HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

 

Probably good advice for all of us this year.

This is me waaaaay back when (when there was no such thing as political correctness)

FAVORITE THANKSGIVING MOVIES

I imagine Thanksgiving is going to look very different for most of us this year – at least for those of us who are opting to follow the CDC recommendation that we spend it at home with just those who reside in our household. In our case that would be me, my British husband, and our very spoiled kitty. Of course Thanksgiving isn’t something celebrated in the UK, so he’s not exactly gutted that we’re not doing the usual family celebration centered around a turkey and all the trimmings (which is how Brits spend Christmas day with ‘sprouts the obligatory vegetable and roasted potatoes instead of mash or sweet potatoes like we Yanks usually have). There’s your culture lesson for the day, so now on to the fun stuff! 

Since we should all have a bit more free time these days, you may be looking for more ways to fill the time. Since we also have a lot more darkness, if you’re like me you spend those hours either sleeping or sat in front of the TV, so I’ve decided to share some Thanksgiving movie recommendations. 

No Thanksgiving would be complete without watching the Charles Schultz classic, “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.” I think Snoopy had more fun than anyone helping set up everything in Charlie Brown’s backyard – including a ping-pong table being used as a dining room table and an assortment of chairs dragged out of the garage for all his friends to sit in. Okay, I’ve never sat around a ping-pong table, but who among us hasn’t scrounged up chairs from all corners of the house, garage, or shed to seat everyone. 

Unlike in previous years when it would have been shown on terrestrial TV, Disney Plus has snatched up the rights (and all copies on dvd and Blu-ray I am told), so you need a subscription if you plan to watch it. However, I received an email a few days ago advertising the fact that our local PBS affiliate is showing it Sunday evening. I have my toast, popcorn, and M&Ms (which my husband informed me are supposed to be jelly beans) ready (but am missing the little pretzel sticks). Chow down Charlie Brown!

                               (photo borrowed from internet, not my re-creation)

Once you’re done with that move on over to a little light dark humor in “Addams Family Values.” Thanksgiving comes into play when Wednesday and Pugsley are sent to camp and are forced to participate in a re-creation of the pilgrims’ first Thanksgiving.

Of course chaos ensues when the Addams children’s interpretation (after Wednesday’s speech) of white man’s treatment of the Indians gets a little out of hand. I laughed and laughed. I laughed so hard pumpkin pie came out of my nose! (not really) 

“Son-in-Law” stars 90s icon, Pauly Shore (probably best known for “Encino Man”). The plot of this movie revolves around Shore’s character, “Crawl” coming home for Thanksgiving with college friend, Becca. From here it’s a bit of the fish out of water situation as Crawl is like the city kid suddenly introduced to life down home on the farm. However, unlike other movies or TV programs where the newcomer has difficulty adjusting to the new situation, Crawl seems happy enough to embrace this foreign culture, even if he sticks out like a sore thumb. 

However, Becca’s family eventually warm to him and he imparts a bit of advice to each of them, so that everyone ends up a better, or at least changed (and maybe happier) person in the end. The movie might feel a bit dated, but the humor is timeless.

“What’s Cooking” is a good movie that illustrates no matter what your cultural background is, there are universal problems among all families, because people are still people no matter their ethnic background. 

According to Wikipedia, “What's Cooking? is a 2000 British/American comedy-drama film directed by Gurinder Chadha and starring Mercedes Ruehl, Kyra Sedgwick, Joan Chen, Lainie Kazan, Maury Chaykin, Julianna Margulies, Alfre Woodard, and Dennis Haysbert. On Thanksgiving day, four ethnically diverse families -- Vietnamese, Latino, Jewish, and African American — gather for the traditional meal. Each family has its own distinct way of cooking the traditional holiday meal and its own set of problems.” 

My husband and I saw this movie as part of an international film festival when we were still living in Bath, UK. It has some catchy tunes, so I even purchased the soundtrack.  If you’re looking for something a little different this holiday, you can’t go wrong with “What’s Cooking?” (available to stream for free on Amazon Prime if you’re a subscriber). 

Once the kids are in bed, sit down with a glass of wine (this is a classy film, so beer won’t do it) and set your TV or dvd player to “Tadpole.” Like “What’s Cooking?” my husband and I also saw this in Bath, UK when it first came out and liked it so much I purchased the dvd and have watched it several times throughout the years. 

