Thanksgiving 2021 Bonus Episode

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Happy holidays, everybody in particular, maybe my favorite holiday. Is it? What is it? That wouldn't surprise me. It's Thanksgiving time, guys. We wanted to drop in with a special episode of Dinner Plus Drinks talking about Thanksgiving, getting you hyped up for the holiday, and hopefully dispensing some fun memories and helpful tips. Because we are hyped up. The great thing about Thanksgiving, what I really love, is the food, the wine, and um the football. And the football. I you know, I love the football. Does that surprise you? No, I know you're a big fantasy football player. The parade is excellent. Did we forget? Okay. 5K's.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Well the 5K's. That's a point of discussion, okay?

SPEAKER_00 0:47

But really the wine. Thanksgiving is my favorite wine holiday of the year. And I get so many questions about what wine pairs with the Thanksgiving dinner. And it's traditionally a really kind of tricky answer because the thing is, if you want one wine to pair with the entire meal, you have a lot of different things going on. Two different types of turkey meat. You have stuffing, you have So there's really only one option. And the real correct answer is bubbles. Of course, bubbles of any type go with all sorts of food. Maybe not strawberry field sparkling strawberry wine, but really any bubbles work.

SPEAKER_01 1:27

I was really looking forward to trying that today.

SPEAKER_00 1:29

Um I knew you would be, but I didn't pull any bubbles because it's just such a no-brainer. I wanted to pull two different bottles that maybe you didn't think of and see what you thought. So bubbles, uh ideally, you would go with either an American sparkling wine made in the traditional method, a Spanish kava, or something French. Whether you go all the way up to champagne or you look for a Cremante Bergogna, which is a burgundy sparkling wine, or like a Cremant de la Mueux, something from the south of France. Those are all going to be delicious, great with your meal, and you know, just easy drinking, fun.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

I gotta be honest, I feel like so. Nick and I have spent a lot of time talking about the wine for Thanksgiving because I started working with Lake Geneva Country Meats like around the holiday time. And so immediately I was like, what wine should I bring to Thanksgiving? Because my family just puts me in charge of the wine, um, which is hilarious. But I always just, and I'm sure this is wrong, we'll get to it. I always just like was like, oh, I guess I should bring Chardonnay. Chardonnay felt like a Thanksgiving wine.

SPEAKER_00 2:32

Chardonnay is not a great Thanksgiving wine, it's a little too rich, full-bodied, the flavors don't necessarily go with everything. White wine is excellent with Thanksgiving. It is a poultry-based thing.

SPEAKER_01 2:43

And there's a real problem in my life. How much I love poultry, but I love red wine.

SPEAKER_00 2:47

So, but you like white wine in season, and I thought I'd pull this bottle here to convince you of it. So the great thing about Thanksgiving is there are some incredible wine pairings that are kind of specific, but when you hit them, they really go with the entire meal, work deliciously, and you because you have a lot of people there, more on that later, you can pull a lot of different bottles and have a little bit of a lot. And it's my favorite thing because I can drink four or five different types of wine throughout the day, not get drunk, and not feel guilty about opening them because other people will drink it. So I opened a white wine, and um, I'm gonna get to there's three suggestions I have. One is Riesling. Dry Riesling is a great food pairing wine. We've talked about that. I love it. We always drink bring a bottle of dry Riesling, or uh, if you have a sweet Riesling with some age on it where it gets some complexity, that also works great. Ah French Sauvignon Blanc. I'm sorry, a sweet Riesling? Yeah, with some age on it. Works great. Okay. Because there's a lot of acidity in it still, but you have a little fruit flavor to go with all the nice things in there. French Sauvignon Blanc from the Loire. So you think about like Sancerre or something that is appellated from the Loire Valley. Um, it's very crisp, very clean, refreshing, good acidity. Or what I opened today, white Cote de Ronde. Or as we'd say in France, Cote de Ron Blanc. Côte de Ron Blanc. Uh this one's from Gigal. You can find it everywhere. It's about 15 bucks. It's a blend of grapes that are Rousson, Marson, and Grenache Blanc. And this is a fuller bodied white wine, kind of like a Chardonnay.

SPEAKER_01 4:18

That was my exact thought.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

But more acidity and more tropical fruit notes.

SPEAKER_01 4:22

Is that what it is? Tropical fruits? I couldn't pick out, I mean, I can't ever pick out like the exact fruit and take it.

SPEAKER_00 4:28

You get the like, you know, papaya and mango, and there's like a note of banana almost in there. You'll get some like musk melon.

SPEAKER_01 4:38

It's not really my favorite wine. Oh my god, I thought you would love this, I want to love it. And like I think I love it when I first sip it, and then it just tastes a little. I got I'm starting to get like a little bit of a cold again, so maybe I'm a little off, but there's a dump cup for you. I don't, I don't dislike it. Um, it's just got like a little bit of a funny flavor, so I wonder if it's those melon. Yeah. Like, because I'm not really a melon person.

