112509 Thanksgiving Dinner Must-Haves

I have the unique opportunity every year to go to a minimum of two Thanksgiving Day Dinner’s. There have been other years where I have visited other people’s family’s for what ever other reason for lunch or early mid-afternoon meals. But for dinner I have pretty much always had two dinners. This is in part due to my parent’s separating but it was something where my grandma on my Japanese side always liked to things herself in her own home. So the journey is we have dinner at 5pm at my Japanese grandma’s house which consists of myself, my sister, dad and grandma. Then after that and trying our best to pace ourselves around 630ish my sister and I will head to our Chinese side. This consists usually of my sister and me, my mom, at least 5 uncles and aunt’s, our Chinese grandma and at least 8 cousins and others. Here is the list of the top 11 items that I need to see at Thanksgiving dinner though as we seem to have quite the variety of food between the two meals.

What are some of the things you need to eat on Thanksgiving Day? Every family has it’s own traditions, maybe it’s Chinese Dinner .

Honorable mention goes to Turducken (we had it last year for the first time), good gravy (this is a given), some Korean dish (my aunt and cousin always make something good for dinner every year)

11. Casserole, some type. It’s one of the times of the year I will eat it.
10.Turkey, it made the list because it is tradition but I actually don’t care for it to much. It causes the ‘itis too!
9. Honey baked ham. This also made the list due to tradition. It is not my favorite thing in the world, but I eat it during the holiday’s only.
8. Good cup of coffee or hot cocoa. As I have grown older I realized how good a cup of something hot is in your hands to sip on through the night. A nice tea is refreshing as well.
7. Nigiri. Yup you read that right, raw fresh fish. Somehow on my Chinese side my uncle’s love it. So I always get to enjoy some of this delectable treat. It’s a big difference then most dinners, but it’s now a staple at our gatherings.
6. Sweet yams and/or potatoes. Ohh man, marshmallow topping and I am good.
5. Cranberry anything. With the meal as a whole it seems to fit in perfectly. Whether it be just sauce or fresh cranberry is one of those things I have and it mixes with the other parts of your plate.
4. Pie, apple or pumpkin during this time for me please. Pecan is good but you can’t fail with good old faithful. I am wondering how it will be this year with the pumpkin pie shortage.
3. Stuffing aka Dressing. When I was kid I used to have more of this then potatoes, but over the years my tastes have changed. It is still something I need to have though. It completes the meal and I rarely eat this except on Turkey Day.
2. Mashed potatoes. I love mashed potatoes not the KFC kind. I actually enjoy lumpy potatoes (I like OJ with some pulp too), not to creamy. Garlic, chives, sour cream, cheese, all those extra’s are never a bad idea.
1. Prime Rib. Somehow we have it at least in one of the stops and I love having prime rib. It’s glorious. I nice medium or medium-rare cut with some fat, some good au juis and hopefully some spicy horseradish. My mouth salivates just thinking about it.

Actually the list is incorrect. The list should be only be 1 item long. Nothing else matters or would matter without this. The real #1 Thanksgiving Dinner must have is actually being with family and friends, this actually would make any meal fantastic.