Thanksgiving

Don't be a turkey. If a big bird is too much trouble or too much food for your needs, that's no reason to forgo a favorite Thanksgiving treat, not with all the turkey products on the market. For the "new" turkey is the ultimate convenience food -- nutritious, tasty, versatile, economical and quick-cooking.Today there are more than 30 types of turkey products available. Boneless and bone-in turkey breasts, cutlets, steaks, tenderloins, wings and wing drumettes are popular white-meat items.

"The air is toxic. I don't want that in here. " -- Megan Draper Sure, Megan was talking about the smog alert. But she was also basically summarizing what all of "Dark Shadows" was about. Everyone is angry. At everyone else. No one is happy. Not one bit. Oh, and it's Thanksgiving. Can't wait to see what sort of anger explodes come Christmas. There were so many inter-personal battles this episode, so let's run through them all, shall we? Ding-ding! Betty vs. Don vs. Megan vs. Sally vs. weight Yup, Betty is back.

Thanksgiving is a time for family and for sharing, but use caution when it comes to your family pet. The American Veterinary Medical Association offers the following tips: 1. Table scraps are never a good idea. Pets' digestive systems can't handle fatty foods. 2. Keep trash containers closed and secure so pets can't get into them. 3. Do not feed pets turkey bones. They can splinter and damage the animal's intestines. 4. Keep animals away from dessert tables as well, since these types of food -- especially chocolate -- can be harmful to animals.

It's amazing how quickly months of caked-on tunnel grime can be whisked away with a jug of Soot-B-Gone and a $250,000 Mercedes-Benz. The potent one-two punch is how the Maryland Transportation Authority keeps tiled walls in the Fort McHenry and Baltimore Harbor tunnels glistening from the beginning of April through Thanksgiving. For the overnight scrubbing operation, workers mix the anti-soot soap with hundreds of gallons of water and place the solution on the backs of two bug-eyed, German-engineered trucks called Unimogs.

Somewhere along the way, Thanksgiving changed. Once a day of simple adoration of a supermarket turkey roasted in the oven, the cuisine and ethic of the holiday have grown complicated. Now there is societal pressure to buy a local bird and to inquire about the turkey's upbringing. There is a cacophony of expert advice on how to prepare the bird with recommendations ranging from bathing the raw bird in salt water, to smoking it in a barbecue cooker, to dropping it into a deep fat fryer.

W hen you visit the heartland of America, sometimes you overindulge on beef. It's easy to do, especially when you get off a plane on the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving at 10:50 p.m., snatch your luggage off the carousel, stand in a long line to rent a car and drive an hour to the hotel, only to discover that your 15-year-old son is starving, just starving! What's more, he can't possibly go to sleep unless he has something to eat. Right now. At 1 in the morning in Indianapolis, you can usually find just two places open for a snack that late: Steak 'n' Shake and White Castle.

CHICAGO - Millions of Americans are spending the holiday at home, saying the poor economy has made it unaffordable to hit the road or board a plane. Nearly 38 million people are expected to take trips this year, slightly more than last year but 20 million fewer than in 2005 when the economy was better, according to AAA auto club. Air travel is expected to drop 6.7 percent this holiday compared with last year, AAA said. - Associated Press

Buddy's bounty best Kevin Van Valkenburg Baltimore Sun Thanksgiving is supposed to be a time for reflection and generosity, which is why I still laugh when I think about the Bounty Bowl between the Cowboys and Eagles in 1989, when Eagles coach Buddy Ryan allegedly put out a bounty on Cowboys kicker Luis Zendejas. I love rivalries in which teams genuinely dislike one another, where the animus is real, not manufactured. Who puts out a bounty on a kicker?

We're looking for Marylanders who've made a ritual of eating their turkey and trimmings with friends rather than family - perhaps the same ones every year. Or maybe you're the one who hosts a group of friends or co-workers. We'd like to interview you for a story about how friends create holiday rituals at a traditional "family" time. E-mail kate.shatzkin@baltsun.com with your name, phone number and a brief synopsis of your annual ritual by Friday. Please put "Thanksgiving with friends" in the subject line.

Thanksgiving comes poignantly. The all-American holiday that traditionally brings the gathering together of families will be saddened in many a hearth this year by thoughts of loved ones far away, facing danger in service to their country.How much the world has changed since Thanksgiving, 1989! President Bush was at snow-covered Camp David, reveling in news stories reporting how crowds in Prague were marching for democracy, led by a playwright and former political prisoner, Vaclav Havel, who was destined to become president of Czechoslovakia.