SPEAKER_00 5:03

You can also find these white roaned varietals grown in California if you like a little bit more sweetness to it. The French ones are usually a little drier. Yeah, which I like. I do like that. A little bit more residual sugar you'll find in California ones. Truchard, our friends, make an incredible Roussanne that we love by itself. Uh down on the central coast of France, you can find Grenache Blanc, Roussanne, Marsan, all these different types of grape. Bonnie Dune makes an incredible little blend of different white grapes. That's uh delicious. So plenty of plenty of ways there.

SPEAKER_01 5:30

I could see this pairing really great with certain food. Um, there is just one distinct flavor in here that I can't like get past. I don't know. Sorry. Again, not bad. I think it'd be great with food. And that's the point here, right?

SPEAKER_00 5:44

That's the point. Red wine. Oh. Well, first, actually, let's let's do the in-between. Rose. Rose is a good pick. I believe it says, I mean, it's fine. It's it's fine. You know, it works well. It's it's it's crisp, it's light, but you know, it's a summer wine. Like, let's be honest here. You know, I don't bring rose to Thanksgiving. It works well because it's not too heavily flavored. The red fruit flavor, but but whatever. It's fine. It's a classic pairing, it works fine. Don't spend a lot of money on rose. It starts going out of season, so that's fine. But when you're thinking about red wine, Pinot Noir is really the best answer. No. It really is the best answer.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

Is it because the food at Thanksgiving is heavy and they and Pinot Noir, you know, is watery? No, it's because the That's my disdain for Pinot Noir.

SPEAKER_00 6:28

Pinot Noir has a lot of like baking spice, clove type of notes that go with those fault flavors. The cranberries, you'll pick up those notes in Pinot Noir. Good acidity in Pinot Noir, lighter body red, so it doesn't overwhelm the turkey. Um, go with something that isn't like a mass market commercial brand from California because those lose those things. Something from Oregon's usually gonna be great. Okay, more traditional uh California style. Again, our friends at True Shard make one that's incredible that goes with it. Um, or French, French Pinot Noir Burgundy is gonna be great.

SPEAKER_01 7:00

Um here's here's the thing. I want a wine, and now it sounds like I'm wrong. Uh shocking. Want a wine that stands up to my food. And you're like, no, no, this wine is great because it doesn't stand up to your food.

SPEAKER_00 7:13

No, it does stand up to your food. Like you don't want it to overwhelm your food. You want to I think overwhelm your underwhelm. You don't want it to overwhelm. You just want it to whelm.

SPEAKER_01 7:21

You want it to perfectly whelm your food.

SPEAKER_00 7:23

It whelms your food. Rhone reds. Okay. Uh so we had our roan white, roan red, Syrah Grenache and Vedra uh from France. Those are really nice. Again, they have some of that like peppery baking spice notes, and they're a little bolder. Looking at your notes. Those are great. Okay. Certain Italian reds, like a barbera. I almost took a barbera. Barbera is really nice. A little bit more tannin on it, but still lighter bodied. Umfandel True Shard. Again, coming back to our friends at Truchard, they make an old school Zinfandel. If you can find some California Zinfandel, that's um, not the like super high alcohol version. It's a little bit bolder. It might overwhelm your food. Well, overwhelm my food. It'll work again. You get the like cranberry and baking spice notes. Or if you really want to do Cabernet, Bridget, do you really want to do Cabernet?

SPEAKER_01 8:10

I always really want to do Cabernet.

SPEAKER_00 8:12

You can do Cabernet Franc.

SPEAKER_01 8:14

Okay. This one I was really interested in when we were, Nick was like, what should we do? What should we do? And if given me the choice between any kind of Cabernet and Pinot Noir.

SPEAKER_00 8:24

So here we are. Cabernet Franc. We talked about this in our Wine 201 podcast. We did an episode with it with Bruce from Boundary Breaks. We're drinking the Boundary Breaks Cabernet Franc. It's Cabernet, so it's got a lot of those flavors. It's dry on the end, but it's a little bit lighter body. You can put a little chill on it, and it works well with all the flavors. Um, I would say don't buy a California Cabernet Franc. It's gonna be a little too big. Oh, so a little too bridget. A little too bridget. Find something from Finger Lakes, New York, uh, the Loire Valley in France, or something from Italy. They grow some really nice uh Cabernet Franc. So cooler climate, gonna be a little crisper, a little lighter body, and work just fine.

SPEAKER_01 9:05

I love this for Thanksgiving.

