How about Top Ten Additional Proteins Served At Thanksgiving Dinner? We always have some sort of seafood, be it oysters or crab, and ham, and sometimes roast lamb or beef.

There's always The Cozy Inn in Thurmont for cheap Thanksgiving eats. I don't know how much it is now, but it was around $12 pp last time I was. Not a bad TG dinner, pretty drive...it's a buffet.

There just are no alternatives to turkey for my family. We usually never take the time to make a turkey, so we not only make one, but we make an extra big one so we have lots of leftovers for sandwiches, etc.

Which one is the turkey in that picture?

I would suggest top 10 Uses for Thanksgiving Leftovers. People may be looking this year to stretch that big meal a little more. We could send in recipes/ideas instead of doing restaurants.

My fave- mashed potato pancakes.

Joyce, is The Cozy Inn the one with the old newspaper pages and pictures of famous people who've eaten there on the walls as you walk in?

What about Thanksgiving Dinners To Go?

While I don't stray from turkey I do sometimes vary the preparation. I stuff the breast with sundried tomatos and pecans and I stuff the thighs with boudin sausage. The rest of the bird gets made into stock for my famous Friday after Thanksgiving turkey bone gumbo.

My family is from Southern Maryland (specifically St. Mary's County where I don't think I'd be exaggerating if I said I was related to a third of the people there) and my dad always insists on stuffed ham at every holiday dinner. I never liked it much when I was younger but I like it now. Of course, we always have turkey too.

Top Ten Dressing (Stuffing to many of you, I suppose) variations? I insist that there must be cornbread in it. (I do a lovely mix of half cornbread and half white bread so it's not as heavy as all cornbread but has more flavor than all white bread.) But a few years ago I had a nifty variation from a Nigella Lawson cookbook that had gingerbread as the starch base. Oyster stuffing, etc.

I like the Top Ten alternatives/addtional proteins served.

Having several friends who are Eastern Shore-born watermen, they usually have crabs for Thanksgiving Dinner. Traditionally, Thanksgiving is the end of the crabbing season in the Bay.

What about Top 10 birds to stuff into/onto a Turkey? Courtesy of Wikipedia: "The largest recorded nested bird roast is 17 birds, attributed to a royal feast in France in the early 19th century (originally called a Rôti Sans Pareil, or "Roast without equal") - a bustard stuffed with a turkey, a goose, a pheasant, a chicken, a duck, a guinea fowl, a teal, a woodcock, a partridge, a plover, a lapwing, a quail, a thrush, a lark, an Ortolan Bunting and a Garden Warbler. The final bird is small enough that it can be stuffed with a single olive; it also suggests that, unlike modern multi-bird roasts, there was no stuffing or other packing placed in between the birds. This dish probably could not be legally recreated in the modern era as many of the listed birds are now protected species."

Yes, Eve, you've got the right place! They still have those yellow newspaper clippings all over the place and it's still decorated in early (ahem) "house of ill repute" red wall paper.

Matt,
The visual that goes along with that... (shiver). Thank goodness no Owls were involved.

I like all of these suggestions, but if you decide to go with the pumpkin theme I can recommend my Aunt Fran's fabulous pumpkin cheesecake.

Last year we made Hal's oyster stuffing, which was wonderful. Thanks again, Hal!

I also like the Thanksgiving leftovers idea. My mother had a million and one ways to use up the turkey, including "Turkey Tetrazini."

Where IS the Owl? Actually, this is not the usual chatty group today at all. Is it the blogware or is everyone celebrating/lamenting the election?

Well, I assume many here are celebrating!

Could Owl have flown the coop for wherever BG is these days??

And what about Low Thought Wednesday? Where is Biker-Emeritus?

I just heard from him. I think the election did him in. He's asked for a reprieve, and I had to send Bucky a personal e-mail to prepare him for the disappointment. EL

how about Top Ten appetizers that won't blow everyone’s appetite for dinner? I serve a Chicken Liver Pate with pickled shallots that my family can't get enough of!!

Yeah, where IS Shallow Thought Wednesday? I think the Sandbox deserves an explanation from jl. Do we have a planning failure here?

"When you fail to plan, you can plan to fail."

I've been celebrating and mourning at other places.

Uh, pj, if your family "can't get enough" of your pate, doesn't that blow their appetites for the main event?

I think the top ten what-to-do-with-Thanksgiving Day-leftovers is a winner. Even after the annual glut, there's always plenty of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, Brussel sprouts, glazed carrots, et al jammed into the fridge. And in this economy (ugh!) some helpful hints on making the most of them would be welcome.

Dahlink said: Uh, pj, if your family "can't get enough" of your pate, doesn't that blow their appetites for the main event?

Not unless he made too much of it.

In our home, we tend to have "trouble" with appetizers. For one thing, I always cook enough in case the state of Rhode Island wishes to pop in for dinner. We then eat way too fast and too much. Either no one is hungry by entree time or everyone is so stuffed they can't move and can't enjoy my chocolate caramel cheesecake. I know Hal is right and I should make smaller portions but I just can't! I need a 12 step program, I think!

Lissa, the pain from California, Florida and Arkansas is what I assume you're mourning. I feel it too!

Matt's comment about the multiple stuffed birds for some reason stirred a memory of a Thanksgiving dinner I hosted in college in 1975 for a couple of friends too busy with projects to get home. We each got a cornish game hen and stuffed it the way we would have had them if we were at home with family. The best part was trying each other's versions -- and I think it was the first time I ever tasted an oyster. The worst part: no leftovers.

Ms W, should you find you are burdened with leftover chocolate caramel cheesecake I will do the right thing and come by, any time, any day, and take away this burden from your home. Its the least I can do for a fellow Sandboxer, really. No thanks are necessary. I feel its my duty.

