My flight was cancelled Tues with no apparent rationale, and there are no tickets available for the next flight out Friday, so it looks like my Turkemenistan travel plans have been thwarted. While I like Ashgabat and would have enjoyed the balmy weather there, I'm not terribly distraught over not having to jam in one last trip before I head back to the US next month.
Funny how Thanksgiving seems like such a hassle back home (where are we going? How much time wasted driving/buying tickets/flying? The shopping, the lines, the crowds, the rude people, the hassle....). So far away from it now, I'm looking at websites with Turkeys and shoppers fondly. Am I really starting to appreciate an American tradition?? When I explained the whole Thanksgiving concept to people, they thought it was really cool, being grateful, being together with family, eating wayyyyy too many mashed potatoes and pecan pie... (And it is really cool---if you conveniently ignore the fact that the very people who ate the Native American's food that day ended up slaughtering the hands that fed them.) It's just that given all of the work and hassle when you're in the middle of it, it can definitely feel like a PITA.
But now I am fondly remembering flying to Chicago and braving the crowds at O'Hare, or loading up the car with Pookie and food (always some sort of roast, since John hates turkey) for the looong drive up to Warren to celebrate with Steve's brother. There was the yummy Turkducken phase we went through. I've done Thanksgiving at my parents' house, my godparents' house, my godsister's house, Steve's house, the McCool family homestead, the house in DC with Maria (drunk on cheap chardonnay and eating rice-a-roni, because all the stores closed before we decided to go shopping), and a few other places. Good times. So enjoy your holiday! I'm even fondly remembering watching truck drivers pee from their cabs while walking Pookie at the PA rest stop. Our routine was that I would walk the dog and scoop the poop while Steve got us Starbucks. Then I'd go in to pee while he'd sit in the car with the dog, waiting. Poor Steve has to do all of that today without me. *sniff, sniff* But I'll be back to do the drill over Christmas, so all I'll have another chance to do the rest stop dance....with the gazillion other travellers doing the same. *sigh* Now it's all coming back to me....why I thought it wasn't that much fun at the time.
For some reason the Shop-Rite stores on the east coast have worked out some deal with Kazakhstan, and last night at the grocery store I picked up a box of Shop-Rite brand mac-n-cheese. I guess I was feeling REALLY nostalgic for the US to eat that crud. (I was watching a movie the other day and saw someone eating a hot dog. I was like "Damn, I really want a hot dog!" And I average about 1 hot dog every other year.) Maybe it's just that I'm nostalgic for the food?!??? Steve and I are already discussing which restaurants we're going to hit when I get home to celebrate. Bawlmer-based readers, I'd love to take your suggestions. Especially any great new places that have opened while I've been away. (Abacrombie was at the top of my list, but it closed! Wah.) I am interested in tasting menus paired with wine flights so that I can maximize the amount of yummy things I consume in my first night out.
Funny how Thanksgiving seems like such a hassle back home (where are we going? How much time wasted driving/buying tickets/flying? The shopping, the lines, the crowds, the rude people, the hassle....). So far away from it now, I'm looking at websites with Turkeys and shoppers fondly. Am I really starting to appreciate an American tradition?? When I explained the whole Thanksgiving concept to people, they thought it was really cool, being grateful, being together with family, eating wayyyyy too many mashed potatoes and pecan pie... (And it is really cool---if you conveniently ignore the fact that the very people who ate the Native American's food that day ended up slaughtering the hands that fed them.) It's just that given all of the work and hassle when you're in the middle of it, it can definitely feel like a PITA.
But now I am fondly remembering flying to Chicago and braving the crowds at O'Hare, or loading up the car with Pookie and food (always some sort of roast, since John hates turkey) for the looong drive up to Warren to celebrate with Steve's brother. There was the yummy Turkducken phase we went through. I've done Thanksgiving at my parents' house, my godparents' house, my godsister's house, Steve's house, the McCool family homestead, the house in DC with Maria (drunk on cheap chardonnay and eating rice-a-roni, because all the stores closed before we decided to go shopping), and a few other places. Good times. So enjoy your holiday! I'm even fondly remembering watching truck drivers pee from their cabs while walking Pookie at the PA rest stop. Our routine was that I would walk the dog and scoop the poop while Steve got us Starbucks. Then I'd go in to pee while he'd sit in the car with the dog, waiting. Poor Steve has to do all of that today without me. *sniff, sniff* But I'll be back to do the drill over Christmas, so all I'll have another chance to do the rest stop dance....with the gazillion other travellers doing the same. *sigh* Now it's all coming back to me....why I thought it wasn't that much fun at the time.For some reason the Shop-Rite stores on the east coast have worked out some deal with Kazakhstan, and last night at the grocery store I picked up a box of Shop-Rite brand mac-n-cheese. I guess I was feeling REALLY nostalgic for the US to eat that crud. (I was watching a movie the other day and saw someone eating a hot dog. I was like "Damn, I really want a hot dog!" And I average about 1 hot dog every other year.) Maybe it's just that I'm nostalgic for the food?!??? Steve and I are already discussing which restaurants we're going to hit when I get home to celebrate. Bawlmer-based readers, I'd love to take your suggestions. Especially any great new places that have opened while I've been away. (Abacrombie was at the top of my list, but it closed! Wah.) I am interested in tasting menus paired with wine flights so that I can maximize the amount of yummy things I consume in my first night out.
1 comment:
V - you brought back great memories of your first Turkey-day in DC. Have yet to repeat the Egg roll wrappers as a Thanksgiving staple. If I ever host, we can start a new tradition! See ya soon! xoxo,M
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