SPEAKER_00 9:08

So Thanksgiving wine, pull a lot of different bottles. Again, the best food fairing is what you like with what you like. But I would say bubbles are great, white Rhone, Riesling Loire Valley Savion Blanc, um, red Rhone, Loire Valley Cabernet Franc. So there's that region, both the whites and reds for those work. Um Pinot Noir from Oregon, classic California style, Burgundy.

SPEAKER_01 9:32

Um and you can sound really smart if you bring a hostess gift with one of these.

SPEAKER_00 9:36

We do have a post up on Lake Chimia Country Meats. We'll link to it that that gives you some of these things and bullet points. I know it's a lot. You do need a lot because you have to deal with your family, and we all need to drink to do that.

SPEAKER_01 9:57

So next we're talking about like who do you invite to Thanksgiving? What about Friendsgiving? And then my favorite note here, fala frickin' la. So, like, here's what I want to talk about. Is are the holidays stressful or relaxing for you?

SPEAKER_00 10:15

For me, the holidays are stress laxful. What is that? They're stress-laxful. You can you can build it up a little bit, you can get a little stressed out about it. It's a lot of work because I always like to do the cooking. I bring this on myself. I do, I go insane. He does. I think you and I both love a good to-do list. We love checking stuff off. We love seeing a plan come together. So for me, I stressed about that, but then I just say, like, Nick, you've done it before, you can do it again. And the the pleasure I get from especially the entertaining part of it, the cooking part of it, of I executed this, I'm really happy with the end results. I started with this huge menagerie of ingredients and put out a dinner. Um, that is like the most satisfying thing in my life. Seeing people eat the food I made, drink some wine, and then just I can sit back and watch some football. It's stress-laxful. How do you watch football while cooking this meal?

SPEAKER_01 11:15

Just because you have an open concept? Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's no sitting back watching football when you're cooking the meal. This is why I don't like to cook the meal. I like to run my 5k. I like to come home and watch the parade on TiVo because I've missed it while I was running. Then I like to annoy people in the kitchen and snack and watch football. And then eat what everyone else has.

SPEAKER_00 11:34

Us cooker people need you snacker people.

SPEAKER_01 11:36

Oh no, it it is a point of contention.

SPEAKER_00 11:39

Oh, I like the snacking. Like, come try this, come try this. Oh no. Do you got a pinky? See if the sauce tastes good.

SPEAKER_01 11:44

So I gotta say, because I don't think this okay, good. I needed to make sure I wasn't ruining anything later. Speaking of snacking in the kitchen, we make these crackers that, like, for whatever reason we only make on Thanksgiving, although they're the best things in the world. We should make them every day. Ruin them. They're oyster crackers. Oh, I've had these. We did them for them for Friendsgiving. They're like the easiest snack, but we just put that in bowls around, and that keeps people mostly like those stay in every room but the kitchen. So, like, you want a snack? Snack on this. Um, so those are fantastic. That's about my level of cooking. I will contribute the seasoned oyster crackers and the wine. Um, but okay, Friendsgiving. I'm all for it. Here's my question about Friendsgiving for you. Since you do the cooking, I don't do the cooking for our Thanksgiving. We'll get into that here in our next discussion points. Um do you feel that you can do different menus for Friends? So is Friendsgiving the place to have a traditional Thanksgiving menu and say, hey, this is what we're supposed to eat, or is it the time to go crazy?

SPEAKER_00 12:43

I think it can go either way, and it depends on your friends' group. Oh. I like doing a little bit of both. I like doing a two-way. Uh I think you should have a a turkey and you should have some of those sides, but I also think it's a time to go a little nut so. I saw a char sui Thanksgiving suggestion. Char Sui? Yeah. It's a Chinese thing. It's it's a spiced um pork dish. You get like pork belly and rub it with some stuff. And sure. It's a little sweet. Oh, char sweep. It's very good. I highly recommend it. So I saw uh a recommendation for doing like a char sui Thanksgiving. I was like, oh, that would be fun to do for Thanksgiving because it's not your family. It's the family you choose instead of the family that you were cursed with. And you can ooh uh and you can you can do something fun. You can do something a little different. I think Thanksgiving's about traditions and your family, and your, you know, we talk about like who do you have to invite? Yeah, you have to invite your annoying uncle. Like you have to do it. There's no choice. Our okay So you have to do the like it's just a social obligation for Thanksgiving.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

I think we had this discussion about Thanksgiving.

SPEAKER_00 13:48

Remember, the first Thanksgiving was all composed of uninvited guests. The Native Americans didn't want us here.

