MetaTalk Holiday Queue Time

November 21, 2012 1:03 PM

With US Thanksgiving rapidly approaching, it's time for another MetaFilter holiday tradition: The MetaTalk Queue.

MetaTalk posts will be queued starting this evening through Monday morning to give the moderators some time to be with their friends and families. Moderators will be around to answer questions via the Contact Form, but MetaTalk posts will need to be approved before they appear on the site. This helps the moderators time things so one or two of them can be around to help out when the MetaTalk post is approved.

Thanks, and have a good Thanksgiving if you're celebrating.

posted by pb to Uptime at 1:03 PM (112 comments total)

...but, what about the airing of grievances?

Happy Thanksgiving y'all!
posted by arcticseal at 1:07 PM on November 21, 2012

Happy Thanksgiving to the mods, and may you all have a pleasingly quiet long weekend.
posted by ambrosia at 1:13 PM on November 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

elephantFlag.jpg
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 1:14 PM on November 21, 2012

Dude! The government wants to talk to you!
posted by wheelieman at 1:18 PM on November 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

As someone who doesn't celebrate anything, and as antepodean, I would be willing to assist with occasional modding duties. Previously rode herd on a bunch of addled addicts quitting smoking for about 10 years. Memail if you're interested
posted by b33j at 1:19 PM on November 21, 2012

Have a wonderful holiday, everyone!
posted by gauche at 1:19 PM on November 21, 2012

So what you're saying is -- this is the time for the uprising?
posted by Capt. Renault at 1:26 PM on November 21, 2012 [2 favorites]

Now is the time when we eat pie. Enjoy your pie, mods!
posted by scody at 1:47 PM on November 21, 2012 [2 favorites]

FRIENDS/FAMILY 2016
posted by mintcake! at 1:47 PM on November 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

Ok! I got the NYCares letters for the gift drive, so I hope to do a post on that in the next 24 hours or so.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 1:59 PM on November 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

Dude! The government wants to talk to you!

No, it's cool, so long as I don't post elephantFlag.gif.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 2:02 PM on November 21, 2012

elephantFlag.gif
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 2:02 PM on November 21, 2012 [2 favorites]

I sure hope this queue doesn't result in anyone getting trampled to death on black Friday.
posted by usonian at 2:15 PM on November 21, 2012

Happy Thanksgiving, mods! I'm thankful for all of you, and for Metafilter.
posted by Elsa at 2:33 PM on November 21, 2012

Suckers. I totally cut in line.
posted by item at 2:37 PM on November 21, 2012

Butt elephant.
posted by Melismata at 2:38 PM on November 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

Yes, enjoy your pie à la mod.
posted by benito.strauss at 2:39 PM on November 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

Happy Friends and Family (Chosen and Not!), Mods! May you get to relax and enjoy, knowing that the only hoppitamoppita around here is the Thanksgiving Bunny hiding eggs for the young mefites to find in the morning. (that's how it works, right?)
posted by ldthomps at 2:41 PM on November 21, 2012

Those aren't eggs. That's not chocolate.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 2:42 PM on November 21, 2012 [3 favorites]

I know it's fondant thats like worse than hilter.
posted by The Whelk at 2:51 PM on November 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

'Pon the last Thursday in November, the Mefites did gather 'round the Queue, for that was the Law of the Moderators, and besides none of them wanted to spend any time with their Horrible Families. Many other denizens of the Internet did look askance upon this peculiar tradition, but the Mefites accepted it for 'twas the will of Mathowie, recumbent be his bicycling, and either way, things would be back open for the Flinging of Grar come the next week-day.

And so it was, ever on, FIAMO.
posted by cmyk at 2:53 PM on November 21, 2012 [14 favorites]

Something something hunger games.
posted by The Whelk at 2:57 PM on November 21, 2012

Yay! I love MeTa queue.
posted by batmonkey at 3:44 PM on November 21, 2012

We even have a cease-fire in the Middle East to help smooth things along. :)
posted by zarq at 3:49 PM on November 21, 2012

Attention MeFites: "Is this safe to eat?" threads go on sale promptly at 5:00 a.m. EST tomorrow.
posted by Dr. Zira at 3:51 PM on November 21, 2012 [2 favorites]

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
posted by Renoroc at 4:02 PM on November 21, 2012

