Reader Friday: Favorite Holiday Dish

Hope you all had an amazing Thanksgiving!

What did you do? Describe the scene.

What was your favorite dish? Yes, dessert counts. πŸ˜‰Β Β 

 

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About Sue Coletta

Sue Coletta is an award-winning crime writer and an active member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and International Thriller Writers. Feedspot and Expertido.org named her Murder Blog as β€œBest 100 Crime Blogs on the Net.” She also blogs at the Kill Zone, Story Empire, and Writers Helping Writers. Sue lives with her husband in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. Her backlist includes psychological thrillers, the Mayhem Series (books 1-3) and Grafton County Series, and true crime/narrative nonfiction. Now, she exclusively writes eco-thrillers, Mayhem Series (books 4-8 and continuing). Sue's appeared on the Emmy award-winning true crime series, Storm of Suspicion, and three episodes of A Time to Kill on Investigation Discovery. Learn more about Sue and her books at https://suecoletta.com

38 thoughts on “Reader Friday: Favorite Holiday Dish

  1. Thank you, Sue. I hope that you a great Thanksgiving as well. Maybe you’ll answer your own questions today. We’d love to know the answers.

    To answer: Due to work schedules and extended familial obligations we’re doing Thanksgiving in shifts. On the day of, however, I made dinner and my younger son came over. We ate for about 45 minutes and talked for 3 hours. It was a terrific day. More to come.

    My favorite dish? Crockpot honey garlic meatballs.

    • Sounds lovely, Joe. The crockpot honey garlic meatballs have my mouth watering! I’d love the recipe, too, unless it’s a family secret. πŸ™‚

      Y’know, I didn’t realize till now that I rarely, if ever, answer my own questions. Okie doke, here goes…

      Bob and I host Christmas Eve, which requires weeks of planning — decorating, shopping, cooking, baking — but I don’t mind. My family’s smiling faces and the overall happy buzz that day makes all the work worthwhile.

      Thanksgiving we spend alone, just the two of us. I cook a full Thanksgiving meal, watch a little football, and relax. After we eat, Bob drags down the Christmas tree and decorations and I begin “decking the halls.”

      The day after Thanksgiving, I try to finish my online Christmas shopping and by the end of the weekend, the house should be fully decorated, inside and out. That leaves only our yearly trip to Tanger Outlets for the kids’ stocking stuffers, Yankee Candles and Bed, Bath, and Beyond for the Coletta women, and OshKosh B’Gosh/Carter’s to buy pajamas for kids in need. It’s my favorite time of year. πŸ™‚

  2. All three kids, including our daughter from Northern Ireland gathered and talked. Lots of talk, memories, and good food. Favorite dish is probably the traditional dressing which has been a standard for decades. The turkey’s a given, but everything else varies depending on who volunteers to bring what. A recent addition is a chocolate bourbon pumpkin cheesecake, which may end up being the next dessert standard.

    • Ooh, that sounds delicious, Terry! I followed your turkey tip yesterday. The bird came out moist and delicious. It even shaved off cooking time. Thanks again. πŸ™‚

  3. This year, for the first time, son and DIL handled it all. They carried it off beautifully. Spatchcocked turkey was juicy goodness, and I’m a big fan of homemade cranberry sauce. DIL also made, from scratch, both pumpkin and apple pies. Older couple next door had plans fall through when their would-be host took ill. So son invited them to join us, and it was a delight getting to know them better….exactly 400 years since that first Thanksgiving when the Wampanoag joined the Plymouth colony for a feast of fowl, venison, lobster, mussels and pumpkin custard.

  4. Thank you, Sue. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving, too.

    I agree with Joe, we want to hear about your day.

    Favorite food first: sweet potato casserole. Wow, it should be considered a dessert.

    Scene setting: Half of our crew was recovering or exposed to Covid, so we had only 4 guests, son, daughter-in-law, and their two children. We needed an activity other than sitting and eating. I set up the cornhole game inside with the boards only 15 feet apart – close enough that everyone scored points frequently. The kids loved it, especially Aves when she consistently beat big brother Scout.

    Have a great weekend of recovery from the feasting.

    • What a great idea to bring cornhole inside, Steve! Hope your family feels better soon. I’ll include them in my prayers. Yes, I know what you mean about sweet potato casserole. Delicious.

      We had a lovely day (answered in detail in my response to Joe). Forgot to include the food winner. This year I veered away from my usual chestnut stuffing and baked cornbread stuffing instead. The raisins added to the burst of flavors. My husband asked me to make this our usual stuffing from here on out. Thanks for asking. Wishing you a great weekend, too!

