For Thanksgiving 2012: Adam Sandler sings “The Thanksgiving Song”

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This is an old favorite. I think he sings it differently every time; I don’t remember the part about his brother and the baby oil. Also, the annotator here misspelled “Cheryl Tiegs.”

 

But who cares?

 

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

 

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Thanksgiving offering: Sweet potato pie a la Haggers

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 I didn’t know what to post for Thanksgiving until I suddenly remembered this recipe.  It was featured on a 1970s Norman Lear show called “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman,” which was Norman’s salute to the soap-opera format.  It was on five nights a week, and it hit every theme: sex, violence, deviant behavior, death, illness, marriage, love . . . And it was very funny.

 

 

So anyway: Mary Kay Place played a character named Loretta Haggers, a sweet little ol’ thing married to a much older man.  Loretta wanted very much to be a country singer, and kept almost breaking through, but something always got in the way.  This recipe comes from an episode in which Loretta actually gets on the Dinah Shore show, sings a song, and does a cooking segment; sadly, however, she makes some unfortunate comments, and she’s booted from the show.

 

 

SWEET POTATO PIE A LA HAGGERS

 

• About a pound of potatoes
• Half or a cup of sugar
• A tap of nutmeg
• Two taps of cinnamon
• A half tap of cloves
• Three big eggs or four littler ones
• A wee bitty glug of vanilla
• Half a big stick of butter (or margarine)
• A cup of sweet milk

1. Mash the heck out of your potatoes.
2. Throw in your sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, eggs, and vanilla extraction.
3. Pour the melted butter and sweet milk right into that.
4. Beat this with a beater.  Whip the daylights out of it.
5. Pour it all into a ready-made pie shell.
6. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. 
7. Bake for 1 hour and 25 minutes. It will be done to a nice turn.  Once the smoke clears, it’ll be some dandy eatin’.

 

 

 

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Thanksgiving blog: Thank you

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In the spirit of Thanksgiving: the last few stanzas of Kenneth Koch's wonderful early poem “Thank You.”

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. . . Thank you for the chance to run a small hotel

In an elephant stopover in Zambezi,

But I do not know how to take care of guests, certainly they would all leave soon,

After seeing blue lights out the windows and rust on their iron beds –

I'd rather run a bird-house in Jamaica:

Those people come in, the birds, they do not care how things are kept up . . .

It's true that Zambezi proprietorship would be exciting,

with people getting off elephants and coming into my hotel,

But as tempting as it is I cannot agree.

And thank you for this offer of the post of referee

For the Danish wrestling championship – I simply do not feel qualified . . .

But the fresh spring air has been swabbing my mental decks

Until, although prepared for fight, still I sleep on land.

Thank you for the ostriches. I have not yet had time to pluck them,

But I am sure they will be delicious, adorning my plate at sunset,

My tremendous plate, and the plate

Of the offers to all my days. But I cannot fasten my exhilaration to the sun.

And thank you for the evening of the night on which

I fell off my horse in the shadows. That was really useful.

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Sunday blog: Marilyn Monroe's poultry stuffing

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Here, just in time for Thanksgiving, is Marilyn Monroe's stuffing recipe.

Makes enough to stuff one turkey, or two to three geese, or eight chickens.

Please note: no garlic.

…

Marilyn’s Stuffing

 

(Adapted from “Fragments” by Marilyn Monroe, published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux)

 

Time: 2 hours

 

• No garlic

• A 10-ounce loaf sourdough bread

• 1/2 pound chicken or turkey livers or hearts

• 1/2 pound ground round or other beef

• 1 tablespoon cooking oil

• 4 stalks celery, chopped

• 1 large onion, chopped

• 2 cups chopped curly parsley

• 2 eggs, hard boiled, chopped

• 1 1/2 cups raisins

• 1 cup grated Parmesan

• 1 1/4 cups chopped walnuts, pine nuts or roasted chestnuts, or a combination

• 2 teaspoons dried crushed rosemary

• 2 teaspoons dried crushed oregano

• 2 teaspoons dried crushed thyme

• 3 bay leaves

• 1 tablespoon salt-free, garlic-free poultry seasoning (or 1 teaspoon dried sage, 1 teaspoon marjoram, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger and 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg)

• 1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus more to taste

• 1 tablespoon pepper

 

1. Split the bread loaf in half and soak it in a large bowl of cold water for 15 minutes. Wring out excess water over a colander and shred into pieces.

 

2. Boil the livers or hearts for 8 minutes in salted water, then chop until no piece is larger than a coffee bean.

 

3. In a skillet over medium-high heat, brown the ground beef in the oil, stirring occasionally and breaking up the meat, so no piece is larger than a pistachio.

 

4. In your largest mixing bowl, combine the sourdough, livers, ground beef, celery, onion, parsley, eggs, raisins, Parmesan and nuts, tossing gently with your hands to combine. Whisk the rosemary, oregano, thyme, bay leaves, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper together in a bowl, scatter over the stuffing and toss again with your hands. Taste and adjust for salt. Refrigerate, covered, until ready to use as a stuffing or to bake separately as dressing.

 

Yield: 20 cups, enough for one large turkey, 2 to 3 geese or 8 chickens.

 

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