I thought that the first Monday noon hour after Thanksgiving was just an especially discordant time, resulting in an spike of community issues being hashed out in Meta. It's a shame, too, because we always get along great for a couple of days beforehand but can't seem to keep the peace any longer than we did last year.
posted by ceribus peribus at 4:04 PM on November 21, 2012

As holiday fixin's go, this is better than that one guy's odd sweet potato casserole but worse than canned cranberry sauce. But I don't mind a patch of the canned shit on my plate if I know it's clean.
posted by Burhanistan at 4:08 PM on November 21, 2012

Enjoy your holidays, Mods! Thanks for all you do.
posted by bondcliff at 4:16 PM on November 21, 2012

Happy Thanksgiving, Americans.
I never understood how the Thursday-holiday thing works. So do you start travelling today? Do you actually have your Thanksgiving dinner on the Thursday? Do you get Monday off also?
posted by chococat at 4:31 PM on November 21, 2012

Yes for many people, yes, no.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 4:40 PM on November 21, 2012

If it helps everyone is Fleeing The City, huge traffic jams from noon onwards, with a smaller amount coming in for the parade but everything below midtown is going ti be deserted. It is a day of transit, and the week is more or less over. Nothing is going to get done til Monday.
posted by The Whelk at 4:51 PM on November 21, 2012

And the "dinner" is more like three in the afternoon, with all your relatives, and everyone is drunk or napping or glued to the TV by six.
posted by The Whelk at 4:52 PM on November 21, 2012

I dunno... OH MY GOD FUCK THESE HORRIBLE PEOPLE seems rather apt as a Thanksgiving-time post.
posted by Egg Shen at 4:58 PM on November 21, 2012 [3 favorites]

I never understood how the Thursday-holiday thing works. So do you start travelling today? Do you actually have your Thanksgiving dinner on the Thursday? Do you get Monday off also?

Thanksgiving dinner is on Thursday. Many people who are traveling do it today, some do it tomorrow. I think most people have work today, but a lot of people take it off or leave early. A lot of people also live close enough to their families that "travel" means driving across town or for a couple hours only, so they're likely to do it tomorrow.

I don't think anyone gets Monday off (that would be a five day weekend), but a lot of people (and every school that I know of) have Friday off. So places, places run by people I will call "assholes" don't give Friday as a holiday; for this reason, I took Friday vacation time for Friday.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 5:07 PM on November 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

Oh and the roads are a total mess starting today. I was just trying to drive across town this afternoon and it was easily the worst experience of my entire life. The fact that I only swore at one person to their face is testament to me being a saint.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 5:10 PM on November 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

So is this a good weekend to post the latest Frank Miller screed ?

Occupy” is nothing but a pack of louts, thieves, and rapists, an unruly mob, fed by Woodstock-era nostalgia and putrid false righteousness. These clowns can do nothing but harm America.

It'd be a hoot. Who wouldn't want to moderate that ?
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 5:13 PM on November 21, 2012

That is from a million years ago.
posted by The Whelk at 5:16 PM on November 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

So places, places run by people I will call "assholes" don't give Friday as a holiday

I am grateful I work for "assholes"!

Worst year was when I was working at Whole Foods. I couldn't fill the cheese case because it was blocked by people trying to buy cheese that wasn't there.

I am also grateful for MetaFilter. Thanks, everyone!
posted by rtha at 5:21 PM on November 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

Quantum Entangled Cheese.
posted by The Whelk at 5:32 PM on November 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

"it is a recent tradition, only about two years old, but a tradition nonetheless."
posted by boo_radley at 5:33 PM on November 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

I'm all in favour of instant traditions, especially those that involve alcohol.
posted by arcticseal at 5:36 PM on November 21, 2012

A queue for the "human relations" category would also help in this endeavor.

Have a good weekend, mods.
posted by Ufez Jones at 5:48 PM on November 21, 2012

I celebrate Thanksgiving. I AM THANKFUL FOR METAFILTER.
posted by rmd1023 at 6:04 PM on November 21, 2012

Happy Thanksgiving to all the Americans here! It sounds like a much bigger deal for you guys than our version.

An interesting side effect of US Thanksgiving is it gives the rest of us a look at how much of the Internet America maintains. Countless sites and blogs go quiet on Thursday, with minimal to no updates until Monday. It's very difficult to procrastinate in the meantime! That's why I'm so glad when you come back.
posted by Kevin Street at 6:08 PM on November 21, 2012 [2 favorites]

"I never understood how the Thursday-holiday thing works. So do you start travelling today? Do you actually have your Thanksgiving dinner on the Thursday? Do you get Monday off also?"

