Theunicornhunter 2 Posted November 24, 2003 Has anyone had any unusual Thanksgiving events or even just memorable ones. Has anyone had more than two dinners in one day - I've known lots of people that have ended up going to two. What's the most unusual food you've ever had? Do you eat out rather than cook? I once had a dinner where two of my roommates and myself ended up having nine single guys over for Thanksgiving dinner. Usually the ratio is the opposite - so that sticks out in memory. I dined out once for Thanksgiving - the restaurant was in a canyon - they had a fireplace and we sat by a plate glass window watching the snow fall. They may not sound like a big deal but to a Florida girl it was a nice memory. And it was at some Thanksgiving dinner years ago that I learned how much I dislike parsnips. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VaBeachGuy 12 Posted November 25, 2003 I was in the Army and had been in for about 6 months. It was 1988 and I was at Fort Gordon, Ga. in training for Communications school. Being Thanksgiving there were no classes and no activities planned that would keep me on the post so 5 or 6 buddies and I went into Augusta and rented a couple of apartments for the weekend. Thanksgiving dinner consisted of 3 turkey subs from a local sub shop. We basically just sat around watching TV and playing quarters for the whole weekend. The following year I at Fort Hood in Texas, it was 1989. I was going home on leave in December for 2 weeks for Christmas so Thanksgiving wasn't possible. I should explain how the mess hall (Dining Facility) was set up. The mess hall was basically like a nice cafeteria, it has 2 sides to it with 2 entrances. On one side you can get (on any normal day) a nice hot formal meal, like roast beef and mashed potatos or baked ham or things like that. It was really (REALLY) good food too. On the other side you could get your basic "fast food" kind of things, I loved getting the double cheeseburgers! Fresh off the grill they were better then any other cheeseburger in the world! We called them "grease Burgers" because the grease would drip down your arm when they were fresh. (BTW they weren't beef either, they were Soy). The mess hall was open for 3 meals per day 2 1/2 hours per meal. You could get all the soda, milk, water you wanted and there were several soft ice cream machines where you could get all the ice cream you wanted too. And they were open 365 days per year. Did I mention how good the food was?? It really was! I miss the food! Anyway, on Thanksgiving 1989 they had the normal Breakfast from 0600 to 0830(I always got 2 ham and cheese omelets, toast and 2 sausage patties with 2 or 3 glasses of chocolate milk). Then for Lunch and Dinner both sides of the mess hall would serve traditional Turkey dinners with everything you could imagine to go with it. So what I did was (I lived right across the street from the mess hall) I went in one side, signed in and got a take out tray (2 actually) with everything you could ever want in a Thanksgiving dinner. I took it to my room and put it in my refrigerator then went back to the mess hall and went into the other side, signed in and got the same exact things on a plate and sat down and ate in the mess hall. (This was at 11:30am). I then walked about half a mile to another nearby mess hall and got another take out tray and went back to my room. I turned on the Football games and my room mate and I (he did the same as I did) sat and watched Football all day and ate our takeouts. When 16:30 rolled around (it may have been 17:00 to 17:30) we went back and did the same thing all over again. (I think we left out the second mess hall in the evening though). So in all we had 5 Thanksgiving dinners each that day. Some of it was kept for the weekend but didn't last past Saturday or Sunday. Wow, I hadn't thought about that day in YEARS! Thanks for bringing that back, it was a blast then and thinking back on it was a blast just now. LOL Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LadyNarana 0 Posted November 25, 2003 WOW VBG! That's all I have to say about that one. :( Thanksgiving has always been a huge family event, thanks to my paternal grandmother, who is now gone. When I was in college (where the dining common wasn't anywhere NEAR what VBG had...lol), I spent all Thanksgiving, usually, in my dorm room. Dinner didn't excite me, but I was required to go. My most interesting Thanksgiving dinner was while I was in college. My junior year, a roomie from my freshman year lived across the street, and she invited me and our other roomie over for dinner. She and her husband had recorded the parades for me, and as I didn't have a tv, it was great to see moving pictures again! She'd never cooked a turkey before, and the inside was pink, but we ate anyway, and never said a thing. Happy Thanksgiving to all! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mj 7 Posted November 25, 2003 When I was in graduate school I could not afford to go home for both Christmas and Thanksgiving. I spent many a Thanksgiving at the home of the man who would became my thesis advisor. He would fill up his house with people who were unable to get home, or whose countries did not celebrate the holiday. He was Japanese, but dinner was tradtional turkey, dressing, and so forth. It was always full of people from all over the world...I am sure twenty+ people, filling the dining room and living room, and also their bellies! It was as busy and as fun as a family gathering! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
He Who Shall Not Be Named 2 Posted November 23, 2004 When I was in college there were a bunch of us who were living on our own, didn't really have a family in the area to go to, or made the choice not to, or whatever. So a bunch of us single guys and gals decided to have our own Thanksgiving together. We had the same things a normal family Thanksgiving gathering would have - turkey, cranberries, stuffing, pumpkin pie, etc., although maybe we did have a little more beer than at a family gathering. About 2/3 through the meal someone said "Oh, crap, we forgot to say grace!" Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
A l t e r E g o 9 Posted November 21, 2005 I once spilled boiling gravy on my foot causing a 3rd degree burn but I got over it. The last couple years we purchased a 'Thanksgiving in a box' from the supermarket but not this time, we're making everything ourselves. Happy Thanksgivingl Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
youbroughtheryouRiker 2 Posted November 22, 2005 One year, my aunt's dessert wouldn't cut, no matter how big or sharp a knife we used. For several years afterwards, we had a joke in our family about getting the chainsaw out after dinner. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Yillara Skye 1 Posted November 27, 2005 What's the most unusual food you've ever had? I am kinda tired right now, so I am only writing a little bit right this second.... but there is a food that seems for a lot of people to be kinda unusual for Thanksgiving dinner that I get pretty much every year. My mom buys a bottle of Pickled Herring for my dad, her, and I to share. What can I say, we just like pickled herring :( Now I had a horrible experience when I was about 10 years old during Thanksgiving, and it involved above mentioned odd food item. Mom would get various items to snack on while the turkey dinner was cooking and while the parades were on. I got the idea to eat a handful of dinner mints, followed by three or four marachino cherries... adn then drinking the juice, then ate a few pieces of the herring. All while sipping on a Mountain dew. I have to warn every body!!! Mint + Cherries + cherry juice + pickled herring + soda = A VERY BAD COMBO. Lets just say I got quite sick to my stomach shortly there afterwards! And never again will I eat those as a combination! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Theunicornhunter 2 Posted November 27, 2005 Not so unusual but funny, Thursday when we were getting ready to eat - there was Turkey, Ham all the usual side dishes and my sister asked her grand daughter what she wanted - she asked "do you have hot dogs?" :( Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TrekkieMage 0 Posted November 28, 2005 This year the first story that popped up was one about my mother. Apparently at the tender age of four, at a fancy dinner party at her very *very* proper grandmothers house, dropped the F bomb. Twice. And that's what she ment to say. I think I nearly choked on my turkey. On the actual turkey day dinner we had a bunch of friends over. Five dogs and a slightly tipsy member of the moto crew (motorcycle crew) stopped traffic for us while we were walking the dogs. Without her motorcycle. The two cars were very confused. We couldn't stop laughing for a while after that :( Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
