Open on Thanksgiving

I drove by a well known semi-fast food restaurant the other day -with the sign "Open Thanksgiving Day" on it.

 I was struck by the fact that it was in my lifetime that this began changing.  Pharmacies started being open Sundays (outside Utah of course), grocery stores and restaurants.  Then, all these businesses started being open on major holidays.

It used to be that one would drive around on Thanksgiving or Christmas here in the U.S. and everything would be very quiet.  All the stores would be dark, with notes about the holiday closing posted on the front door. 

This is immortalized by the family dinner in "A Christmas Story", where the only open restaurant is the local Chinese restaurant.

I'm not someone who believes in the "keeping the Sabbath day holy" order of things.  And I find myself strangely encouraged and discouraged by restaurants being open on holidays.

Encouraged as now people without family or plans have somewhere to go - to be with other people.

To celebrate in their own way, without going through the hassle of making a turkey (or tofurkey) and the trimmings.

If you have not ever prepared the full course of Thanksgiving glory - it is quite a task.  It is time-consuming.  It requires intensive planning and coordination of when the oven will be used and for how long.  One even needs to use math to calculate just how many hours the turkey may need to bake. 

So a person or family who chooses to go out on Thanksgiving - or purchase a pre-made Thanksgiving meal...I understand.  I get it. 

But, those restaurants have owners and employees.  And my husband's cousin works for one of those restaurants, and yes, he is going to be working (to be able to take off Christmas).

And so it goes.

So all holidays become as faceless and uneventful as {Insert faceless holiday here, don't want to step on toes}, where many companies (even those that follow bankers' holidays) don't take off. 

I realize it's a slippery slope argument, so it's not a terribly logical one.

Things change, priorities change, society definitely changes and adapts.

PS.  my kids made the turkeys at pre-school.  Enjoy!

The more things change....

So my husband and I were watching tv the other night, and we hear someone singing outside.

It was surreal, as our neighborhood is pretty calm and quiet. 

Then we realized, the teenagers across the street were sitting outside of their home, in a car, belting out "Why'd you have to go and make things so complicated..."

We couldn't help but laugh. 

I wouldn't be so sympathetic if I hadn't been a teenager once and hadn't done many things that were surprisingly similar. 

A good day

The sun came out today after two or three days of rain and grey.

And it's a good day.  I feel good today.  I feel like I can get things done. 

I don't get it.  Why is that?

Why is the equation - sunny day = good day.  Cloudy day != not as good day.  Perhaps it's also November.

I know every day is a good day - I just don't get it.  Maybe I need to move to Arizona/New Mexico/Southern California.  

I'm so glad you finally made it here

Have I mentioned before how much I like Dar Williams? here  February and here why cranberry?

I've been thinking of this song recently, which I think is an awesome, inspiring song.

Well, I was going to post a video - but none of them really fit my impression of the song. So please feel free to search on google or youtube for this song...


Here is an excerpt from the lyrics:
You're Aging Well

Why is it that as we grow older and stronger
The road signs point us adrift and make us afraid
Saying "You never can win," "Watch your back," "Where's your husband?"
I don't like the signs that the sign makers made

So I'm going to steal out with my paint and brushes I'll change the directions, I'll hit every street
It's the Tinseltown scandal, the Robin Hood vandal
She goes out and steals the King's English
And in the morning you wake up and the signs point to you

They say, "I'm so glad that you finally made it here
You thought nobody cared, but I did, I could tell"
And, "This is your year," and "It always starts here" And "You're aging well"

Lists of Five Things

I am not a fan of November weekday mornings.  I am not a fan of waking up in darkness.  The time recently changed, giving me an extra hour of sleep - and yet, I'm still not a fan.

Someone mentioned recently that each day, they make three lists of five things. 

I loved the idea, so I'm sharing it here.

They start with five things they are grateful for.  (btw -my kids and my health are two things right up at the top of the list, every day.)  I am also grateful for my job. 

I don't have to say what I'm grateful to - as far as I'm concerned, it can be the universe.  It's just the process of recognizing I have quite a bit to be thankful for.

Then, they list five things they are proud of themselves for.  Basically giving yourself props for something difficult.  Again, getting up and getting to work - something I am proud of myself for doing.

Finally, a list of five things to work on or process.

Strangely enough, getting up on time for work is not on this list for me.  :) Things like being open about my feelings and setting boundaries (and not feeling guilty for setting boundaries) are on there.

TVP veggie chili

TVP is Texturized Vegetable Protein

I was a vegetarian for three years back in high school.  Despite being a vegetarian (still eating cheese and eggs) all that time, I had never heard of TVP.

I learned about it only recently at a dinner party with friends.  They had made these yummy enchiladas with tvp. The tvp almost tasted like chicken, which is quite a feat.  They are skilled vegetarians - and I think had been vegan at some point.

I  went out on a limb yesterday and made veggie chili with tvp.  I used veggie broth to reconstitute the tvp.  The texture was more like ground beef (in the chili) than chicken. I'm sure that skill comes with practice.

While tvp might have been hard to find at some point, I found it at my local grocery store in the pasta/grain aisle (next to the corn meal).

The result tasted great!  I took the chili to a gathering where there was also regular chili - lots  of people could not tell the difference. In fact, my veggie chili was originally mis-labeled as the beef chili.  I sincerely hope no one's diet has been thrown off. 

Sadly, I do not have a  photo of my veggie chili - it is all gone.

I doubt tvp is terribly local - as it is a processed food of sorts.  But otherwise, it's not terribly expensive and very filling.  And, since it's made with soy - very good for you.

PS. Usually beer (Guinness) is a great base for chili - but for this chili we used veggie broth instead. 

Here were my ingredients for an extra large crock pot:

2 cans of tomatoes
2 cans of black beans
2 cans of kidney beans
2 cups of tvp -texturized vegetable protein, reconstituted
1 box/can of veggie broth
1 onion
2 green peppers
olive oil (to saute onion and green pepper)
crushed corn chips (if needed to thicken)

Spices:
salt, pepper
ground cumin
paprika
dried jalepeno flakes
cayenne pepper (to taste)

Basically, I chopped up the onion and green pepper and sauteed them in olive oil.  Then I put all the spices in with the onion and green pepper until the onion was clear and the green pepper was cooked.  I put all the cans of ingredients in the crock pot with the onions and green peppers (and spices).  Then, I reconstituted  the tvp with two cups of boiling veggie broth.  There are instructions on the bags of tvp. I then added the tvp to the chili and let it simmer overnight.  I did have to add crushed corn chips to thicken the chili - probably around two handfuls of corn chips.

So much to say, not much to blog about

That's where I'm at people. 

I am rarely at a loss for words but I am at the moment.  Particularly with anything I want to have read on by as large of an audience as there is on this blog.  Not that I have a large following, but still. On the internet, everything is out there forever.  And forever is a long time. 

I have some book reviews I want to post.  I'm re-reading Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace.  I think that novel might be taking up lots of my free thinking time. 

I have some leaf photos to post as well.  And the twins are inquisitive and wonderful as always.  I have some thoughts about the w word but I can't really blog about that either. I also have some political and religious thoughts, but still musing on those.

So I'll figure out what I can say and go from there.  I hope to continue posting on a weekly/semi-regular basis - we'll just see.  I don't think I'm going anywhere. 

When I was writing poetry (way back in the day) I really liked using the words "quiet" and "silence". They are simply great words in general. I suppose I would rather stay quiet than cross boundaries or post things I will regret later.  So there you are.  Thanks for your support all!