If you’re a fan of the late John Ritter, Sigourney Weaver, or Bebe Neuwirth (Lilith Crane), you won’t be disappointed by the somewhat saucy plot line involving young “Tadpole” (Oscar) having a serious crush on his step-mom played by Sigourney Weaver. Having failed to subtly attract her attention other ways, he turns to his mom’s bestie, Diane.

Although I’m not sure I approve of her character having intercourse with Oscar since he was a minor and she definitely wasn’t, Diane definitely gets all the best lines in the film like when Oscar tells her he’s a bit afraid of her boyfriend because he’s kind of big, and Diane replies, “Well actually, he’s not that big.” (wink, wink, nudge, nudge). 

I love this movie for so many things – the setting (New York City), the fact that the characters are all smart and scholarly and probably terrible snobs, but certainly different than anybody I know, and the casting (all my favorite actors), and the humor, and that it’s a great blend of all those things. This is definitely worth staying up late for. 

“Pieces of April” is the one movie that might make you feel better if you’re missing your family this Thanksgiving. From what I remember of it, it’s about the black sheep of the family, “April,” played by a much younger, pre-Tom Cruise days, Katie Holmes who decides to host Thanksgiving in her modest NYC apartment (cue the broken stove causing her even more stress). Like “Tadpole,” it also has an all-star line-up including Oliver Platt and Patricia Clarkson who play her parents, and Alison Pill who plays April’s judgmental sister, Beth. 

According to IMDB, “In a very poor zone of New York, April Burns and her boyfriend, the Afro-American Bobby, are preparing to receive April's family for thanksgiving dinner. While Bobby tries to borrow a suit for himself, April realizes that her stove is broken. She tries desperately to find a neighbor that can let her cook the turkey, since she does not want to fail (again) with her family. Meanwhile, in a suburb of Pennsylvania, her dysfunctional family is preparing to travel to New York. While driving, the relationship between the Burns and their black-sheep April is disclosed through the conversations between her father Jim, her resented mother Joy, her brother, her sister and her grandmother.” Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 

                                         (I have/had the same S & P shakers)

This movie is definitely the most realistic of the above mentioned films as lots of families have a black sheep, or a wayward child who does their own thing. My sister and I usually get along better than April and her sister, Beth, but we’ve certainly had our disagreements over the years (though not usually about meal details since my sister is a very good cook). Also, my husband and I have never hosted a family Thanksgiving dinner on this side of the Atlantic, but we have had his parents over for many Thanksgiving meals and never once over-or-under cooked the turkey (though I think we actually had chicken since that was easier to find in England in November). 

These movies are just a few from a selection of lists I browsed listing dozens of top Thanksgiving movies, but at least all the above do feature the holiday and are mostly centered around it. 

Next month I’ll provide my recommendations for best Christmas movies (and it will take me awhile to narrow the list, so I definitely have my work cut out for me).  

FOODIE FRIDAY II

A couple weeks ago my husband and I restarted our tradition of “Foodie Fridays” where we watch food-themed programs on a Friday evening. This came about when the new season of “Somebody Feed Phil” became available to stream. Before that we were just watching episodes of the newest season of “The Great British Bake-off.”

I’ve talked about both these shows previously, but in case you missed those posts, here’s a bit more about them:

“The Great British Bake-off” has been on for what seems like forever as they’ve had 11 seasons of approximately a dozen or so episodes each. The premise, like a lot of these shows, is to gradually eliminate one baker a week until the final episode in which three are left and a winner and a runner-up are chosen.  

The winner gets an engraved glass cake stand and the fame and notoriety that go along with it (possible cookbook or television show contracts too sometimes). They also have a nice party in which former contestants and family and friends are invited to attend (and eat all the leftovers). 

Besides being star baker, the highest honor you can achieve is a hand-shake from Mr. Blue Eyes himself, Paul Hollywood. Failing that, I’ve heard that Paul will sometimes ask for seconds to eat later, which is also somewhat flattering.

This week’s episode (we’re behind a week in case you’re also watching) was 80s week and the showstopper (the final challenge of the week) was to make an ice cream cake in which ice cream is one of the elements along with some sort of sponge. The extra element of excitement for us, less so for them, was horrendously warm (80+ degrees) temperatures inside the tent. How they all didn’t end up with a puddle of cake and ice cream is a testament to their skill and speed. Of course some did better than others with the loser going home due to a poorly executed idea.

