Bon appetit
My friends Drumstick and Hotfoot and I had a nice Thanksgiving dinner, really a late lunch. It was in a hotel downtown that until recently has been frumpy and teetering on the edge of shabby, but it's been all tarted up now and the dining room we were in is really very pretty.
The Post Room
And the food was good, maybe not great, but really how much do you ever expect from Thanksgiving anyway? Because it was a buffet, there was a greater range than the typical turkey day spread and you could broaden your culinary horizons. In fact, I skipped the turkey (which I was told was dry, no surprise there) and had some very tender roast beef instead. My theory is everyone wants the holiday dinners their grannies knocked out and certainly over the years and years that I cooked that is exactly what I recreated, but since that wasn't available, I was perfectly satisfied. My main complaint was the lack of mashed potatoes. Personally, I regard no mashed potatoes as a crime against humanity and I thought about reporting them to the FBI but I decided to just let it slide.
Afterwards, lying around in a food induced coma (which the cat thought is the best idea ever) I was thinking about the tradition of playing games after a big dinner. Because what else can you do? My family always played a domino game called 42. It is very much like the card game Spades with bidding and trumps and keeping track of score by the number of tricks you take. I believe we played dominoes because my grandmother was a very firm Southern Baptist and they had a prohibition against playing cards, but somehow dominoes were okay. That's the kind of letter-of-the-law thinking that leads to accusations of heresy, but what the hell?
I vividly remember when I was young being lulled to sleep by the soft click of dominoes being shuffled and then when I was old enough, how thrilling it was to be allowed to play. The game requires you to play as partners so there was considerable pressure to not fuck up. My father's siblings were sweet and easy going right up to when it was time to play at which point the motherfucking knives came out. They were all very good players and did not like to lose just because you were inexperienced. My father once got so exasperated at my poor nephew Ace that he threw a domino at Ace's head. I just watched and laughed because honestly, the kid was an idiot when it came to keeping track fo what had been played. But it turned out I was a good player so I loved it and I miss those games.
Many years later, when I would host holiday dinners for my friends, we would end the evenings with rowdy games of Yahtzee. They would be fueled with lots of champagne and enlivened with serious shit talking. Channeling the spirits of my domino crazed ancestors, mrpeenee leaned into attempting to break my opponent's psyches. If I couldn't win by rolling dice, by god I would at least imply that they had inadequate penises. Good times.
Guys I'd like to play with:
Whoohoo
A generous meat.
There's a lot of buttchops this week. We give thanks.
I know I don't give enough space to daddies. Sorry.
Asstastic
Last week, I focused on naked guys at the beach. I don't know how I overlooked this fine, fine specimen.
Speaking of fine specimens.
Spread like a turkey getting ready to be stuffed.
Glad there is a holiday post.
ReplyDeleteThe NyQuil cherry pie looks interesting.
One year my husband and I decided to go out for thanksgiving. We were beside ourselves having nothing to do. Never went out again.
I almost didn’t do it this year. My energy levels were bad. Told my husband’s cousin about 6 weeks ago I didn’t think I was up to it. Then I felt better and decided to do it.
I am glad I did. His cousin said she and her husband would do it but knowing her I might have gotten turkey roll served with gravy from a jar.
I think next year I will let them do it. See what happens.
I'll tell you what will happen, turkey roll with gravy from a jar, that's what will happen.
DeleteThe traditional Thanksgiving dinner looks nice in a Norman Rockwell illustration, but cooking it is a major pain in the ass. To me, the big crime against humanity is that the pizzerias are closed on Thanksgiving!
ReplyDeleteMy family didn't play games after the big dinner. They let the NFL play games...while I put on headphones and played music to drown out that crap.
Anyway, that Post Room looks very 1980s. It just needs some mauve throw pillows...
Anonymous, too
Ugh, football. I suppose it's better than listening to sermons, but not by much.
DeleteBeing British, all this passes me completely by, thankfully.
ReplyDeleteMen with nice arses and big dicks, however, are international - speaking of tender roast beef, I'd have a buffet of all of 'em, especially #2 and #6. Jx
Much like Eurovision is for Americans.
DeleteWe used to have a thing at our school called Harvest Festival, children were given a note to give to our parents asking for a donation out of their food cupboards, tin food mainly, all donated food were distributed to the poor. I must have been about 8 years old, trudging to school with a Sainsburys plastic carrier bag loaded with tin stuff, however, halfway to school the handles snapped, scattering tins all over the street, a woman, who saw what happened came out with a couple of bags and helped me pack them, later I told my mother what had happened, she was more concerned about the bags and which supermarket they came from, I told her ... Kwik-Save!
ReplyDeleteA generous meat for me please.
She had planned on sending those good Sainsbury's for weeks.
DeleteJust cooked for us. Because there were no invitees, everything came out perfect. Made a Pumpkin Flan & Cranberry Orange Relish from David Lebowitz's site. They both are keepers.
ReplyDeleteIt is craZy cold here, but no snow & that helps, a lot.
I don't understand why people don't like cranberries, they're one of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving
DeleteI have never heard about your family's domino tradition! Perhaps we should revive it.
ReplyDeleteI'll teach everybody.
DeleteNice selection of callipygic delights, that last one needs to be stuffed with a prime beef sausage….:)
ReplyDelete