SPEAKER_01 13:54

Our Thanksgiving has cost so much. So I love the idea of a huge meal with like, yeah, the people you don't really want to be there, but they're there because you're related to that. Why you drink? So it's like 25, 30 people. You all sit at a huge long table except the kids' table, which you get shunned at forever. I that is my memories of Thanksgiving, and that needs to be the traditional meal. I agree. Like, don't mess with my mashed potatoes, okay? I want them to be the same that I've had since I was eight, okay? Um, but Friendsgiving to me is the place that you get crazy. I think it's you bring, like, I'm I'm gonna impress you real quick. I made for Friendsgiving in Milwaukee at our condo handmade a butternut squash risotto. It was the year, I know I even used like probably the wrong crockery, but it was a gift from our wedding. So it was the year after we got married. I know it was very fancy and it was delicious, and it was maybe my most beautiful tablescape, which we'll talk about later.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

Have you ever considered doing a cookbook called See Bridget Can Cook Too?

SPEAKER_01 14:58

Bridget made five recipes in her whole life and it's only five pages long. It's gonna be great. It's brief. No one wants to do it. Design it in Canva. It'd be great. Yeah, it would yes. Look out for that. Bridget can cook.

SPEAKER_00 15:09

Um, so I'll make it be like illustrated, like a children's book. It could be an inspirational tale for young children. I think that's what it should look like. If Bridget can cook, you can do it.

SPEAKER_01 15:17

You can do it too. My son could probably make risotto, like just stand and don't stop stirring. Um, so I think Friendsgiving's the place to get crazy. It's where you've gotten, you've made me try the most crazy things, I would say.

SPEAKER_00 15:30

What did we do? We did like three different types of poultry at the last Friendsgiving. Yeah, we did like a cranberry goza Thanksgiving.

SPEAKER_01 15:37

You did lots of poultry.

SPEAKER_00 15:38

We did a weird brined turkey, and then we did something else.

SPEAKER_01 15:43

A duck. Didn't you do duck?

SPEAKER_00 15:44

There was two types of duck. Oh, I don't know. I think Tyler loves duck. So Tyler hosted, so Tyler got duck.

SPEAKER_01 15:50

Friendsgiving's a place to get a little cry.

SPEAKER_00 15:52

I will say it was funny because we had to photograph it, and so we had like a weird photography schedule. Very bad, yeah. And uh Tyler was just like hovering over the duck. See? The kitchen hoverer. Of like, can I eat it now? Can I eat it now? We're like, Tyler, get your shadow out of my duck. See? This is what I'm saying. The kitchen hoverer. I would have been happy to have him pick at it if we weren't. So I think he ate most of the duck. I was very happy for him.

SPEAKER_01 16:15

I would say now Thanksgiving has been.

SPEAKER_00 16:17

Did you change the sausage from scratch for it too? You did. I think I did.

SPEAKER_01 16:20

I think the sausage was in the stuff thing.

SPEAKER_00 16:23

You're right.

SPEAKER_01 16:23

Okay. Um, my fala frickin' la note here is Thanksgiving has changed so much, at least in my family, where it's no longer a big family thing. Like um, it's just like my family, my my parents, my sister, you know, just like a very small group of us, no cousins, no aunts, uncles. And then um, sometimes on a different day, we'll try and get the aunts and uncles together, but it's like insanity. And um, and then my in-laws do something, but now I'm trying to jam in two Thanksgiving dinners in one day. So dinner. Also, why is Thanksgiving dinner at like 3 p.m.?

SPEAKER_00 16:54

I don't know. It's an old person thing. And I think we're all just being kind and not correcting them that it's a luncheon.

SPEAKER_01 17:00

So those it's Thanksgiving luncheon. And so a little bit about who you invite, who we invite. Friendsgiving helps relieve a little bit of a uh stress, in my opinion. So I don't cook, I have a different kind of stress. My stress is always like making sure my kids eat around their nap and we get to all of the required places that we're supposed to be without like pissing anyone off. It's never works. Never works. So it's great. Happy Thanksgiving. You know what we all love? The turkey. Why don't we cook turkey year-round? My kids eat it all the time, but I only ever cook it on Thanksgiving.

SPEAKER_00 17:41

I would like to share some turkey cooking tips.

SPEAKER_01 17:43

Oh, you don't want to hear mine?

SPEAKER_00 17:45

Because I love cooking turkey.

SPEAKER_01 17:48

But let's hear yours first, Bridget. Okay, so um, I never cook the turkey, unsurprisingly. Um, I think I would kill everyone in the room. We never cook it. Like, I don't know how long Nick tells me not to cook a turkey that's like more than 15 pounds or something, right? I mean, how big? I don't know. 20 pounds. 20 pounds. So my memories, plug your ears, Nick, because you're gonna die. Are like waking up. We would wake up what we thought was really early when we were kids. So my memories of cooking turkeys are not me actually cooking at all, but like my lovely family traditions, which to me is the best part of the holidays. So I would never cook, but also all the wine. Now that I am a different kind of adult, yes, the wine. But my in the back of my head, we would wake up early, whatever, it's probably like 9 a.m. Um, where and my and go help my dad like pull the giblets? Giblets. Is that the right way to say it? Yeah, like guts. Just pull the guts out of this turkey. Cause like, did that did they not used to be in the nice little bag? Because don't they come in a bag?

