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I give, I give!!! If being served a juicy, fatty, tasty chicken sausage in my gumbo is the worst thing that happens to me, it’s a pretty good day. I just don’t want you going all healthy on us. Another problem has presented its’ self, I’ve been calling around and I can’t find turkey necks. I’m in Oregon where we’re looking at a cold wet weekend and making gumbo while I nibbled on duck tongue sounded like a hell of a plan. Am I frying the tongues? You bet.

Sorry all you New Yorkers, but Twin Cities is home to Minnesota Nice -- people will eat anything.

But I'm with others on the idea of maybe inviting folks into your place! You could try to put on a "minnesota" meal -- bars, hot dish, state fair food on sticks -- they'll get a kick out of it! :-)

hm, since there is a concern about your food getting thrown away, how about a small pot of herb that you can keep by a kitchen window?

I got a pot of mums from my next door neighbor when I moved to a new neighborhood (I was touched!), and THEN I baked them madeleines for a thank-you gift.

Magic brownies.

NWCajun, I'm still not seeing the problem w/ chicken sausage - if it's appropriately juicy and fatty, with a nicely spiced flavor - well, then I'm happy :) Let me just say that I am not in principle opposed to chicken, just its general application. I don’t think that I’ve had more than one chicken breast in the past 2 years, and that was from a well-raised chicken that I brined myself.

Duck Tongues! Now we're talking. You're deep-frying them, right?

My mother always made pimento cheese to eat on soft, white bread while Thanksgiving dinner cooked. She made it with an old fashioned meat grinder attached to the kitchen table. I wouldn't touch the stuff back then, but last thanksgiving, i made a batch according to her recipe and it was a big hit!! No meat grinder though.

My mom puts mushrooms in her Pepperidge Farm Herb Seasoned dressing. It gives it amazing flavor. Glad to see it on the list.

How about some mini-loaves of pumpkin, zucchini or banana bread?

Ok, do you guys have big families? I mean big families. This stuff makes sense if you have foil lids you can't stack in the refrigerator. The no serving spoons is obnoxious and hard to deal with when you got 20 kids bumrushing the fruit salad. And if you've got two turkeys and a ham in the oven there is no way Aunt Julie gets to put her uncooked casserole in oven. My mom is the oldest of seven with spouses, I have 12 cousins, so we had friends, SO's, inlaws relatives, and great relations.
When I was little it was insane . There wasn't enough room for the people let alone the food. You got assignments, specific assignments about was to be brought and how. They always wanted to make sure everybody could have some of everything. They made a special bowl of potato salad cause an uncle was "alergic".
So I'm pretty sure they got phone calls that went a lot like that letter. So I wouldn't bash her. I may print out the letter so I can use it for the next family gatering and use it like a blueprint.

I discovered potato salad with turkey dinners when I was working in a large metropolitan hospital and found that my African-American co-workers would bring it as part of a potluck turkey meal. And despite what Mom always said about Thanksgiving meals too much about "starch", i.e., carbohydrates, I thought it was a great addition to the meal. It's cool, the texture a good contrast to the other items, and if I'm doing a really big turkey dinner, as opposed a pared-down one, I've kept it on the family menu.

Every year, either my mom or my grandma makes the "carrot ring." It's basically shredded carrots, lots of cheddar cheese, butter, and some bread crumbs molded into some sort of ring-shaped baking dish and baked. It's actually amazing, but it's funny when we have new people to dinner. They say, "I'll take some more of that orange stuff." :)

I think a few things are missing from the main meal that makes it imbalanced, at least for me.

- texture. I realize that everything has a texture, including water, but none of the dishes have any snap or crunch
- a little sweetness
- something cool
- color

A leafy salad would help take care of them all if you make something simple like...romaine, roasted red bell peppers, black pepper, and a vinaigrette (or Caesar). Other crunchy stuff to add would be red onions, croutons, apples, or nuts. Cranberry vinaigrette wouldn't be bad depending on what you put in the salad. Or using sliced figs, even mandarin oranges.

We never actually have anything too weird, but when my mother worked on holidays, while she was building seniority in the hospital (thhis took fifteen years, by the way), my father and I would be in charge of the Thanksgiving dinner. Now, I normally, as a child, had the easy stuff - potatoes, bread, cranberry can/sauce. My father always took the turkey...which meant *his* stuffing....which was essentially a little sage with some stuffing thrown in for good measure.

I would always buy a box of Stouffer's Stuffing to have a little, since, although not the best, still better than a mouthful of sage. Now, I love sage, but a little goes a loooooonnnnnggg way, especially when you are stuffing it into the butt of a turkey for hours.