November 24th: Traditional Thanksgiving

I'm posting this with last week's video because this is still referenced to last week's video but it is still relevant for this weeks. 

Hello Everyone!

  This post will be about a 'Traditional' Thanksgiving. In the video I call it generic only because I couldn't figure out the word I was looking for but my brother-in-law who is also white said that I wasn't wrong. The way he put it... "At my parent's Thanksgiving I know exactly what we're going to have... with a few exceptions." Whereas, at my family Thanksgiving the dishes vary because to us, we're celebrating a holiday with a few themed items. For example, I wouldn't be surprised to see Pumpkin pie or Christmas cookies when I go meet up with my family in two weeks because we're celebrating both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Outside of that, it boils down to who's cooking and what's available.

  If you want to read more about Thanksgiving here's a link to an article from the history channel! Basically, Thanksgiving started as a holiday for the harvest but wasn't officially a holiday until later. However it was celebrated consistently each year!  Thanksgiving, to me, is a time to be thankful and to spend time with your family and/or friends.

  When I talked to my boyfriend and brother-in-law about their family traditions I learned that there's always a Thanksgiving football game. Apparently, the Dallas Cowboys always play on Thanksgiving. Due to this, Thanksgiving 'dinner' usually occurs around 3PM rather than 7-10PM because the Dallas Cowboys play at 7PMish. My boyfriend's family prepare for Black Friday which is a holiday that comes after Thanksgiving that has many sales to steal.

  Black Friday and Cyber Monday: On Black Friday is the first Friday after Thanksgiving. Many stores open early and release deals that push their sales. Black Friday isn't exactly a holiday, it's a day that many businesses decide to release deals at once and people then go shopping for anything and everything for a low price. This day is usually heavy in traffic and is very dangerous depending on when and where you go. There have been many cases of death and injury on this day because of the intensity of greed that people have. People are willing to do anything to save money or to get what they want.

  Cyber Monday is the online version of Black Friday. It occurs on the following Monday after Thanksgiving and consist of online deals that people can order and have shipped to wherever they please. An example could be an online purchase to a store within the city. They can then have the items shipped to the store and they can pick it up then. Or, they can ship it to their home or to whomever they are buying the item for.

  I suppose I can do another post over this section but for now I'll leave those at that. In my boyfriend's family, during Thanksgiving when they're sitting around the table and eating, they all take a moment to name one thing they're thankful for. My  brother-in-law's family doesn't do that but everyone has their own traditions!

  Now onto the food! My boyfriend and bother-in-law's family both had a similar list. My brother-in-law added like two items to what my boyfriend has listed so here are the dishes that they eat during Thanksgiving!

Turkey or Ham

Ham

Turkey

Stuffing/Dressing

A Stuffed Turkey

Stuffing - Dressing

What is it?

  Stuffing is bread soaked in broth and seasoning then rebaked.

Fun fact: Stuffing used to be stuffed inside the Turkey which is why it is called stuffing. However, both my brother-in-law and my boyfriend have told me that it's not the best way to cook it. Instead, the process is done separate which is what makes it Dressing. This item goes with the Turkey/Ham.

Mash Potatoes and Gravy (brown or white), Sweet Potato

Loaded Sweet Potato

*When I looked up 'loaded sweet potato' I got many different types of images. Apparently, people make their loaded sweet potatoes all different! In my boyfriend's family they use caramel, marshmallows, and cinnamon, and butter!

Sweet Potato

Mashed Potatoes - White Gravy

Mashed Potatoes - Brown Gravy

Mashed Potatoes

Casseroles: Cream Corn, Green Bean, Broccoli Cheese

Creamed Corn Casserole

Green Bean Casserole

Broccoli Cheese Casserole

Cranberry Sauce

Cranberry Sauce

Squash

Squash

Bread Rolls

Bread Rolls

--

  I want to point out that even though these look DELICIOUS... As someone who can't eat dairy or glutton all I can eat is the turkey, ham, sweet potato (without butter), and the cranberry sauce. I suppose I can eat the squash if they make it without butter but I have yet to eat squash on Thanksgiving. 

  Thank you for tuning in! For those of you who are from the U.S I want to hear about your thanksgiving traditions in the comments below or in the video comments. If you're not from the U.S then I want to hear about any harvest holidays or festivals that you have in the comments below or in the video comments. 

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Dj/Cho/Nar

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Nov 21st, 2019: Filipino Thanksgiving

Hello All,

  This week I wanted to talk about Thanksgiving since it’s next week. This time I wanted to cover my experience in America and then I’ll write about Thanksgiving in the Philippines. My family celebrates Thanksgiving and Christmas together mainly because we’re spread out and we all have our different schedules so we’ve made Thanksgiving our ‘all holiday meet up day’. That way, even if you can’t make the celebration in San Angelo or Dallas or wherever we plan to go, everyone tries to make it to the Thanksgiving meet up (which as I’ve mentioned, I have yet to attend).Hello All!

