{"id":8517,"date":"2025-11-29T03:19:52","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T03:19:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/?p=8517"},"modified":"2025-11-29T03:26:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T03:26:11","slug":"a-day-late-thanksgiving-tons-of-food-and-a-sunset-in-gods-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/29\/a-day-late-thanksgiving-tons-of-food-and-a-sunset-in-gods-country\/","title":{"rendered":"A Day Late Thanksgiving TONS of food, and A Sunset In God&#8217;s Country"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Greetings  and Salutations!<br>No rest for the wicked I suppose.<br>Even when I&#8217;m doing a good deed.  As they say, no good deed goes unpunished, especially in this fallen world I suppose.  I got (not rudely) awakened initially at 0500 by Miss Daisy who apparently is an <strong>early early <\/strong>riser, much to my horror.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128120853-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8523\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128120853-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128120853-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128120853-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128120853-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128120853-1200x1600.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128120853-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Damned man&#8230; can&#8217;t a negro get his beauty sleeps?<br><br>It was the smell of the coffee that roused me from my crypt.<br>Sapper as well.<br>We both came out looking like Death  Warmed over, and had a cuppa, and then I went into &#8220;T-Day Mode&#8221; meaning that I  started my brainium in figuring out &#8216;what needed to be made first, how long it&#8217;d take, and then what was next.&#8217;<br><br>See, when I do this sort of thing for Miss Daisy, I cook my ass off non-stop.   Usually two-three BIG  meals.  Then I use some single serve food take-a-way containers to box up and freeze  a shitload of meals as otherwise?   She&#8217;s stuck eating goyslop as she&#8217;s just too old to &#8216;do&#8217; a full  on meal for herself.  It&#8217;s just the  fact that <strong>no one<\/strong> in her immediate fam does squat for her that burns me the fuck up&#8230;<br><br>She&#8217;s been eating shit faaaaar too long IMO.<br><br>So, I started simple.  A basic meat base Bolognese Meat sauce.<br><br>I was able to start with that, and at 0700.  It stewed while I got the bird to room temp, and then around 10:00 once I prepped the Turkey, I jammed IT into the oven, which it had about a 4+ hour &#8216;ride in the roaster&#8217; so to speak.<br><br>At 11:30, I boiled up 2 pounds of rotini for a light lunch.<br><br>The &#8216;extras after we ate our &#8216;lite lunch&#8217;??<br><br>Into the foil containers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128120404-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8518\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128120404-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128120404-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128120404-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128120404-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128120404-1200x1600.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128120404-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">15 meals into the deep freeze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Her dearly departed son Barry had a BIG deep freeze that he had for when he went hunting, and now?  It&#8217;s stuffed with ready-made meals so to speak.  I wasn&#8217;t near done however&#8230;<br><br>Every hour I kept working the bird, as well as the fixin&#8217;s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128141151-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8520\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128141151-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128141151-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128141151-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128141151-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128141151-1200x1600.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128141151-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I ended up doing two HUGE trays of food, one Italian Mac n&#8217; Cheese, the other my first X-Wife&#8217;s Italian Sausage Dressing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128141147-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8519\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128141147-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128141147-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128141147-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128141147-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128141147-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128141147-1200x900.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 1362px) 62vw, 840px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">BOTH trays, as you can see were magnificent.<br><br>Sapper, on the other hand, used his Martial Skills to assist.<br>The Army DOES teach useable skillz yannow?<br>Namely Peeling Taters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128120351-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8521\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128120351-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128120351-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128120351-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128120351-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128120351-1200x1600.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128120351-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">He, as you can see, took the job seriously, and did a great job and the mashed came out fantastic.<br><br>Then the only thing left was the Italian green beans (noticing the trend? Yeeeeah&#8230; that&#8217;s what I get for being married to a Sicilian for 20+ years LOL) The recibee for the beans is easy&#8230; on bag of fresh green beans (pluck the ends off each bean, the most laborious part IMO), then melt 1\/2 to 3\/4 of a stick of salted butter in a pan on medium (5) and add two HEAPING spoonful&#8217;s of fresh diced garlic. Brown the garlic for about two minutes. Throw in the beans, and &#8216;stir-fry&#8217; them. If you want them &#8216;limp&#8217;, turn up the heat to high, wait 30 seconds and braise them by throwing some water in to steam them. Then serve.<br><br>About that time I also threw a smol honey-baked slice ham, about a pound, pound and a half into Zee Oven. I came out as well very very well. Didn&#8217;t really have to do anything w\/it&#8230; but to me Turkey day ain&#8217;t done UNLESS there&#8217;s ham available. This was already a pre-cooked jobber, all I did was heat and serve really, BUT my timing was impeccable&#8230;<br><br>As a bonus, Sapper had made a home-made from scratch cranberry sauce BEFORE we left Florida, so it&#8217;d gel nicely (which it did) and THAT came out AWESOMELY. The very very last thing was a batch of Hawaiian sweet rolls, and BAM!<br>We had a dinner<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128144326-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8522\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128144326-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128144326-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128144326-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128144326-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128144326-1200x1600.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128144326-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">It was off the chain good&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128150236-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8524\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128150236-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128150236-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128150236-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128150236-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128150236-1200x1600.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128150236-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Oh yeah, I made gravy too, using a base stock and adding the diced guts and drippings&#8230;  I swear Miss Daisy was eating like a prisoner who&#8217;d been on starvation rations&#8230; which she sorta-kinda was&#8230;  no worries tho, she&#8217;s fine&#8230; it was just she <strong>loved<\/strong> the home made factor&#8230;<br><br>AND<br><br>Tomorrow?<br>I have a Beef Stew I need to make and feed her, then freeze.  <br>Breakfast (late morning) is going to be scrambled eggs and bacon (which she has onhand) and then Beef stew for dinner for us, with the leftovers being deep-freezed again, giving he <strong>at least<\/strong> a month of <strong>seriously good eating<\/strong>, nevermind when I get done slicing and dicing ALL the turkey carcass, and making insta-meals for her.<br><br>So, I&#8217;m done<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Done Done.<br>More later, I&#8217;m crashing&#8230; it&#8217;s been an 18 hour cookfestivus.<br>My back is moidered.<br>I&#8217;m wasted.<br><strong>But<\/strong><br>It&#8217;s been worth it&#8230;<br>This&#8217;s God&#8217;s Country<br>And HE reminded me of it after Dinner<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128173202-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8525\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128173202-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128173202-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128173202-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128173202-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128173202-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128173202-1200x900.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 1362px) 62vw, 840px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128173152-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8526\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128173152-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128173152-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128173152-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128173152-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128173152-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128173152-1200x900.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 1362px) 62vw, 840px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128173130-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8527\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128173130-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128173130-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128173130-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128173130-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128173130-1200x1600.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG20251128173130-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Big Country<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><br> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Greetings and Salutations!No rest for the wicked I suppose.Even when I&#8217;m doing a good deed. As they say, no good deed goes unpunished, especially in this fallen world I suppose. I got (not rudely) awakened initially at 0500 by Miss Daisy who apparently is an early early riser, much to my horror. Damned man&#8230; can&#8217;t &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/29\/a-day-late-thanksgiving-tons-of-food-and-a-sunset-in-gods-country\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;A Day Late Thanksgiving TONS of food, and A Sunset In God&#8217;s Country&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8517"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8517\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8529,"href":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8517\/revisions\/8529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}