SPEAKER_00 18:45

Yeah, they're in a bag. They've always basically been in a bag.

SPEAKER_01 18:47

I mean, whatever it was, we thought it was gross. Maybe the neck? Yeah, the neck is the bigger. Okay, so we would pull weird shit out of a turkey. We were kids, we didn't know anything about it. We would pull that all out and we'd like get it all set up, put it in the oven, and then I feel like we would go back to bed. Like, so whatever it was, because my parents always had like a 28-pound turkey, I feel like.

SPEAKER_00 19:05

There's no reason to eat that big of a turkey.

SPEAKER_01 19:07

I mean, we do love leftovers. This was when we did a bigger thing. Um, but that was always so funny.

SPEAKER_00 19:12

Like two smaller turkeys.

SPEAKER_01 19:13

And then we would baste it. Like, I remember setting timers and we would fight about who gets to baste it. Um, but now, like, I'm all in on the turkey breast. Like, if I'm if I'm cooking, which no one ever trusts me to, I'm just getting a turkey breast because not no one really likes the dark meat in our family anyway. So, like, just make a turkey breast. So that's my memories of cooking turkey, which is not cooking it, but rather the surrounding memory with it.

SPEAKER_00 19:36

Luckily for you, you have Shannon and myself in your life.

SPEAKER_01 19:39

I do. Lucky for me.

SPEAKER_00 19:40

And between the two of us, I think we can make sure.

SPEAKER_01 19:43

I have delicious turkey to eat.

SPEAKER_00 19:44

You'll be fine. So you have three favorite ways. I have three favorite ways to cook it. And the first one is spatch cocking. Uh, some people call it butterfly, but why would you call it butterfly when you could call it spatch cocking? Please read exactly what's on the outline. Oh, it says spatch cocking the shit out of that bitch. That's right, guys. That's what we're doing, having fun. So I spatch cocking, if you don't know what it is, you take the cut the backbone out of the turkey, the spine, and then you lay it flat and press it down like a butterfly. It looks pretty. Um fly away, butterfly. We can do it at store, any butcher shop can do it. Some grocery stores that actually have a butcher can do it for you. Uh, or you can do it yourself with poultry shears. You need good poultry shears. That's going to be my recommendation on this week's normal podcast. Um, but it's very easy to do. The turkey cooks evenly, cooks fast. Uh, since it goes on a sheet pan, you can get it in your oven and then other stuff on top of it. Or you can do two at once really easily. Whereas if you put the whole like intact turkey in your oven, that whole oven's taken up. Like you can't put a casserole in there, you can't keep stuff warm in there.

SPEAKER_01 20:45

It's very hard to time cooking on Thanksgiving.

SPEAKER_00 20:47

And the other great thing about spatch cocking is it makes it super easy to carve the turkey. You're not going to get that beautiful Norman Rockwell thing carve on the table, which is a media-driven lie. Yes, but we're in marketing, so uh it works. So, but since it's already flattened out, it's really super easy to see where the joints are to make your cuts. Oh. And it's all laid out, and you just go chink, chink, chink.

SPEAKER_01 21:09

Can you not like fold it? I was talking to Kim about this, our retail manager. Can you not like fold it back up?

SPEAKER_00 21:15

It would collapse because the it sits on the backbone and then shoot.

SPEAKER_01 21:19

This is why I'm not coming back.

SPEAKER_00 21:20

I mean, you could, but it would it would, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:22

I want the presentation, Nick.

SPEAKER_00 21:24

So we'll get to that. So spatchcocking, it's the way to do it. It's super fast. Uh, you can get more seasoning on the turkey that actually sticks to it, which is awesome. I always like to rub butter underneath the skin of the turkey and then it actually stays in there like a compound butter. It's great.

SPEAKER_01 21:40

So, Shannon and mom, if you're listening this year, maybe Nick has convinced you to spatchcock. Let me know. I'll have a butcher that I know do it.

SPEAKER_00 21:48

My next favorite, because I usually do several turkeys every year just because why not? I like turkeys.

SPEAKER_01 21:54

Here's 10 things.

SPEAKER_00 21:55

And um, I don't know. I I like the different flavors. I really am like a Tapa style person. I mean, we talk about this all the time. For sure. I want to have like 15 different things because I just love the flavor. I love the experience. I want all the things. I don't want just one boring turkey. I want 10. I want to do something that's like garham masala rub with some like spiced vegetables. And I want to do that. That belongs on Friendsgiving.