  When my family celebrates in general, we have food and we usually drink. In the mornings of the celebration usually the women are cooking unless we’re using the grill, then my brother-in-law, dad, uncle(s), or aunt are the ones cooking on that. We have a variety of dishes but my family always includes at least one or two pizzas for my one uncle who doesn’t eat the food we make unless it’s steak.

  At first, when I started to bring my boyfriend around the family, my parents and my aunt freaked out and would make him a separate dish so that he wouldn’t have to eat the food that was made for ‘us’. My boyfriend, however, likes to eat crab and is willing to try the dishes as long as they’re not very intense smelling or have onions in them. I tell my family to skip the ‘what’s in it’ description and I also warn him about it because I want him to try it without thinking about it. I’ve learned that many people don’t eat certain foods because they think about it and they don’t try it. Basically, they’re judging it before they give it a chance and I told my boyfriend that he can’t be like that if we’re going to be together.

  I don’t mind if he doesn’t like the food after he tries it. Generally, I tell him to try it three times at separate occasions and if he doesn’t like it, then fine! However, he can’t simply look at it and say that he’s not going to eat it because of what’s in the food or what it looks like or how it smells so I’m glad that I got him to adjust to at least trying the foods.

  If we’re not using the grill or killing a goat or chicken or pig (whatever it may be) then my brother-in-law and my job is to run the errands. If my sister(s) or mom are missing an ingredient or we need ice or sodas one of us goes and gets those items. Other than that, in the morning, while the food is being made, me and my brother-in-law are usually watching T.V to pass the time.

  Now, if we’re using the grill then the situation is different! This also applies to when we have a goat, chicken, or pig to kill. Now that I don’t live with my parents I’m not usually around early enough for this process but when there is an animal to kill my dad, brother-in-law, and uncle(s) are the ones to kill it (Not butcher it. What we do is make the process quick. We respect the animal, we’re not heathens).

  Up to a week prior of the celebration we go and buy a goat, pig, or chicken off of a farmer and take care of it until it’s time for us to eat it. Next time we kill an animal I’ll take notes and post it for you all but at the moment I can’t quite remember the whole process besides that we take care of it and kill it quick. When we have a chicken we usually use the blood and let it drip into a pot of uncooked rice and let it set in there to flavor the rice. Not everyone eats it but I think it’s good once it’s cooked. This dish is called dinadaraan

  Normally, we buy a baby up to a young goat. We don’t usually go for the older goats and we don’t always get adults because it depends on the amount of people that are showing up. The dishes we tend to make are

Goat: sinigang* (IL), kaldareta(IL), pinapaitan(IL), and kilawin (IL)(lightly cooked)  

*Sinigang means sour soup and can be made with any meat including shrimp

Goat: Kaldereta

Goat: Pinapaitan

Pork: Kilawin

Chicken: tinola (Tag/IL), pinakbekan (Igorat), and dinadaraan/dinuguan(IL/Tag)

Chicken: Dinardaraan

Chicken: Pinikpikan

Pig: Lechon

Chicken: Tinola

Pig: sinigang ng baboy and lechon

The Image for Lechon messed with the coding of my post so I'll show you all a picture through my video instead.

Pork Dish Sinigang na baboy

We also have cassava cake or bibingka and lumpia.

Lumpia

Cassava Cake

Bibingka

Alcohol wise we tend to drink whiskey, rum, scotch, rye, gin, and beer.

The Beer selection usually consist of Corona and Dos Equis. Sometimes, there’s a craft beer of some sort.

  Now that you all have read/seen what my family does for Thanksgiving, the next post will consist of what my boyfriend’s family makes as well as their traditions. I also asked my brother-in-law for some help because he is also white and he added a few bits of information to what they do. I’ll make sure to take pictures of the food they make this year and share the recipes (as well as share the same info from my thanksgiving party).

  I also want to point out that most of the dishes are Ilocano dishes as well as an Igorat dish that Ilocano speaking people know as that word. 

  Generally, my family celebrates this way for every holiday. Our main focus is to meet up, have a good time, have good food, and drink, then deal with the hangover the next morning. If you’re Filipino and want to share what foods you eat on Thanksgiving please do! Also, if you can, please share the recipe with me as well so I can post the picture and the info!

Thank you for tuning in with me this week, tune in a few days to read about the generic Thanksgiving my boyfriend’s family and my brother-in-law’s family have. See you soon!

DJ/Cho/Nar