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Tag Archives: Thanksgiving

French Tarragon Bean Casserole – A Better Thanksgiving

This is by far a tastier dish than the canned-soup-bean-canned-fried-onion bowl that some have seen overcooked for many years. Using real mushrooms, fresh green beans, and lite sour cream or Greek yogurt, this is a casserole  that takes just a little while longer to prepare than the usual fare. In fact, the longest step in the recipe is cooking for 10 minutes inside the oven.

Try this recipe and find out what tarragon has to do with a Dragon and the play Waiting for Godot!

A Fresh New Classic – The Little Dragon Alternative

And don’t miss this fascinating and delicious dessert:

Christmas and Holiday Sugar Dusted Tomato Spice Cake – Extra Moist and Delicious!

Brownies are good for any holiday and a lot of everyday affairs:

Best Unique Brownie Recipes for the Holidays – Add Fruit!

Smithfield Ham Pros and Cons

Largest Hog and Pork Producer in America

A controversy has surrounded Smithfield Hams company for several years in the 200s and 2010s, involving 1) the alleged use of undocumented workers, 2) the alleged low quality of meats donated to the poor once a year, 3) the high-priced and conspicuous consumerism promulgated by the company and its advertising programs, and 4) pig abuse.

Some of the companys ad programs include a link to the Food Network and their Paula Deen, who worked herself up to her 21st Century status through innovation and much toiling as a single mom of two sons – a real American Dream type of story.

READ MORE via Smithfield Ham and Undocumented Workers – Hot Dogs for the Poor?.

North Korean Attacks Set to Escalate

On November 27, NPR called the 3-mile-long Yeonpyeong island “charred and desolate”, with photographic images of localized housing damage to match their description. The town hall and only healthcare center were severely damaged, the military base taking large damage as well.

Aside from the military installation just about 7 miles from North Korean territory, Yeonpyeong is historically a small fishing village know for high quality crab capture, civilian population estimates to be between 1,200 and 1,700 in 2010. Residents fled the island community by ferry over the course of two days to take up residence in a bath house in Incheon, South Korea.

Apparently, the conflict and irregularly occurring military attacks at Yeonpyeong Island have endured for 60 years, North Korea insisting that it owns the waters surrounding the island. In an eerie event, news media state that 60 buildings went aflame during the latest attack in November 2010 – one for each year of the conflict.

South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-Young resigned after the 2010 attack. The Yellow Sea where the charred island floats remained a point of contention for North and South Korea and China. 

 

Christmas Recipes From the First Nations

These traditional recipes from Native Americans and American Farmers in the New Nation of the 18th and 19th centuries are good-tasting and use local products and ingredients.

Christmas Barn in Ohio

How big can a Nativity Scene be?

Moravian Christmas – Life Size Nativity Festival

The Moravian Church presents itself as the Oldest Protestant Church in the world, founded 60 years before Martin Luther’s 95 Theses found their place on the cathedral door of Catholicism.

The Christmas Eve ceremony for the Moravian church in Columbus OH at Promise Church has  occurred in The Ohio Bicentennial Barn in Delaware County. The barn itself is over 100 years old and its farm over 200. As a special project, people painted it to commemorate Ohio’s Bicentennial of Statehood.

On some Christmas Eves, the barn transforms into a life-sized Nativity in which the pastor preaches the Christmas story. It is a refreshing way of celebrating Christmas Eve in a place like that in which the Christ Child was born.

Christmas Parade Legacy

The F. & R. Lazarus Christmas Parade Legacy

Federated Department Stores, including today’s Macy’s, began in 1851 when Simon Lazarus, studying to become a rabbi, came to Columbus, Ohio before the Civil War. He owned a retail business  Town Street. 

 He parlayed the business into a large retail complex comprising over one city block and annexes and instituted the Lazarus day-after Thanksgiving parade. He helped to convince President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to change Thanksgiving to the 4th Thursday of the month in order to proclaim a Black Friday and provide extra shopping days until Christmas.   

Although Lazarus has been dissolved, our suburbs have Christmas Parades these days, sponsored by civic associations, churches, or businesses; and suburban malls have Christmas or Winter Holiday events, including live music and dance performances.  Access the link above to find out more about Christmas parades and other events in Central Ohio.

22nd Annual Wild Lights

22nd Annual Wild Lights Festival at the Columbus Zoo w/ Disney on Ice http://ow.ly/39E2f ^PI

If you are in Columbus, Ohio anytime between November 19, 2010 and January 1, 2011 then visit Wildlights at the Zoo on Riverside Drive north of O’Shaughnessey Dam Bridge. Disney on Ice will present skating entertainment and animatronics in a Living Evergreen Tree of music.

There is SO much to do and see at Wildlights this year.  Many new features, lots of new music and acting, comedy, good food, free crafts, decorate your own cookie, have a photo with a reindeer and two dozen other events. If you don’t go anywhere else this Christmas, go here. Tuesday weekly is 1/2 off tickets for Senior Citizens, which are already about 1/2 off. Kids under 2, free all the time. Look at the link for more information.

When the Animals Talk

The Ohio Village, a 19th Century working museum town next to the Ohio Historical Society in Columbus, Ohio celebrates Christmas in the Victorian manner.  During the Christmas Season, the village transforms to a farming town of the late 1800s, decorated for the winter holidays. 

On a farming Christmas Eve in the 1800s, the adults told children teh story that if a child was very quiet and hid in the barn, he or she would hear the farm animals speak at midnight on Christmas Morning. It is the only day of the year that the animals speak and it is to proclaim the birth of the Christ Child.

When you see an old-time Christmas tree on display, decorated with carved farm animals, this is a commemoration of that tradition.

Vintage Handcrafted Christmas Decorations

GRATITUDE JOURNAL

Harvest Season, Thanksgiving, and Breast Cancer Awareness Month all make me think about Gratitude Journals.

Listing a good person, place, or thing to appreciate more or begin to honor in some way is a great start to a new perspective for the Holiday Season – and November Elections! – Anyone else tired of all the Negative Ads about candidates? If all of them are true, there is no one for whom to vote in 2010.

Find out about Gratitude and Thanksgiving Journals and enjoy three delicious and different Harvest Season Soups at the link:

Healthy Harvest Time Soups for

Your Gratitude Journal

at this LINK

American Made Holidays

Today is Thanksgiving in Canada and Columbus Day in the Untied States.  It all makes me think of good handcrafted items in all of North American. They have been developed since the Native Americans first lived here and expanded when Hispanic, British, Irish, German, Italian, Polish, Chinese, and other immigrants to live with us.

You know, every large city has a Little Italy, a German Village, or a China Town of sorts.  We have all types of ethnic and cultural  heritages that provide a long history of handcrafted excellence. If you shop locally, you can look for these businesses 0 usually independent small business owners and specialty shops in your own neighborhoods. Farm Markets in the town square or church parking lot are the rage in the 2010s, so don’t forget about those, either.

For American Made classics and new trends, see the link below:

Best Gifts Made In America for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas

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