She tried to create a cassette tape-shaped cake using ice cream around the outside instead of covering it in frosting or something a little more durable. She even admitted it was a rather new idea, so perhaps she hadn’t had a chance to give it a trial run before that day.

This was one of my favorite cakes in its creativity (though I would definitely have chosen Laura’s chocolate cake if I was lucky enough to sample one):

If I had to choose the winner right now, I think it will be young Peter because he’s usually successful in his efforts, so he’s either a natural-born baker, or has the best instincts out of the lot of them, or some combination. 

Our other favorite food-themed program is “Somebody Feed Phil” which is in its fourth season right now and we’ve watched the first couple of episodes. The premise is pretty simple, Phil (Rosenthal*) travels all around the world sampling various kinds of food from what you might buy off a food cart or a street market vendor to high end Michelin star restaurants. It’s this combination that makes it interesting as there’s something for everyone.

It’s not just Phil sampling food. Besides speaking to the chef and staff, sometimes they have him help prepare something with varying results and lots of humor. Lucky for us Phil doesn’t take himself too seriously and always has a smile on his face. 

In the second episode we just watched Phil was in San Francisco and visited a variety of restaurants, most I had not heard of. It was enjoyable because he met up with food celebrity, Alice Waters, who is responsible for the farm to table movement, among other things. I had suggested to my uncle (who lives near SF) that maybe we make reservations to eat at one of her restaurants on my last visit. He told me you have to make reservations months in advance, so we ate at a local (in Walnut Creek) organic hipster restaurant (True Food Kitchen) instead.  

Phil also made an embarrassing confession to the camera that for the first time ever something he ate took revenge on him as he spent the entire evening in the bathroom. I think he still carried on the next day as you know what they say in Hollywood, “the show must go on!”

*Phil Rosenthal is the creator and producer of “Everybody Loves Raymond” and he has the most enviable waist-line and metabolism to eat as much as he does and still stay fairly thin. We should all be so lucky.

While enjoying the various cuisines on the screen, this evening we had an extra treat of citrus honey-flavored pumpkin muffins. This was the second time I had made pumpkin muffins and wanted to give them a little more flavor by adding an assortment of chocolate chips I had leftover from previous baking expeditions. I was short on golden syrup (which I used in place of regular honey), so I padded it out with a little citrus-flavored honey I had on hand (figuring blueberry honey would be just too weird). That’s definitely the one outstanding flavor, but it’s not unpleasant. My husband agreed with this assessment, so it’s not just my opinion. 

I look forward to a few more weeks of this combination until we finish one show or the other (though we could also substitute in James May’s “Oh Cook” or Nadiya’s “Time to Eat”).

All the above programs are streamable on Netflix.

 

 

Tribute to Alex Trebek

As I’m sure you’ve all heard, the infamous game show host and the face of television trivia passed away earlier today. I am referring to Alex Trebek, the long-time host of CBS’ award-winning “Jeopardy.” 

“Jeopardy” premiered (technically a revival) in 1984 and I sometimes watched it with my family after dinner and after “Wheel of Fortune” (it still airs afterwards on the Cleveland affiliate, whereas here in Columbus it’s on first).

I’ve watched it on and off throughout the years mostly tuning in during the months with dark evenings as it seems as good a way to pass the time as any. It’s fun to watch with my husband who is more than a worthy opponent and often puts me to shame (unless maybe it’s American history questions).

I especially enjoyed the special tournament they had earlier this year where they invited back former big winners from past years. Although we may have missed a few episodes, we tried to tune in for most of them. Of course we favored some over others (Ken Jennings over Mr. Vegas). The level of difficulty of those questions tested the depths of our knowledge and we were most definitely out of our league (I can usually just about keep up during teen week or college week). 

Back in 2009 my husband and I spent a week in Washington D.C. partying with the Obamas (ah, good times…) and attended the Cherry Blossom Festival. Three guesses who the parade grand marshal was. Yep, the man himself. That was definitely the highlight of the parade (and it was worth shivering in the cold waiting for his appearance).

Like millions of others, I tuned in tonight for old time’s sake and to pay my respects, as well as to enjoy a little healthy competition with my husband. It was an enjoyable half hour, and I will definitely be saddened after the last episode (34 more have been recorded) airs later this year. It will truly be the end of an era.

Rest in peace Alex. You will be greatly missed.