SPEAKER_01 22:20

I should garam masala rub.

SPEAKER_00 22:22

Yeah, you should. Smoking turkeys. I love smoking turkeys. Works better with a smaller turkey, but it's so easy. I just love smoked turkeys. And then if you want to do the Bridget, you know, beautiful turkey on the middle of the table thing. We learned a trick last year, two tricks actually, when we did a recipe that was like boring Norman Rockwell turkey thing.

SPEAKER_01 22:44

Very traditional Thanksgiving.

SPEAKER_00 22:46

And there were two tricks in there that I thought worked really well. One which was to put a little bit of baking powder in with your salt and pepper that you season the turkey skin with. Oh, yeah. And that helps it crisp up and get like that really beautiful golden brown color. Um and the measurements, I don't know. But anyway, uh that worked really well. I was really impressed by that. And then the other one that I thought worked really well and helped it cook more evenly was put, I think a lot of people have pizza stones. Um I don't think it's like that unusual thing of a hat to have. Put the pizza stone in the oven first and turn it up to a higher temperature. Let that stone get some heat in it, drop the temperature once it's hot, and then put your turkey in in that uh with the breast up, and the pizza stone will radiate heat onto the breast or the legs so it cooks quickly and more evenly. About that tip. It worked like super well.

SPEAKER_01 23:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:38

It was honestly really simple. It took like 45 minutes of planning and a pizza stone, which I think a lot of people do have.

SPEAKER_01 23:44

Yeah, and also I think part of the joy of Thanksgiving is like I'm just gonna cook all day. So who cares about 45 minutes of planning and cooking, which perfectly brings us right into our next chat about here. The tablescape, the setting, the plates. One of my favorite things, and we talked about this last year with Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving. Uh, we were that's what we called last year's Thanksgiving uh marketing campaign, if you will, because we were all just kind of looking back for that traditional warmth. Yeah, so now this year instead we're just saying make Thanksgiving fun again. Just go a good time.

SPEAKER_00 24:19

Have a super spreader. We don't care.

unknown 24:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 24:22

We're not going into that here. It's the holidays.

SPEAKER_00 24:24

Well, when you're smoking, you need a squirt bottle with some stuff in it to spray it and just spread it. Super spread. Super spread that.

SPEAKER_01 24:38

Okay. So one of my favorite things to do and how I find that I can be helpful, because I I like to be helpful and know that that is not in the kitchen. It just pisses people off if I try and help in the kitchen, um, is help set the table. So a trick that my mom actually taught me, and she still does for holidays, I do it all the time. I do it for Friendsgiving. You take out all of your serving dishes, your whatever you have, and you get pieces of paper, you write down the whole menu and you rip it apart. So post-its or little pieces of paper, whatever. So it says turkey, it says mashed potatoes, butternut squash, rolls, whatever. And you put, you set out the actual table with the serving dish and you put the piece of paper in the serving dish. So it's like just a way to organize where everything's gonna go. Because in my experience, all the food comes up, it's time to cook or it's time to plate everything, it's time to eat, everyone's hungry, and you're suddenly like, but what where are the rolls going? Get me that silver bowl. No, the white one, this one, you know. And it it's always this kind of like chaotic moment. Do you like chaos? I do not. And I like a plan and order. This is a great way to do it because I'm useless during the cooking. So I might as well do this part, right?

SPEAKER_00 25:43

You are great at it. Um, thank you. The write the stuff out tip. I love that. If you want to next level it, uh 10x it, if you will. You do, always get some butcher paper or another type of roll, roll it out on the table and actually write on it, and then you can also eat on it and throw it all away at the end of the day. Kids can draw on it, it's a lot of fun. That's what we do at the uh Vorpegel household because uh we have big rolls of butcher paper sit around.

SPEAKER_01 26:06

I mean, I love my roll of butcher paper to color on. So that is one of my best favorite tips. So, so the thing, the uh conflict I have every year is disposable or not, right? So this goes down to the tablecloth, to the butcher paper. So I love the idea of butcher paper, roll it up, chuck it, right? But sometimes the memory You love the upchuck it?

SPEAKER_00 26:25

You realize you just said up chuck.

SPEAKER_01 26:27

Did I say up chuck it? Roll it up, chuck it. Roll it up chuck. Ha ha ha. Somewhere in my mind. I'm just like waiting for my kids to do barfing. Um, so I love the idea of that, but what if someone writes on that tailcloth something you want to keep?

SPEAKER_00 26:40

Um well then you can frame it and save it.

SPEAKER_01 26:43

Cut it out, frame it, wipe off the grease.

