Today is Sunday, November 23 and there are only 32 days until Christmas.  With Black Friday coming this week, you should have already staked out your spots and gotten your tents set up to be ready to be trampled at your local Target or Walmart.  Today we remember the birthdays of Prospero Alpini, Boris Karloff and Steve Landesberg.  On this day in 1765, the people of Frederick County, MD refused to pay England’s Stamp Tax, in 1863 a patent was granted for a process of making color photographs and in 1964 the Beatles released “I Feel Fine” and “She’s a Woman”.  In Japan it is Labor Day, in Maryland it is Repudiation Day and this Thursday it will be Thanksgiving in the US.

In the past, I have discussed Thanksgiving and given a history of how it became the holiday we have today.  I thought I would give some more history of the day for those who are interested.  For those who are not, you can skip ahead to the part about Australian spokesmen.  Anyway, for those who are interested, read on.
In September 1620, a small ship called the Mayflower left Plymouth, England, carrying 102 passengers—an assortment of religious separatists seeking a new home where they could freely practice their faith and other individuals lured by the promise of prosperity and land ownership in the New World. After a treacherous and uncomfortable crossing that lasted 66 days, they dropped anchor near the tip of Cape Cod, far north of their intended destination at the mouth of the Hudson River (see, Columbus is not the only one who got lost).

Throughout that first brutal winter, most of the colonists remained on board the ship, where they suffered from exposure, scurvy and outbreaks of contagious disease. Only half of the Mayflower’s original passengers and crew lived to see their first New England spring. In March, the remaining settlers moved ashore, where they received an astonishing visit from an Abenaki Indian who greeted them in English. Several days later, he returned with another Native American, Squanto, a member of the Pawtuxet tribe who had been kidnapped by an English sea captain and sold into slavery before escaping to London and returning to his homeland on an exploratory expedition. He helped the settlers forge an alliance with the Wampanoag.

In November 1621, after the Pilgrims’ first corn harvest proved successful, Governor William Bradford organized a celebratory feast and invited a group of the fledgling colony’s Native American allies, including the Wampanoag chief Massasoit. Now remembered as American’s “first Thanksgiving”, the festival lasted for three days. While no record exists of the historic banquet’s exact menu, the Wampanoag guests arrived bearing five deer.  I have also seen information that claims lobster and swans were also part of the menu.  Because the Pilgrims had no oven and the Mayflower’s sugar supply had dwindled by the fall of 1621, the meal did not feature pies, cakes or other desserts, which have become a hallmark of contemporary celebrations.

Let’s talk turkey for a minute. Turkeys have run wild through the United States since long before Pilgrim days. There’s even a fairly detailed fossil record of early turkey ancestors in states from Virginia to California. The Mesoamerican peoples of present day Mexico were the first to domesticate the bird, and that culinary legacy lasts until today.  Mexican cuisine is the one type of food in the world that prominently features turkey in many of its recipes. Turkey moles are especially popular in Oaxaca, with chocolate and pumpkin seeds adding a luscious flavor to the meat.  So this year maybe try something Mexican with those leftovers.

If you decided to skip ahead, this is the place where you should pick up reading.  Have you noticed that we seem to be unable to provide American spokesmen for commercials and TV shows?  We have Australian spokesmen for various products, there are shows on the cooking channels that have Australian chefs hosting and, to be honest, it puzzles me.  I find it difficult to believe that not one male in the US is capable of selling OxyClean.   Apparently, after Billy Mays passed away, we had to go all the way to Australia to get his replacement.  If I had known they were that desperate, I would have offered to give it a try.  Perhaps all the out-of-work American spokesmen should go to the land down under for jobs.  They must be short since all of theirs are coming here.  This is not a major issue and I am pretty sure the president will not be addressing it as part of his immigration policy, but I thought I should point it out.

As I mentioned last week, we had been on vacation in California.  For those of you who have not been out there, let me assure you that they drive as badly as people do on the east coast, maybe even worse.  When we were traveling down Interstate 5, the speed limit was 70.  Yes, 70!  And yet, that was not good enough for some drivers.  What made it exciting was that they would zoom up behind you, close enough so that you could see if the driver had trimmed his nose hairs recently, and then they would yank the steering wheel to the left, get into the outside lane and then pass your car.  Once by you, they would yank the wheel to the right and get back into the lane you were in.  

A couple times, a car would race up, change lanes, pass you, get back in your lane and then slow down.   I was never able to completely understand that.  I figured that maybe they did not realize how fast they were going and slowed down when they saw that they were at 80.  Or maybe they did not like riding behind a white car (our rental was white).  Then they would recover and zoom off to pass the next car.  It was an adventure, to be sure.  Couple that with being on a totally unfamiliar road with only the annoying voice on Google maps giving directions and you have quite a trip.

So this week our fact tells us that every citizen of Kentucky is required by law to take a bath at least once a year.  Thank goodness they have all those horses there, too,  so they have something to blame the smell on.

At this time I would like to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving.  May your day be filled with happiness, good food, family, football and naps with your pants unbuttoned.  Happy Thanksgiving!