Most places get Thursday/Friday off, some places Wednesday-Thursday-Friday. You don't get Monday because the holiday is Thursday and you have three days to recover. A lot of people take that Wednesday as a vacation day to travel. Yes, you eat Thanksgiving on Thursday. Wednesday before Thanksgiving is the biggest traveling day of the year in America, Sunday after is #2.

It's become more popular around me to give a four-day weekend in the spring over Easter weekend (Good Friday through Easter Monday) to give people time to travel after Easter Sunday and to make it "match" the fall four-day holiday. I don't know how widespread a thing that is, though.

If you're in the U.K. they do a very nice service at St. Paul's for American expats in London on Thanksgiving that is always packed (and attended by the American ambassador). They sing patriotic American hymns, people cry. Also there are a shocking lot of American football games in London parks on Thursday. Most places with a large American expat community have some kind of Thanksgiving celebration organized, typically with very. dry. turkey. as local restaurants attempt to cook turkey for 500 people on the only day of the year they make turkey. It's pretty great!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:10 PM on November 21, 2012 [3 favorites]

That is from a million years ago.

I guess it is.

One of my FB friends posted it and was all like, "Yeah!" and I thought it was new.

I guess I should block that imbecile, but the stuff like "CIA mind control through Obamaphones" is too laughable to block outright.

Plus, I spent a bunch of skipped 4th hour classes my senior year at his mom's house - stealing swigs of liquor and playing gameboy. original gameboy. LCD represent!. It feels wrong to just walk away. But yeah.

I never woulda guessed I'd be talking those days in 1989 like this.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 6:11 PM on November 21, 2012

A Thanksgiving Prayer --William S Burroughs
posted by Golden Eternity at 6:40 PM on November 21, 2012 [2 favorites]

Four days of Banhammerdämmerung!

Happy Thanksgiving, Americans.
I never understood how the Thursday-holiday thing works. So do you start travelling today? Do you actually have your Thanksgiving dinner on the Thursday? Do you get Monday off also?

It's basically a country wide eating contest, only instead of sticking our fingers down our throats right afterward, we go into a 10 hour coma and wake up with a food hangover.
posted by BrotherCaine at 7:31 PM on November 21, 2012 [2 favorites]

Yeah, sure, close down for Thanksgiving, but stay open for the Queen's Birthday.
The second Monday in June, except in Western Australia and Queensland, just in case you're planning something special.
posted by Joe in Australia at 7:34 PM on November 21, 2012

Ah yes, we call that Victoria Day, and it's around the end of May. Pretty much the same holiday though.
posted by Kevin Street at 7:44 PM on November 21, 2012

I have been eating a squash a day this week just to make sure I have room for lunch at my sister's tomorrow. I work today so I travel tomorrow but she's only an hour away from where I am. And I bought an extra thermostat by accident and I may return it on Friday which I think is allowed on Buy Nothing Day?
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:45 PM on November 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

I am confused about how eating squash makes you have room for lunch. Do you mean you're only eating a single squash each day for your only meal, or is there some property of squash that makes your stomach particularly prepared for Thanksgiving?
posted by winna at 7:56 PM on November 21, 2012

jessamyn: "I have been eating a squash a day this week"
How is this not a tumblr?

jessamyn: "And I bought an extra thermostat by accident and I may return it on Friday which I think is allowed on Buy Nothing Day?"

You're compensating for somebody else who buys one, which is, uh, I guess... saintly? Our lady of put on another pair of sweatpants we are not made of money and natural gas.
posted by boo_radley at 7:59 PM on November 21, 2012 [4 favorites]

This will be the first Thanksgiving I have to work in many years, but someone has to make sure we here in the US get all our mail - junk and all. Leave it to my supervisor to schedule me to work on the very first Thanksgiving I would be spending with my in-laws. Ah well, it's double time so I can't really complain. Thanks to the mods for the wonderful job they do here, and a blessed Thanksgiving to all who celebrate it!
posted by Telpethoron at 7:59 PM on November 21, 2012

I have been eating a squash a day this week just to make sure I have room for lunch at my sister's tomorrow.