SPEAKER_00 26:45

Well, that's part of the charm of it, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 26:47

Well, we have a family member that's called patina. It's called patina. You're right. Will it mold in the frame? Probably not. Um we have a family member that has a white art linen linen tablecloth, just like a plain, boring white, and they sign it every year and write notes on the linen tablecloth, which I love. That is awesome. Slash, also, I feel like it would get really stained. So butcher paper is great, but then on top of the butcher paper, do you guys use glass or paper plates?

SPEAKER_00 27:14

My mom brings out the china and it I bet it that makes sense. It terrifies me. Why? Because of the kids? Because I don't want to like cut anything like she's got like these designs on it and stuff. And the family heirloom china? Yes, and maybe I've drank like five glasses of wine and maybe my elbows are swinging a little bit. Nick is spilling food and I it it freaks me out. This is this is the uh uh what did I say stressful?

SPEAKER_01 27:44

Stressed, stressed, what what stress relaxing, stress relaxing.

SPEAKER_00 27:48

This is the stress part of it. I want to be in the laxing part of stress laxing. And by making me eat on China, you're giving me the stress part of the day.

SPEAKER_01 27:55

I struggle with this one big time because I understand the ease and joy of paper plates. Um, yes, we're going to yeah, I don't want to say we're gonna ignore the environment.

SPEAKER_00 28:05

We know that we should not be having paper plates.com. Yeah, that's the best. And you'll be fine.

SPEAKER_01 28:16

I still, though, love the charm of the vintage china. I know it's a lot of things. And the noise of the knife on the on the China just like well, here guys, I'm here to tell you that I like the vintage china or just like a plain white, beautiful. I have beautiful crate and barrel white. You do. Your plates are very nice.

SPEAKER_00 28:33

So like let's use I have plate envy with you.

SPEAKER_01 28:35

Thank you. I'm, you know, it's like one thing I registered for that I don't regret. So I like to, I'm curious if people use paper. My mom has gone the paper route. There are a lot of kids now. It's much smaller, so I feel like if I I like to host, right? Here I am talking about all the hosting things, none of the cooking things. So if I'm gonna host, I I feel like I can't have paper plates.

SPEAKER_00 28:55

Elliot, if you're listening, don't pick up the china and throw it at your sister.

SPEAKER_01 28:59

Oh my god. Okay. Candles or no candles?

SPEAKER_00 29:02

Real flames. Oh, heck yeah. Real flames? Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:05

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:06

That doesn't give me anxiety because I'm a pyro.

SPEAKER_01 29:08

What about leaves and candles?

SPEAKER_00 29:10

Do you guys like decorate with nature? My mom does all sorts of weird crap like that. Yeah, I love that shit. I'm not for that.

SPEAKER_01 29:16

Me and your mom are kindred spirits in the city.

SPEAKER_00 29:17

I don't need that. I just want candles. I don't know, like a centerpiece thing. Yeah, like a centerpiece, but not like well, like a nice one.

SPEAKER_01 29:25

I'm a I'm a like a runner person rather than a one centerpiece. Um, so we have like a I think my dad made these when you're little logs, and then he drilled holes in them for votive candles. Oh wow. And so then it's like down. We used them for some kind of event, and then I've reused them at Friendsgiving. Man, you've missed out on some Friendsgiving years. Um, what are they called? Paint samples. Uh yeah, that's a great idea. Paint samples as place cards one year with a gold pen. So just some fun little hostess tip ideas if you guys are having a Friendsgiving. Swatches. Show. Thank you. Paint, yeah, the paint swatches. And we wrote on them with gold pen. Um there you go. Those are my fun hostess tips. I hope you could have a fun Friendsgiving. If not, you can come back from college and impress your parents and look like you have your life together.

SPEAKER_00 30:14

We can't finish this without talking about sides. And this is gonna be quickfire to wrap it up.

SPEAKER_01 30:19

Okay. Are you gonna ask them all? Are we gonna alternate? What are we gonna do here, man? I think I'll ask them all. Who okay?

SPEAKER_00 30:25

Get your opinion. I can chime in.

SPEAKER_01 30:27

Is this um how I enjoy them?

SPEAKER_00 30:29

How you enjoy them, yep.

SPEAKER_01 30:30

Okay, great.

SPEAKER_00 30:31

So these are some, you know, great debates because I think a big part of the Thanksgiving experience is the side. You get that whole plate, you know. You gotta map out where you're gonna put everything. Do you mix it all together? Do you keep it all separate? It's a great debate. Uh, it's a great debate. We're not gonna get in that because I don't think anybody wants to hear your 30 minutes of therapy. You should pay for that, not make people listen to it. Isn't that what you're here for? All right, potatoes, boxed, homemade. Homemade, gotta be. Red potatoes, yellow potatoes, or uh white potatoes. Russet. What are those? Brown.

SPEAKER_01 31:02

Oh yeah, but my mom adds like cream cheese and sour cream and baked, all kinds of stuff, and it's so good.

