Thursday, November 24, 2011

A Very, Merry, Ill-Bred American Holiday

Happy Thanksgiving, to all our Bettys!  I (Betty Keira) traveled to Betty Debbie's, northbound on the I-5, in a great, socking minivan that ate up the miles with charming haste. (Except the getting out of Portland part.  That part took two hours and I would have been thankful for a rectory and an offer of a cup of tea (if I so imbibed) instead of sitting in traffic with four pledges of my affection asking with tedious predictability, 'Are we there yet?')

We're enjoying a properly brined turkey, sweet potato casserole ("An excuse to get pie on the table at the same time as the main course..."), mashed red potatoes, sparlking cider (Our handsome Dutch Professor would open it while hiding a smile and think to himself, as he unscrewed the lid with the price sticker affixed, that we had probably chosen it because it was a pretty color.), green beans and scissor rolls.

Our post-prandial activities will probably include watching some Bollywood. Vivah!

...because it has Indians in it.  Duh.
Happy Thanksgiving, to everyone!  I hope this holiday finds you and yours happy and secure.
Love and lardy cakes,
Betty Keira

8 comments:

  1. Bettys Henry & Ross are celebrating the ill-bred American holiday with me. Menu: Turkey roasted with bacon-herb butter & root vegetables, cider gravy, maple sweet potatoes (ditto on the "pie-on-the-table"), green beans with shallots & bacon, sausage & apple stuffing, and "Cosmo" cranberry sauce. We watched the DVR recording of the Penn State game that Betty Ross & I saw in person with Betty JoDee & her Professor van der Hertenzoon. (They still lost.) Then we had dessert: Caramel apple pie. Yup, just the one pie; there are only three of us.

    I hope everyone's had as wonderful & festive holiday as we've had. Happy Thanksgiving to all the Bettys & their special heroes.

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  2. We did not have to travel--hooray!
    Ah yes--the feast! About as middle American as you can get---(Nothing as fancy as Betty Magdalen's, that's for sure!)
    Roasted Butterball turkey stuffed with cornbread stuffing, mashed potatoes(combination of sweet and russet), green bean casserole, gravy, cranberry sauce, yeast rolls(Parker House style). Dessert was pecan pie a la Barbara--i.e., lots of pecans barely held together with a little bit of brown sugar! The meal was accompanied by a nice California Zinfandel and the pie by a bit of bubbly (from Australia, so you can't really call it Champagne).
    Football was watched and the teams we were cheering for won--so that made it good.
    Hope everyone had a good day.

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  3. Scissor rolls are sort of a braided bread loaf that looks like someone clipped it with scissors. They pull apart in a tear-drop shape.

    P.S. Betty Debbie and I did some Black Friday damage today and bought a give-away gift for an upcoming contest. It is awesome.

    I've said too much.

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  4. Hi Founding Bettys!

    I too got to travel north on I-5... the furthest north I've ever gone! I was so proud. We went to my boyfriend's father's house, so it was me, my boyfriend, and both of his brothers in the car for the drive out to Samish Island. Quite the trip!!

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  5. I love America! We had a great guest list that included a recently-divorced couple, two brothers who haven't quite recovered from the fights of five decades ago, estranged son and mother, very Roman Catholic widow and her son who dropped out of seminary years ago and his Sikh boyfriend. Everyone behaved beautifully.

    I had the house, kitchen included, sparkling clean by 2:30, with the turkey (buttered, not brined, and stuffed with bread) on the sideboard and various side dishes properly disposed. Then the horde descended with a variety of contributions to the meal and a very happy chaos ensued. By 10am today the house was nearly sparkling again.

    Final count on the food, I think, was: Asian black-bean dip, white-bean-and-rosemary dip, roast turkey with stuffing and gravy, steamed broccoli, cumin-spiked spinach and potato, whipped sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, onions au gratin, Tofurkey with stuffing and gravy, salad (with pomegranate arils and a maple dressing) and stuffed mushrooms. Dessert was absurd, with four pies, four ice creams, a sorbet and a variety of nuts and chocolates. Carnivores, vegetarians and vegans were all happy.

    Our neighbors, an Army family just back from Qatar, celebrated in their new home with a family of recent immigrants from Tehran experiencing their first Thanksgiving. My sister's very English MIL flew over for the week, as she has for six or seven years now, having adopted T'giving as her favorite holiday, much as her English son did thirty years before. Such a great holiday...

    I am truly thankful for Betty Debbie and Betty Keira sharing their Neels-mania with all of us.

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  6. Scissor rolls. Here are some pictures. You get to see what they look like and how they are being made. There is one where you actually get to see the scissors happily snipping away...Enjoy.

    http://www.portlandfrench.com/html/baguettes.html

    http://www.mennonitegirlscancook.ca/2009/02/mulitgrain-kitchen-scissor-buns.html

    Betty Anonymous

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  7. Betty Anonymous - I just pinned (yay, Pinterest!), the recipe for scissor rolls that you posted. They look terrific! Thank you...

    Betty Debbie

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