Okay, I admit to being confused by this. Is it something about squash, or the amount of food, or some other thing?
posted by oneirodynia at 8:09 PM on November 21, 2012

I'm having the traditional American/Lebonese dinner and will be bringing deviled eggs. We will fight over what to watch on tv and I will win because I am bringing deviled eggs.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:18 PM on November 21, 2012 [3 favorites]

Eating squash is useful in many ways... it's big in volume so helps you stretch out your stomach, and it's low in calories so you're saving room for tomorrow's dessert. Actually I just like squash, Thanksgiving is a convenient excuse.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:22 PM on November 21, 2012

Deviled eggs, Brandon? You're a man after my own heart. I love those things, but my wife thinks they're positively evil.
posted by Telpethoron at 8:25 PM on November 21, 2012

I've been eating a whole pig a day this week. I was going to eat squash, but the pigs kept eating them, so I figured fair's fair.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 8:35 PM on November 21, 2012 [5 favorites]

I've been eating squashed pigs all week.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 9:10 PM on November 21, 2012

I am doing the holiday at home, as I am nursing the end, or middle, of something that either is either Tibetan Squid Influenza or the world's most intractable sinus infection. Usually I do the holiday with a friend who puts out a great feast, but since half her family is also down with varied lurgies, we have decided not to cross-contaminate.

After a late run for provisioning -- and sadly, no knife fights over the last sad reject potatoes, come on people, I BROUGHT DICE AND SOME GAMBLING MONEY -- I have now acquired all the goodies for a traditional cmyk Thanksgiving. Which is: whatever I damn well feel like making. This year it's jambalaya. And red velvet cake for dessert.

Not counting the pets (dog, cat, hamster, other cat) it's just me and my mom, so there's no crazed need to put together a spread of all the traditional American bellybusters.

I also got a giant soap dispenser shaped like a cupcake, because by god it's the holidays and nobody can judge me.
posted by cmyk at 9:11 PM on November 21, 2012 [4 favorites]

Hope you feel better, cmyk.

I'm home with the family, too. We were going to go to the parade, but my son has a nasty cough and has been having trouble breathing, so it looks like we're watching it on tv again.

Most of the cooking is done. Tomorrow I'm making a soup (either beer cheese or a broccoli bisque) and some other stuff. Oh, and the kids have already requested waffles for breakfast.
posted by zarq at 9:30 PM on November 21, 2012

Three Myths about Thanksgiving Travel
posted by lordaych at 10:11 PM on November 21, 2012

hey can you turn the img tag back on before you leave

c'mon, it will be really fun cause we'll all be drunk and on the computer instead of talking to our families and we can post cat gifs

┗[© ♒ ©]┛
posted by ninjew at 11:11 PM on November 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

Thanks for reminding me to get out the Squash-a-Day Advent calendar!
posted by FelliniBlank at 11:13 PM on November 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

And the "dinner" is more like three in the afternoon, with all your relatives, and everyone is drunk or napping or glued to the TV by six.

Sort of like Christmas then?

Happy thanksgiving to those what celebrate it; I'll be off tonight to the local sci-fi bookstore to indulge in an extra 10% discount and hopefully some pumpkin pie.
posted by MartinWisse at 11:15 PM on November 21, 2012

there has never been a better time for recipes thread
posted by klangklangston at 11:52 PM on November 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

Most places with a large American expat community have some kind of Thanksgiving celebration organized, typically with very. dry. turkey. as local restaurants attempt to cook turkey for 500 people on the only day of the year they make turkey.

Oh no, that's not something we do for expat Americans around Thanksgiving. The traditional dry and disgusting turkey meal is a mainstay of restaurant cuisine in the UK right through December.
posted by MuffinMan at 12:26 AM on November 22, 2012

Got me a pecan pie and I'm gonna spend the day with pie in one hand and an insulin syringe in the other hand. It's all about balance.
posted by a humble nudibranch at 12:54 AM on November 22, 2012 [1 favorite]

there has never been a better time for recipes thread

How to Serve Man...
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:33 AM on November 22, 2012 [3 favorites]

Whar comes to mind is when Tony Randall explained one night what a Freudian slip was to Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show ---''It's like when you're having Thanksgiving dinner with your loved ones and you turn around to the next person and, rather than asking 'Oh, excuse me, but would you mind passing the mashed potatoes, please...'-- instead, you go 'YOU BITCH! YOU RUINED MY LIFE !! ' "
posted by y2karl at 1:39 AM on November 22, 2012 [6 favorites]

Telpethoron: "Deviled eggs, Brandon? You're a man after my own heart. I love those things, but my wife thinks they're positively evil."

