared to the pies my family has made and enjoyed for many generations. That doesn’t make me feel diminished, it just makes me appreciate my home made pie and I usually vow never to bye it again LOL! My Canadian heritage also includes being part of the First Nations gene pool too.
The truth is that everything we eat on holidays or any other time, originated somewhere else. Most intelligent Americans probably know that. Using the Thanksgiving holiday to gestate opinions on the many ills done to others by Americans takes away from the importance and meaning of the day. It wasn’t a natural part of our American way of life until President Lincoln made it so. The day was set aside for families to share their favorite foods with their loved ones and find ways to be thankful when their hearts were heavy during the Civil War.
I do agree that more important than the meal we eat, is the getting together with loved ones and sharing old family traditions, no matter where they came from, as well as adding new traditions from time to time. It means venerating and being thankful that humans have shared the mealtime feasting experience since we lived in caves, igloos, on grasslands and forests. It’s good that we have a special day of feasting started 150+ years ago so we never forget to stop and give thanks once in a while!. I’ve had a couple of years where I didn’t have anyone around or available to share a Thanksgiving dinner with so I served at our local food pantry/shelter. It was a wonderful, communal experience that I was very grateful for. Today, I’m going to a Thanksgiving buffet with #1 son & his partner. I expect to enjoy the occasion and eat whatever strikes my fancy and just be thankful that I have so much sumptuous food to sample and loved ones to share it with.
Happy Thanksgiving, trail mixers!!!
from Bu
[Bubala is now 5 months old and full of piss and vinegar]
Thank you all for the contribution you make to my life
I love this place
We are dining with neighbors – they are fun and very good cooks – the drawback is the drive It’s a little like Mr. Toad’s wild ride
Keeping watch on DC while Fearless Leader invades the south.
Happy Thanksgiving all. May you and all those you cherish have a great holiday.
I got to reminiscing about my favorite Thanksgiving up at The Royal Hotel in Moose Jaw and along the way remembered that it was actually my favorite Christmas….it gave me a chortle.
All them holidays look alike to me.
Raise your hand if you’ve ever used your oven for a heater.
Every Christmas show I ever did included the Avery Maria by Schubert…….as an instrumental.
Never fails…….3 glasses of Pinot Grigio and I becone Chatty Kathy……(is that sexist?)….its a rough-cut cross to bear…..
The very “empty” Americas before the Europeans arrived
Wishing all hands a lovely holiday filled with all of the people and things that make you happy.
My Lady and I will spend the day with football and college basketball, texting or phoning with friends and family, and eating our traditional tuna casserole. We do not do turkey because it’s a hassle and we prefer hassle-free. We shall also have cranberry sauce, which makes for an odd taste with tuna but has memory associated to it for both of us so we have it. We shall top of the day with pumpkin pie. There will be assorted snacks throughout.
Now it’s time for our traditional holiday breakfast – bear claws!
Cheers to all!
Ordinarily it would be Callas, there being no plan B for Ave Maria but I already did that one, so maybe a new comber.
Hassle-free turkey breast recipe:
put it into the oven until it’s done.
voila!
one key thing about brining, BB, must rinse it off and pat dry afterwards. one year i forgot that step and it was almost too salty to eat
sturg, i raise my hand — always leave the oven open after cooking in cold weather
Jesus, the breath on that girl……miraculous.
CC….Jaha that don’t count……I’m talking about the only source of heat available for the domicile…..
Runner-up for most perfect song of all time
bw, your last candle at the Mueller altar may have done the job.
possible good news? if so, another thing to be thankful for today.
ny times: Split From Trump Indicates That Flynn Is Moving to Cooperate With Mueller
Lawyers for Michael T. Flynn, President Trump’s former national security adviser, notified the president’s legal team in recent days that they could no longer discuss the special counsel’s investigation, according to four people involved in the case, an indication that Mr. Flynn is cooperating with prosecutors or negotiating such a deal.
Mr. Flynn’s lawyers had been sharing information with Mr. Trump’s lawyers about the investigation by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, who is examining whether anyone around Mr. Trump was involved in Russian efforts to undermine Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
That agreement has been terminated, the four people said. Defense lawyers frequently share information during investigations, but they must stop when doing so would pose a conflict of interest. It is unethical for lawyers to work together when one client is cooperating with prosecutors and another is still under investigation.
The notification alone does not prove that Mr. Flynn is cooperating with Mr. Mueller. Some lawyers withdraw from information-sharing arrangements as soon as they begin negotiating with prosecutors. And such negotiations sometimes fall apart.
Still, the notification led Mr. Trump’s lawyers to believe that Mr. Flynn — who, along with his son, is seen as having significant criminal exposure — has, at the least, begun discussions with Mr. Mueller about cooperating.
[…continues….]
Flynn just saved Thanksgiving for us. Now Trump’s is ruined.
Happy Thanksgiving to all of my Trailmix friends!
david
Survived. Once again I was sent home with an assortment of leftovers. Once again i put them in the refrigerator for storage.
It was so noisy there, again, that I could not hear anything over the television and yelling because the television was so loud. Mom took her hearing aids out and that meant yelling even louder to “talk” to her. I did point out that a few of our ancestors were on the shore to greet our other ancestors as they arrived from Europe. That was a good thing as my nephew did not know that. He does now.
It is good to be home where the loudest noise is the fan in the laptop.
Enjoy. It is now time to read a little and let the little ones sprinkle sleepy glitter all over us and we can sleep the night away. Or at least an hour or two of it at a time.