this isn't a new thing. the holiday protest happens quite a bit, and nobody ever believes me. my favorite time was when we drove around looking for a place to eat, couldn't find anything open, and ended up at Bobby and Steve's Auto World in Minneapolis.
was that easter? i think i was easter. We left with boiled eggs, giant pickles, and pop. a memory to cherish.
edit: okay, i realize this makes me look really bad, so i have to tell the rest of the story.
at the time of the bobby and steve family event i didn't live in the twin cities. i flew in to see my kids. they picked me up at the airport and we drove around looking for a place to eat. could not find one freakin' place. so the siblings start arguing about who should have been on top of the restaurant thing, and maybe someone should have actually thought about PREPARING a meal. the argument continues as the car flies up and down a deserted EAT STREET. we were the only people alive in all of minneapolis. if you really want to check out a place, do it on a holiday because it's apocalyptic.
but lucky for us bobby and steve's is open all day, every day.
17 comments:
Too, too funny. I think Bobby & Steve's would definitely be one for the books. Actually, would be funny in a story or novel.
I confess to being a hopeless traditionalist when it comes to Thanksgiving. This year it's just me & the hubster, but I'm doing the whole spiel - turkey 'n dressing, garlic mashed potatoes and gravy, homemade cherry pie & lots of wine. Okay, I hate pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce and that nasty green bean casserole thing, but I'm pretty much down for the rest of it. Except for football. Can't get with that, either. Mebbe I'm not such a traditionalist after all...
Okay, next time I come to Twin Cities, Anne, we're going to Bobby and Steve's. No more of this healthy Greek pizza business.
We'll be doing the traditional stuff on Thurs -- as usual. Not sure who will be there. One of the kids. A grandkid? Two? Three? Who knows? My mom. Chuck and Susan. If you guys are starving, drive down. I promise to feed you. Guaranteed.
angie, that sounds yummy! i love pumpkin pie, but i know nothing about football. if my interest could be in negative numbers, that's where it would be.
anne, if i lived closer i'd be there in a second!!! i might even bring a pie, because that's one thing i do know how to make without people groaning when they smell it. and i'm not talking groans of delight, but rather groans of despair.
when my daughter was in grade school she would step in the door and start sobbing the second she smelled dinner cooking.
I think holidays can be overrated. I used to get sick after Christmas every year.
And you know what? Your story is memorable. How many of us have gone through the same polite drivel year after year that we forget? At least your story is original.
sandra, so true. i call it the holiday of mass delusion going all the way back to why it's being celebrated in the first place, to having to hang out with people you never have anything to do with and can't relate to. i did that for years, and it was excruciating. i'm all for tradition and getting together with friends -- but those obligatory events -- i'll never do another one. ever.
I'm not looking forward to Thanksgiving at all. I spend the entire day in the friggen kitchen and then they slurp it up in less than ten minutes.
When I lived in Philly, I invited people to my house. I'd feed all takers, there was always room at the table for one more. Here in Phoenix, we do Thanksgiving by ourselves. Everybody else is off with family, or away.
This year, by some miracle, the husband has the week off. We're going to Philly. We'll see most of the family, including my nephew, who's in the Navy. Don't know when we'll get a chance for Thanksgiving in Philly again. I plan to savor it.
Which is to say - we'll be here in Phoenix next year, Anne. So if you need a place to eat, my table is available.
I think Criss Roberts has the best plan I've heard so far: first you get a case or two of wine and then...Oh,well, who cares after that?!?
At least you guys will be together and that's what counts, right? =D Who needs turkey? Just makes you get sleepy, anyway. haha!
"when my daughter was in grade school she would step in the door and start sobbing the second she smelled dinner cooking."
LOL
Okay, I admit it. I'm one of those guys who loves to cook, especially for the holidays. My wife loves it. It began when I was about eight years old and my grandmother would let me "help out" with the meal.
I use nothing pre-packaged. Turkey and dressing, real mashed potatoes,green vegetable (fresh green beans this year, I think), and homemade noodles. I think I'll go with pecan and blueberry pies this year instead of pumpkin. Oh, and yeast rolls. I don't want to forget those. :)
tanya, that's just what i'm talking about!!
and i'd kinda like people to help just because they want to help; i don't want to have to kick them in the ass.
mindy, enjoy your trip to philly! and thanks for the invitation. that's so sweet of you!
dee, i think criss' plan is a sound one. just hide the guns.
kelly, that's right! i think we've decided on a vietnamese place. of course we could go to bobby and steve's for old time's sake.
wow, jeff. that sounds like a norman rockwell feast!
Last year was the first year we ate at a restaurant and the best Thanksgiving ever. Not to have to satisfy the expectations of a crowd was such a pleasure. And not to feel resentment that our day was spent in the kitchen and our night cleaning up while others watched football games with their feet up.
Thanks for places open on Thanksiving.
As usual, being the greedy glutton I am, I have had the best of both worlds. After my dad and mom separated and Paul entered our lives, the big feast holidays all continued as usual at mom's, just with one extra person. Turkey, the pewter gravy boat, mom's amazing stuffing, the pewter wine goblets and that time Grandma asked for more and upended the heavy goblet of invisible white wine to prove she needed more...
But the days around the holiday feast are just as quiet, especially at Thanksgiving (a three-day weekend in Canada) and Christmas (Mom and Paul liked to do dinner Christmas Eve), and when I lived with Dad... we joined the pub staff for their special staff dinners, we got take-out the day before and reheated it, we had breakfast sausage sandwiches with apple sauce on halva... hhhhmmm... and of course, we called on the fine tradition of Swiss Chalet chicken and chips delivery! Woot!
My family traditions mostly center around food, wine, and loud conversation with so many interruptions that you leave knowing you meant to say something and didn't get a chance, but still totally satisfied that you'd won whatever the argument happened to be.
I miss that. Luther and his kids are more about eating and leaving as soon as they're finished, but we try to relax a little more each time, and pretend we're at a table in a square in Athens with feta and pita and little glasses of beer, and it's lovely.
This year I have the man to myself at last. I think... for Thanksgiving, hmm. I think we might just see if the sushi place is open.
Oh yeah, and to prove what a greedy glutton I am, now that I live in the States... I do Thanksgiving TWICE. Hahaha! Beat that!
I enjoy the food aspect of the holidays, but the not the decorating and buying presents part. For Thanksgiving, I always make the stuffing for the big family shindig at my wife's folks' house. It is internationally famous, and features more butter per cubic gram than butter itself does.
For Thanksgiving dinner out, hotels often serve a Thanksgiving dinner, and it's not unusual for it to be offered either standard restaurant style or family style. You might need to make a reservation. I've had a few Thanksgiving dinners in hotels in my day, and in all honesty, I've never been disappointed. You want it to be a decent hotel, of course!
I think I would feel right at home at Bekbek's family dinners!
patti -- wow, that's it exactly. I even enjoyed our holiday at bobby and steve's simply because it meant i wasn't cooking.
bekbek -- i think that was always my problem with the big meals. people would eat and run. i loved your descriptions and memories!
"you leave knowing you meant to say something and didn't get a chance, but still totally satisfied that you'd won whatever the argument happened to be." :)
bill: It is internationally famous, and features more butter per cubic gram than butter itself does. LOL!
i wondered about hotels and was thinking they surely have to be open! thanks!
Happy Thanksgiving Day, Anne!
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