Turkeys or Chickens?

My friend, Regina of Monster Crochet crochets all sorts of clever things. This year she is crocheting an entire Thanksgiving meal. Check out her blog in the next few days for the display. Above is her incredible bird, Turkeyzilla.

There's a trend toward preparing chicken for Thanksgiving instead of the traditional turkey. We eat chicken all the time, so eating turkey at Thanksgiving is a treat for us. My aunt and uncle host the dinner for our family. During the last few years, they haven't been cooking at home, they've invited us out to Thanksgiving dinner. It's always lovely, but it's just not the same as having turkey at home. Also, THERE ARE NO LEFTOVERS!!! Isn't that what Thanksgiving is all about? Leftover turkey for sandwiches, turkey tetrazini, turkey croquettes, turkey tacos and finally using the carcass for turkey soup! I'll probably end up cooking a small T-giving dinner just for us at home so we can have leftovers.

I was listening to the radio last week and someone was talking about cooking lamb chops for Thanksgiving dinner! Many of my vegetarian friends go crazy making faboo sidedishes and then have tofu-turkey loaf or bulgur burgers for the main dish. One year my aunt wanted to be fancy and she served squab instead of turkey. We were all very disappointed. I don't think it's about food that tastes good, it's about food that tastes familiar.

Back to chickens. Ever since Chicken Boy roosted in our backyard for almost 10 years, we've been very interested in all things chicken. Chicken Boy is now close to being hoisted up high above Los Angeles once again, so he can look out at his many admirers. I'm making hats for all of my friends for Christmas and Chanukah this year. I've made Chicken Boy's mom, Amy, a chicken hat. Of course, my skillful and talented friend Regina designed this marvelous chicken hat. I just had to have the pattern! She hadn't written up the pattern yet, so she told me the pattern over the phone. Regina knows how to talk a good pattern. My hat is different than hers, but it came out great. I had to have many people model the hat for me. Thanks to Laura, Elaine and Laurie for use of their chicken headshots.

So, my vote for Thanksgiving dinner is the traditional turkey. For hat wearing and other fun displays, my vote is for chicken! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!