  5. We gathered at my brother-in-law’s in the country. Quite the spread of turkey, potatoes, fruit salad, salad, and my favorite, my wife’s stuffing with wild rice and sausage. Very tasty. And then, an array of pies for dessert. After dessert, we watched part of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 Turkey Day marathon, starting with “Avalanche,” starring Rock Hudson and Mia Farrow. Cheesy fun.

    Hope you had a great Thanksgiving as well, Sue!

  6. This was the year of our Franken-Thanksgiving. Back in July, my wife and I sold our house to take advantage of the screaming markets and moved into a tiny apartment to bide time till our new house is finished. Then, a month ago, our son (35) fell at work and sustained a bad break in his leg. It will be another 8 weeks or so until he can put any weight on the leg, and since his condo is a severe two levels, he moved into our apartment with us, complete with wheelchair, walker and assorted accoutrement.

    So, for Thanksgiving, I cooked a turkey breast in a pressure cooker, bought a pumpkin pie, cooked up dressing, potatoes and green bean casserole, opened a can of Ocean Spray jellied cranberry sauce (my favorite!) and settled in for a card table feast in front of a fireplace video from Netflix.

    You know what? It was kinda cool. Typically, Thanksgiving is an exercise in exhaustion. I love every minute of it, but between the siblings and the little kids and the dogs and the simultaneous conversations, I always feel drained. This year, with just the three of us, we had lots of laughs and quiet discussions. When politics came up, we all agreed with each other!

    This time next year, when we’re in our dream home and Chris is walking right, we may keep it small again, though I guarantee that the fire in the fireplace will be real!

    • Sounds like a beautiful day, John. Intimate gatherings can be more meaningful, time to celebrate the blessings you do have. Next year, I suspect, you’ll look back on this Thanksgiving with heartfelt appreciation. Hope you son makes a speedy recovery!

      I’ve never cooked a turkey in a pressure cooker, but I understand they come out wonderful. Ocean Spray cran is our favorite, too. πŸ™‚

  7. Thanks, Sue. Friends drove over for our Thanksgiving, and they brought homemade pie (apple and pumpkin), along with wine. We had turkey, pear-broccoli salad, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes and mac and cheese, all from The Fresh Market. (I’m not a good cook, but I can warm up food just fine.) Mac and cheese is a traditional dish in many households. One of Thomas Jefferson’s enslaved sons by Sally Hemmings was an amazing chef who studied in Paris. He brought the dish back to the US and popularized it. Originally, the pasta was cooked in the milk. Yesterday was a good day with lots of laughter and toasts.

    • Fascinating, Elaine. I didn’t know the history of mac ‘n cheese. It’s a fan-favorite around here, too! Sounds like a wonderful time you had. I’m so glad.

  8. Yesterday was great. It was just the four of us (Hubby, Son, Daughter, et moi). I miss the big family Thanksgivings we used to have when most of my family still lived in town, but my three introverts prefer the quiet.

    I cooked and baked all day – pumpkin pie, pecan pie (I miss the pecan trees back home), brownies for the non-pie people. Terry’s turkey turned out great – thank you! Green beans, peas, cornbread dressing, lots of gravy, bourbon sweet potatoes, rolls.

    Today the pups and I are curled up on the couch reading the Outlander series (how did I miss that the first time around?)

    Happy Recovery Day, y’all!

  9. Number Two Son called us from up north. Number One Son cooked everything and bought the chips & dip. Wife and I were in charge of dining. Full plates and a Nerdflix Japanese neo-noir Western space epic staved off ghosts of Thanksgivings Past. Then apple pie and back to the writing. And a little more apple pie.

  10. We sit around the table, decorated only with smiling family, everyday plates, and sliced turkey growing cold on the platter. One by one, we name something we are thankful for. Yet again, the hubster makes me cry, but this year I bawled.
    β€œI am thankful for the angel wife God sent me, a (censored, sexual joke), but an angel nonetheless.”
    The cold turkey never tasted so good.

    Fave dish? Pumpkin pie in a pool of real whipped cream only slightly sweetened so that the pie is highlighted. OMGosh, heavenly.

  11. Everyone’s Thanksgiving sounded wonderful. With family working and almost a thousand mikes away, dinner (Around noon) was quiet with three friends joining me around the table. Favorite dish? Sweet Potato Casserole that I do treat as a dessert. πŸ˜‰

    • Ooh, I love sweet potato casserole, Patricia! Haven’t made it in years. Maybe I’ll add it to the Christmas Eve menu.

      Your quiet Thanksgiving sounds nice. Great food, dear friends, good time. What more can we ask for?

  12. Husband, son and I had dinner at a restaurant in Austin that has become a tradition. We had a wonderful meal with no cleanup. πŸ™‚

    We retired to son’s home for our favorite dessert: sticky toffee pudding.

    And then I took a nap.

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