RtSO, thank you for stepping up to the plate! LOL! BTW, if you bake, the chocolate caramel cheesecake recipe I make is Bon Appetite's mint chocolate cheesecake recipe. I adapted it (because I'm not fond of mint) by replacing the creme de mint with Bailey's or Kahlua and the mint layer with caramels. It's super easy.

Joyce W., perhaps in order to keep people from eating too much and eating too fast, you should all pause, take a collective deep breath and talk about what you are grateful for. At the top of my list this year: my 88-year-old mother finally learned to use email--! Dining@Large would surely be on that list as well.

It's super easy. No, stopping by your place and picking up the finished product it easy.

Besides, there may be some excess turkey sitting around that requires removal, also. We are a full service removal operation. (We also accept globs of cranberry jelly that might be in need of relocation.)

Joyce, I think I was scared as a child by the Candid Camera episode where they closed Delaware. So, I always cook enough for Delaware to drop by when I'm having company.

TV really is bad for children.

I got a recipe years ago for a two layer cheesecake from Marcel Desaulniers' original Death by Chocolate show on PBS. One layer is dark chocolate and the other pumpkin and the whole thing is covered in chocolate ganache.

The first time I made it (for Thanksgiving of 1992 or 1993) was before the cookbook of the same name came out.

I had recorded the show on a video tape, and, it a fit of stressfilled mindlessness, never thought to sit down and write out the recipe.

I had the video on the tv in the living room and would stop and start it and then run in the kitchen to do the next step.

Chaos! But it was the hit of the dessert table and I've made it every year since.

Lissa - Depression era parents are really bad for children too!

Dahlink, I'm impressed. Maybe my 83 year old dad will let us get him on e-mail yet!

Rosebud - I'm laughing at the mental image of running in and out of the kitchen to watch a video and make dessert! I made Natalie Duprees Chocolate Snowball recipe after seeing her make it on tv. I scribbled the recipe down on notebook paper that I later lost but luckily, my sister had bought her cookbook and could read the recipe back to me the next time I wanted to make it.

RtSO - yes you are right. Maybe you could advertise your services. Leftovers pickup service! Except my family would let you take the cheesecake but would never let you out the door with our leftover turkey and dressing!

Joyce, my parents grew up in the Depression, too. Which is why, when my bank failed last fall, I was all set, since I had money in another bank as well. Plus I have a weakness for bread and drippings. I can do amazing things with bruised veggies. I can darn socks (and do). My idea of gardening doesn't involve chemicals, but it does involve a lot of weeding and pulling bugs.

Dahlink wrote: you should all pause, take a collective deep breath and talk about what you are grateful for.

My employer is open for business on the day after Thanksgiving, due to the industry we are in. Every year, our department Director has a staff meeting on that Friday morning and--every year--we have to go around the room and say what we are thankful for.

I, of course, always make up a story about why I am especially thankful this year. He, of course, has never caught on to the fact that I am lying.

It's just a fun little Thanksgiving tradition and my one of my co-workers who is "in the know" has run a little bookmaking operation the last couple of years on whether our Director will or won't catch on.

Trust Bucky to take lemons and turn them into lemonade--with a twist!

Bucky, I'm a firm believer that being forced to divulge personal information at work should result in creative storytelling. For one thing, there should be a seperation between home and work. For another, people never believe me when I answer questions like that truthfully. For example, if asked that right now, I'd say I was grateful that the archaological dig at Snorrastufa shows that Snorri Sturlason heated his house geothermically. I mean, how cool is that?

Knowing the looks that would garner, I'd lie, and say something more credible like, "I'm grateful that my toaster oven recovered."

So, if I understand it correctly, Snorri's male child would have the last name Snorrison. I'm right, aren't I?

I might be able to turn that into my What I'm Thankful For This Year story.

Hmmm...

Fortunately only once have I found myself in the office go around the room thankful routine. I blathered on as vacuously as possible for a minute or so and then sat and got embarrassed by comments (seemly genuine) by others. It was one of the longest half-hours I've ever spent and a high price to pay for a free lunch.

Yep, Bucky, you got it. Iceland still uses patronymics, too, which is why the phone book is alphabetized by first name.

Snorri's father was Sturlu. Snorri's son was Snorrason (I'm probably messing up the grammar and case endings here), his daughter would be Snorrasdottir.

"Patronymics"

There is hardly a day goes by that I don't learn something on this blog, and often from Lissa.

Oh come now, you should have all known that if you followed Iceland's favorite dottir Björk Guðmundsdóttir. Or have read Icelandic Nobel Prize winner Halldór Laxness. His novel Independent People is one of my favorites. It seems to capture the perfect combination of spirits of Russians and Americans.

The topic also came up when I asked Lissa about Icelandic artist Louisa Matthiasdottir and made a joke about Lissa being one of Iceland's favorite dottirs.
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/dining/reviews/blog/2008/10/i_heart_ranch_dressing.html

I think I'm going to go sulk in a corner with Joe Lieberman. Channelling all those politicians just burned me out. Having Karl Rove in my head gave my malaria-like symptoms and Sarah Palin's voice has made me more tricotillomaniacal than usual. Goodbye cruel blog.

Aw, Owlie--what happened to your Joe-mentum?

My joe-mentum is biden its time. With Bourbon Girl away for an extended time I assume I will start my rapid descent into full fledged winter mental illness until January or February.

So me and Droopy Dog, I mean Senator Lieberman, will be sitting around in our matching Snuggies eating grilled cheese sandiwches and tomato soup, barring some miracle for me. It's over for him, he's less likely to be invited to a Democratic party than Judas was to a Bar Mitzvah on Easter Sunday.

The 5:36 comment is spam.