Happy Thanksgiving!

To date, Thanksgiving happens to be one of the most important and celebrated festivals in the US and it is all about 'GORGING GOOD FOOD'! Thanksgiving meal is a special one for which you need to gear up early – probably days ahead of the fourth Thursday of November! And if you've started prepping, rush to the grocery store early or you may fail to get those special salt and seasonings for your Thanksgiving menu!

History of Thanksgiving

Need a bit of schooling up on what Thanksgiving is? Well, if you are a native American you do not need that, but if you're not, here's what Thanksgiving is all about. Legend holds it that Thanksgiving is the ceremony of celebrating the fall harvest and the anecdote that underlies this tradition goes like this:

On the 11th of December, 1620, 46 out of 102 colonists (British Separatists) lost their lives. Later, they had learned to take care of their crops and also survive the harsh cold winters of this foreign land. The Wampanoag Indians had helped them in learning how to do the same. The year next, that is, the summer of 1621 was flooded with overwhelming amounts of harvest. The celebrations that followed to commemorate this event were magnanimous!

Events to make the day eventful!

Thanksgiving is dotted with colorful celebrations throughout the day! Here are some of them (in case you have recently been to the place!) –

Watching the Presidential Turkey pardon

This is a tradition of sparing those birds from slaughter! Since the mid-20th century, the President of America ‘pardons’ one or two Turkeys each year. This saves them from being slaughtered.

The American Football event

Football is an important ingredient of the Thanksgiving celebrations. You get to cheer for your favorite team and that probably wears you out and makes you hungrier for the ‘most-awaited’ Thanksgiving Dinner!

Macy’s Thanksgiving parade

The streets are dotted with marching bands, parade shows, giant helium balloons, and so on. You can watch them being streamlined on some news channel or other media sites. Else, find your spot on the route to watch the event live!

Thanksgiving Facts

Thanksgiving Dinner

Thanksgiving Turkey

No matter which continent you belong to, you are certainly familiar with this – yes, it’s all about Turkey! If yours is a non-vegetarian household, Turkey flavored food is a must-have thing to feast upon on Thanksgiving day. Most Americans prefer a deliciously roasted Turkey to a fried or a brined one.

The very first step for a perfectly roasted Turkey is thawing and that (thawing duration) depends upon the weight of your bird. For instance, it's a period of 1 to 3 days for a 12-pound bird and about 5 to 6 days for a 24-pound bird!

A lot of other things precede the roasting process and ‘seasoning’ is the most interesting part that you need to work upon. Rubbing some room-temperature salted butter all over the bird by slowly working your fingers a little under the skin and mostly over the skin.

You can fill the large cavity with some kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. The same amount of salt is to be applied over the skin. Only, if yours is a kosher turkey you can skip the step mentioned in the last sentence (filling of the large cavity)!

Pumpkin Pie

This is a quintessential dessert for your Thanksgiving party. Pumpkin is the symbol of harvest for the Thanksgiving event. Eggs, cream, cornstarch, etc. all contribute to its rich, creamy, and luxurious texture!

Mashed Potatoes

They are the best ones to be mixed in that meat gravy and hence are an important part of every Thanksgiving meal!

Cranberry sauce

You can easily get the canned variety of this sauce. This one's a tart and sweet sauce that simply adds to the spice and flavor of the soft, fleshy, and meaty Turkey.

Well, all of this might sound a lot. There's no thumb rule as to what's to be done and what's not to be done! While shopping you might also end up on lancets and lancing devices for your aging parents suffering from diabetes! Only the purpose of the celebration needs to be remembered – giving thanks and conveying gratitude to your dear ones and of course in remembrance of a moment that bought two different cultures together for one cause – the harvest feast!