I love Devilled Eggs and that makes them evil. I could probably eat a dozen of the little buggers.
posted by deborah at 1:55 AM on November 22, 2012

I officially declare it the holiday season. I got my clementines today. <3
posted by IndigoRain at 3:12 AM on November 22, 2012

What is half of a deviled egg?
posted by cgc373 at 3:40 AM on November 22, 2012 [2 favorites]

So why don't you get some more non-American moderators then?
posted by salmacis at 4:06 AM on November 22, 2012

So why don't you get some more non-American moderators then?

What? Spell "bolour" with a k?

Because it's like Thanksgiving man. Having non-American moderators isn't going to change that. Most non-Americans have no idea what Thanksgiving is; How could these foreigners possibly moderate on Thanksgiving? It's not even printed in their foreign calendars.
posted by three blind mice at 4:12 AM on November 22, 2012 [2 favorites]

Enjoy your eels America. Happy Thanksgiving
posted by Sailormom at 4:19 AM on November 22, 2012

So why don't you get some more non-American moderators then?

The site still has 24/7 moderation over the holidays, but some Metatalk posts can be very time consuming and stressful, and often require a lot of admin participation and monitoring... and after a history of quite a few wrecked holidays for team mod over the years due to angry Metatalk post blowups, it just seemed like everyone's plans and enjoyment of some relaxed family time didn't have pivot around whether a post was made on the third Thursday of November, for example, versus the Monday afterward.
posted by taz (staff) at 4:35 AM on November 22, 2012

I'm happy to say I'll be spending almost 16 hours of Thanksgiving at work: a nice quiet theater projection booth, behind multiple locked doors..... if all goes well, there'll be minimal contact with anyone. My boss thinks I'm a nice person, because I volunteered so nobody else has to spend the holiday away from their family --- what's not to like? Peace and quiet with holiday pay rates: sounds good to me!

Happy peaceful weekend, y'all, and please pass the gravy.
posted by easily confused at 5:02 AM on November 22, 2012 [5 favorites]

OK, so, I am hanging around my apartment right now, doing some light cleaning waiting for a friend with some fairly serious recently-discovered food issues to blow into town. She sounded kind of down about the "festival of eating,", so I was "hey, come to my place, since my kitchen is better than yours, we will cook a bunch of different things, watch some movies, hang out, and have fun. If we like the stuff we cook, great! If we hate it, we will try something else! This is a make delicious food experiment for you!" So that's the lead in to my meat-, wheat-, soy-, peanut-, and abunchofotherstuff-free Thanksgiving. I'm thankful that I have the resources do something to help my friend and hang out a bit.

And (getting to the point), I'm thankful for MetaFilter. You guys have provided a lot of relief from a stressful work year, some advice that I will be using today, some diversion, some insight, and more than a few laughs. I want to thank the mods for keeping this place running like, well, maybe not like a well-oiled machine, but at least like a creaky 17th C sailing vessel crossing the Atlantic at a bad time of year without losing too many passengers to disease.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:28 AM on November 22, 2012 [1 favorite]

It's become more popular around me to give a four-day weekend in the spring over Easter weekend (Good Friday through Easter Monday) to give people time to travel after Easter Sunday and to make it "match" the fall four-day holiday. I don't know how widespread a thing that is, though.

I think that's creeping religion more than anything else. I sort of suspect a lot of Americans would boggle at the phrase 'Easter Monday', though Wikipedia tells me Texas schools have it off. That said, in first grade or so, I think we got Good Friday off on the grounds it was Good Friday. Then the school realised this was maybe not such a good thing for a public school to be doing, so it became a suspiciously timed 'Day of Non-Instruction'. This being Illinois, parent-teacher conferences plus Casimir Pulaski Day made a massive long weekend in March, at least for the schools. Then again, I only discovered when I went to college that people viewed Easter as something one might travel more than an hour for.
posted by hoyland at 5:41 AM on November 22, 2012

Massachusetts wisely has Marathon Monday Patriots Day in April for some 3 day weekend goodness. I encourage the rest of the country to start celebrating that.
posted by Elementary Penguin at 5:48 AM on November 22, 2012

I'm thankful for a lot of things, big important stuff, but most of all - I'm thankful that we are going out and I neither have to cook or do dishes. Also thankful to the restaurant that will be hosting us for being open today.
posted by sonika at 5:56 AM on November 22, 2012 [1 favorite]

