5 things you need to know -- Thanksgiving edition
1. Macy's Thanksgiving Parade is an antique, but it's still pretty awesome
Say a happy 90th birthday to the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. Yes, everyone's favorite start to Turkey Day first began in 1924 and, today, it's bigger and more magnificent than ever. This year, according to Executive Producer Amy Kule, you can expect the "largest new cast of giant character balloons ever assembled" and five new floats. Macy's has also added state-of-the-art "layers of interactivity to the parade for the first time," Kule said, including a live-stream feed from one of the floats. If you're in New York City, you can see it along its route from the Upper West Side to Macy's Midtown flagship store.
2. Time to feel bad for certain store clerks
Oh, those retailers. It seems they always want to find more ways to sell you more stuff. Which is why the formerly sacrosanct hours of Thanksgiving are now being nibbled at by several outlets so that the bargain-binging of Black Friday can be brought forward and extended. A couple of major retailers, Kmart and RadioShack, are even opening at 6 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day so you can get the prized gadget of the season before anyone else.
3. Is your turkey in trouble? The fine folks at Butterball await your call
Very few things seem to spark nightmares in home cooks as much as bringing a perfectly cooked bird to the table. Did you put it in the oven and the breast is burned and the thighs are still raw? Or perhaps you left the giblets? Do not fear, the Butterball hotline -- officially the Butterball Turkey Talk-line -- is here to help. Some of the stories of fowl-ups are hilarious. Here's their number: 1-800-BUTTERBALL (1-800-288-8372). They also chat online and respond to e-mails to make sure your family gobbles up a delicious turkey.
4. Couches were built just for Thanksgiving football
Here are some other people working on Thanksgiving Day. The NFL has three games -- Chicago at Detroit, Philadelphia at Dallas and Seattle at San Francisco -- all nicely spread out at 12:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. ET, respectively. For the first time in years, all of the games are division showdowns and have implications in the race for the playoffs. Could one or more of them be among the best-ever Turkey Day games? We'll just have to watch and see.
5. Caviar with your potatoes? But of course!
By the time you read this it's probably too late to sign up, but a New York City restaurant, the Old Homestead Steakhouse, is offering a $35,000 Thanksgiving meal. Yes, $35,000. The meal serves four at $8,750 each. So, what do you get? Well, there are nine courses, including an appetizer of squab stuffed with foie gras soaked in a $5,000-plus bottle of Cognac, roasted farm-raised organic turkey stuffed with seven pounds of $200-per-pound imported ground filet mignon and whipped sweet potatoes topped with $1,600-per-ounce Royal Osetra 000 caviar. And then there's grandstand seating at the aforementioned Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, a $6,000 gift card for a shopping spree at Bloomingdale's, limousine service and dance lessons to learn the Turkey Trot at Fred Astaire Dance Studios. Talk about gobble, gobble.
Bonus item: Thanksgiving around the world
Sorry, this is not Christmas or Easter, folks -- there is no Thanksgiving around the world. There's an English guy in our office who always has a chuckle when people ask him how they celebrate Thanksgiving in England. Politely -- as the English are wont to be -- he tells them that, in part, at least, that the American colonists were giving thanks for not being in England. Canada, also fairly glad not to be ruled anymore from London, has Thanksgiving, but it's on a different day (you'll have to wait until next year -- it was on Oct. 13).
And the essentials:
Weather: Thanksgiving Day calls for cold temperatures east of the Rockies, snow showers in the Great Lakes and rain in the Pacific Northwest.
Stocks: The U.S. stock market will be closed Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday.
TV Tonight: Wondering what to watch tonight? Here's what TV critic Robert Bianco recommends.
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