SPEAKER_00 31:08

I prefer the red potatoes homemade, and I leave the skins in and then add all the dairy products too.

SPEAKER_01 31:13

I get it.

SPEAKER_00 31:13

If you want to do smooth, creamy ones, yellow are the way to go.

SPEAKER_01 31:16

I think that's what she uses. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 31:18

I don't make them stuffing. Stovetop or homemade? Don't kill me, stovetop. I am gonna kill you. I use my grandma's recipe from the depression that has and you've had it. It's very good, but I love boxed stuffing. Also, I forget that boxed stuffing takes literally a minute to make. And it just tastes like shh salt. Yep, it's like put this in and then a cup of water and some salt.

SPEAKER_01 31:40

Yeah, and yours takes like four hours.

SPEAKER_00 31:42

But it's so good.

SPEAKER_01 31:43

It is very delicious, but give me a spoon.

SPEAKER_00 31:45

And there's all sorts of things you didn't want to know what we're gonna do. I don't, I do not. I mean, I do know what's in it, but I wish you never told me. Cranberry sauce out of the can or homemade.

SPEAKER_01 31:54

It's a tough one. Out of the can because of the memories.

SPEAKER_00 31:57

Do you like the smooth, jiggly or the chunky?

SPEAKER_01 31:59

I don't like either of them, but I like to look at the one out of the can no matter what, every year we get that one because my grandma D um always loved that one, and she's no longer here, so that is like our our hey, she's here with us at the table.

SPEAKER_00 32:12

I am also a homemade person. My grandma had a great cranberry sauce recipe with the cranberries in it, and I and I do that.

SPEAKER_01 32:18

I mean, Shannon makes one every year. It's fine, it's fine. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 32:21

Well, it's just it goes with the Pinot Noir. That's probably why you don't like Pinot Noir. You don't like gravy, homemade or just the quick packet?

SPEAKER_01 32:30

I don't know. We use a jar, I think. I don't really know. What do we use? No, no, homemade. We like scoop it out and you like add flour, maybe. Okay, that's what we do.

SPEAKER_00 32:42

Oh god. You make a roux. We make a roux. And then you add in the drippings. Yep. Yep. But there's never enough. Well, you can bulk it up. Uh by what? The jar? No, by uh get some, like nobody's gonna eat the turkey wings, right? The turkey wings are just worked.

SPEAKER_01 33:01

Okay, pro tip.

SPEAKER_00 33:02

So use those for your gravy. So just that bulk it up. Yeah, cook those, get all the drippings and all the flavor out of those, add the fat from that, pour that in your gravy, and then strain it. You're gonna have to come over and make gravy. I'll I'll make gravy all day, every day. I love making gravy. Uh green bean casserole, yay or nay. I love it. It's so gross, but I love it. You can't do it. Oh, what?

SPEAKER_01 33:23

I mean, you need like extra French onions on top.

SPEAKER_00 33:26

I just can't do it. It's gross. I can't believe I like it, but I do. Sweet potatoes. Marshmallows on top, yay or nay. Just no, none of the above. My love sweet potatoes. Do you like them with marshmallows on top? Hell no, it ruins them.

SPEAKER_01 33:38

Why? I'm curious because I don't understand the.

SPEAKER_00 33:40

Just like it's a weird textural thing. It's just like sweet unsweet. Yeah, I can't do that much sweet. Uh also I bulk mine up with um salt and pepper enough to the point of it's not just sweet.

SPEAKER_01 33:49

Okay, because I've never Tyler likes this, and none of us, my mom is so sweet to make it every year for him, but like we've never eaten.

SPEAKER_00 33:54

The other thing, like, so we do like mashed sweet potatoes.

SPEAKER_01 33:57

Oh, how are you supposed to do that?

SPEAKER_00 33:59

Oh, I mean, you could some people do like casserole things and something like that. Yeah, I do the mashed ones. Uh a touch of Woosershire also goes uh a little bit of way to take away some of that sweet.

SPEAKER_01 34:08

And then you still add marshmallows? No, no, no. I mean you don't, but like regular people.

SPEAKER_00 34:12

I don't know what regular people do. I'm not a regular person. I need to know because my husband likes this dish and he's too nice to tell us if it's bad. And finally, Thanksgiving Pop Tarts. Yay or nay. Yay. Stay tuned. Stay tuned. All right, that was our little Thanksgiving preview for everybody. We wanted to share some tips. We follow la la la, love the season.

SPEAKER_01 34:33

We are super happy. Thanksgiving's around the corner, and we're making it fun again this year. We have some really cool leftover ideas. So keep your eye out for all those and have a super happy, wonderful Thanksgiving. Thanks for tuning in. Bye bye.