I'm thankful that the bakery that we figured would be out of pies wasn't out of pies after all and so we were able to get a pie and also some very small pies to eat to tide us over since we shouldn't eat the actual pie yet.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:13 AM on November 22, 2012 [8 favorites]

For the other folks with T-day on the calendar: whether you break bread with loved ones, take some time to yourself, or get some sweet holiday-pay hours, I hope you have a lovely day!
posted by batmonkey at 7:26 AM on November 22, 2012

cortex, be careful! Nothing whets a powerful appetite for pie like an earlier, smaller pie! You had best get an emergency pie to tide you over between the small pie and the "real" pie. Not that any pies are more or less real than any others; one should not employ a discriminating mind in the case of pie.

Although, I have to confess, I approach cherry pie with trepidation. I broke a tooth on a pit once, and I always seem to find a pit in every pie, like the baby in the King Cake, although considerably less welcome.
posted by GenjiandProust at 7:40 AM on November 22, 2012 [1 favorite]

Yes, at least one tiny pie should be saved for the 3am pie emergency when you wake up feeling fat and grumpy and confused from nightmares of yourself as one of the macy's parade balloons all stuffed with fucking potatoes and you just need some more damn pie to make everything okay again.
posted by elizardbits at 8:11 AM on November 22, 2012 [3 favorites]

I'm thankful that my better half finally has a kitchen of her own to make Thanksgiving in, after several years of couching and living in a motel. I already told my bosses to expect me to sleep through work on Black Friday in a post-food coma.

I don't understand why there would be a problem with this plan.
posted by mrmorgan at 8:25 AM on November 22, 2012 [1 favorite]

Yeah, Thanksgiving 2012 came through Toronto back in October, when it wasn't such a big thing yet. I wasn't going to go, because it sounded a lot like Christmas 2011 which really sucked, but one of my friends had an extra seat so I thought why not. It was a small venue, packed to the gills, and a really weird mix of people in the crowd. Even some parents who brought their kids. A lot of people got pissed off because it was late starting. Once the show got going though, the crowd just ate it up. When they bit the leg off that bird right on stage everyone went insane. I don't think it was real blood though, probably cranberry sauce or something. Anyways it was fucking awesome. You guys in the States are going to love it, especially with Black Friday tossed in the mix (Black Friday always gets stopped at the Canadian border).

Speaking of which, you guys should totally check out Canada Day. HUGE following up here.
posted by Kabanos at 8:36 AM on November 22, 2012 [1 favorite]

Serenity now!
posted by not_on_display at 8:40 AM on November 22, 2012

Firefly later!
posted by The Whelk at 8:45 AM on November 22, 2012 [10 favorites]

Happy thanksgiving everyone.
posted by 4ster at 8:57 AM on November 22, 2012

Let me apologize in advance then, and promise not to do it again. I didn't release that whatever I am about to do was against the rules.
posted by StickyCarpet at 9:01 AM on November 22, 2012

Convinced that you are really sorry and won't do it again in advance, we already unbanned you tomorrow!
posted by taz (staff) at 9:14 AM on November 22, 2012 [4 favorites]

Eating squash is useful in many ways... it's big in volume so helps you stretch out your stomach, and it's low in calories so you're saving room for tomorrow's dessert.

Huh, I did not know that about squash, but it makes sense. Squash is super cheap where I live, I should be eating more of it.
posted by oneirodynia at 9:16 AM on November 22, 2012

"Black Friday always gets stopped at the Canadian border"

Nah, they're trying to get it started here. The flyers this week have been full of "Black Friday" specials. But there's no reason for the sale here, and everyone is saving up for Boxing Day anyway, so I don't think the retailers will have much luck.
posted by Kevin Street at 12:34 PM on November 22, 2012

I don't know if this is a recipes thread or what, but I have the best, simplest, deliciousest way to cook winter squash, in a non-sweet preparation that my squash-hating husband adores.

Thanksgiving is at my brother's house this year, and he is doing turkey + stuffing + pie and I'm doing all the sides. Somehow this morphed from 3 dishes to 6 over the past week, I'm still not sure how. Bacon-roasted brussels sprouts, parsnip-chestnut puree, mashed potatoes, char-roasted squash, cranberry sauce, and steamed asparagus. Perhaps overkill given that there's going to be 4 adults and 2 small children, though.
posted by KathrynT at 12:50 PM on November 22, 2012

In honor of the holiday, A Haiku:

Thanksgiving dinner:
Eat until your fly rips open.
Then eat some more pie.
posted by easily confused at 4:30 PM on November 22, 2012 [1 favorite]

We had what I would call a really lovely Thanksgiving today. The leaves were turning but it was beautifully mild out. There was just the right number of people so that the house was full but you could retire to a quiet corner and page through the massive pile of Black Friday ads for things you had no intention of standing in line at 5am to buy. The food was good and there was no weird Jello salad in evidence (one relative was missing which means now I know who the hell's been bringing that in the past). My kid managed to eat at least one piece of turkey before demanding cake. My brother in law, a conservative, voiced his disgust with the high salaries of CEOs vs. the low salaries of the workers. There was much to be thankful for.

There was only one disappointment; my sister in law agreed that although the desserts were good, there was a lack of chocolate pie or lemon pie. So next year I'll bring one and she'll bring the other.
posted by emjaybee at 6:05 PM on November 22, 2012

KathrynT, please share your super delicious squash recipe!
posted by nonmerci at 6:05 PM on November 22, 2012

Do you get Monday off also?

First day of hunting season here in PA! Lots of people take the day off to go out and shoot Bambi. Lots of the school districts don't open until Tuesday so that the students and teachers can go bag some venison.
posted by octothorpe at 6:22 PM on November 22, 2012

I tried to post a sexism on Metafilter Metatalk and it didn't show up so I posted a Metatalk about it not showing up and now that didn't show up. Hope me.
posted by Justinian at 6:34 PM on November 22, 2012

Vleh! Happy fangsgiving!
posted by aubilenon at 8:29 PM on November 22, 2012

"Suckers. I totally cut in line."

It's really more of a continuum.
posted by Eideteker at 9:43 PM on November 22, 2012

My post isn't approved yet. What gives?
posted by Burhanistan at 10:27 PM on November 22, 2012 [1 favorite]

KathrynT, please share your super delicious squash recipe!

It's barely a recipe. This is delicious with all kinds of winter squash except spaghetti, but I particularly like it with dense, orange-fleshed squashes like Sunshine and kabocha. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Peel, seed, and slice a winter squash into slices about 1" thick. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil, and put the squash slices on that; brush with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and bake for about 15 minutes. Turn the slices over, more oil, more salt, another 15 minutes.

Then -- and this is the secret -- put it UNDER THE BROILER for 3-5 minutes! This brings all the sugars to the top and caramelizes them, you want there to be substantial dark brown bits, maybe even a little black, it doesn't taste burned, just delicious. I served this to a bunch of people who were dubious about squash at best last night, and every one of them said "Oh my god this is so good!"
posted by KathrynT at 10:19 AM on November 23, 2012 [9 favorites]

My post isn't approved yet. What gives?

How can you just sit there with all those unread MeMails? That would gnaw away at my soul.

Also: Best ham glaze ever: 2 cups fresh squeezed orange juice, reduced by about 1/3, 4 tbsp brown sugar & a hefty amount (1 tbsp?) of Chipotle Tabasco, thickened a bit with corn starch. I think I'll go have some for lunch right now, as a matter of fact.
posted by Devils Rancher at 10:48 AM on November 23, 2012

The only proper way to roast an acorn squash is to slice it in half, scoop out the seeds, fill the middle with maple syrup, and then cook it for an hour at 350F. There. Done. You can't beat that.
posted by maryr at 1:00 PM on November 23, 2012

Roasted Delicata squash salad with miso-harissa dressing (SO good).
posted by Lexica at 8:10 PM on November 23, 2012 [3 favorites]

I was walking down the cellar stairs like a boss that doesn't believe in ghosts, when I felt skeletal fingers pull at my ankles 2/3'rds of the way down. I fell, and tumbled ass-over-tea-kettle, and at the bottom of the cellar stairs, I paused, and took stock:

I was still breathing.
There was no blood gushing.
There were no broken bones.
There was no bruising, anywhere, despite the violent, sudden nature of the fall.
I never lost consciousness.

"Son of a bitch, you tried to kill me," I roared... "But that's not your problem. No, the problem is..."

"YOU. FAILED."

Something in the dark hissed and sputtered and was no more.

That's a lot like what the Holiday Queue is like. Only with more ghosts and roaring.
posted by Slap*Happy at 9:35 PM on November 24, 2012 [1 favorite]

Thank you very much for this. I put up a few squash photos (some are old)
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 4:31 PM on November 26, 2012