Editor: Last November, Christ Our King Presbyterian Church in Bel Air once again joined an ongoing effort by Knox Presbyterian Church in East Baltimore to provide food  for Thanksgiving to families in need in Baltimore City and in Harford County. The 800 turkeys and boxes of non-perishable food supplied by Christ Our King were made possible by the generosity of church members, friends and many local businesses and organizations.  We wish to thank the following members of the Harford County and Baltimore area business community for their in-kind and financial donations: Amanda's Florist; the Arena Club; Bethel Presbyterian Church; Brightview Avondell; Brightview Bel Air Assisted Living; Cargill, Inc; Chesapeake Financial Solutions; Christopher J. Seling & Assoc., Inc.; Curves of Jarrettsville; DAJ, Inc., McDonald's of Churchville; Dermatology & Dermatologic Surgery; Frontier Pool Maintenance, Inc; Girl Scouts of Central Maryland, Troop 3120; Harford Financial Group; Hart Heritage Estates Assisted Living; Harvest Fare; Hogg Construction; Jones Junction; 46th Legislative District, Maryland House of Delegates; Long and Foster; Lorien Bel Air; Lorien Riverside Nursing and Rehabilitation Center; Maryland Food Bank; Metropolitan Title Company, Inc; Penske Trucks, Your Space Storage/Hickory; Presbyterian Women of Fallston Presbyterian Church; ReMax American Dream; Redner's Warehouse Markets; Rutherford and Rutherford, DDS; Skylight Creative Ideas;...

Thanksgiving Day 2011 dawned bright and beautiful as over 60 volunteers made their way to help serve the Loverde Family Community Fund's Thanksgiving Day feast for the homeless. Around 1 p.m., the first of 160 guests from the Westside Homeless Shelter, Mosaic Community Services, and Spring Grove Hospital Center were greeted and shown to their tables. For the fifth year in a row, a delicious home-style Thanksgiving dinner would be servedScittino's, in Catonsville Junction, had expertly prepared the tasty, loosen-your-belt holiday feast.

Thanksgiving may be all about food (and football), but Christmas has myriad elements besides the Roast Beast. Gift presentations and all that oohing and aahing, to be more precise. Growing up, we had a turkey dinner on both Thanksgiving and Christmas. I am not allowed to repeat that tradition. For Dec. 25, "they" want an entirely different menu, and usually something different every year. Serves me right. I created these monsters, albeit adorable ones. My mother used to call it being "hoisted on your own petard.

A heartfelt thank you to the congregants, volunteers and friends at Christian Temple for continuing the long-held tradition of hosting an opportunity to join in fellowship and Thanksgiving at their annual holiday gathering. We are so blessed to be your neighbors across the street! We wish you and yours a wonderful holiday season.   Ridgeway Manor Nursing and Rehabilitation Center and Glynn Taff Assisted Living residents Catonsville  

In a more economically naive time, making reference to the Friday after Thanksgiving as Black Friday was something of an insider's comment. Most definitely, it had become a major shopping day long before the promise of door busters (another term once considered the jargon of retail insiders) drew crowds of shoppers out into the dark hours on a Friday morning to wait in line the way teenagers once waited in line for concert tickets. These days it would be easy to conclude that the black in Black Friday refers to the time of day when shoppers start lining up, or the dim prospect of finding a parking spot, but the origin of the name is much more upbeat: it was considered the day by which retail businesses had better be showing black ink on the books.

A woman who police said had left her home in Cockeysville to visit a store on Thanksgiving Eve and was found dead in her burning car the next morning has been identified as 51-year-old Carolyn Davidson Von-Schnell. A cause of death has not been determined, but Baltimore County police have said the death appears accidental. Police said that her Toyota Camry had apparently gone off the road, over a hill and hit several trees in the 1300 block of Phoenix Road. Van-Schnell was found by police, who spotted the car from a helicopter, inside the burning vehicle after relatives called to report her missing from her house in the same block.

THANKSGIVING 1936.Fifty-five years ago, Nov. 26, 1936, Baltimore was reeling from the Depression. Unemployment was high. Across the Atlantic, Hitler's menace was sensed but not fully realized.Ruxton suits were reduced to $18 at Stewart's.Molly Picon was on stage at the Hippodrome. On the screen at the Hipp -- Irene Dunne, "who makes 'My Man Godfrey' and 'Mr. Deeds' both look like sissies," according to the Hipp ad. Dunne was starring in "Theodora Goes Wild."The Gas & Electric Co. was advertising the "1937" Zenith radio, "the radio a year ahead of its time," for $52.95.

TIRED OF turkey? Looking for something a little different to serve up this Thanksgiving?How about a 12-pound water rat that culinary experts say tastes somewhat like a beaver, is less greasy than a 'coon but is not quite as good as possum?Hold the green bean casserole, ma, I'm comin' home!America's latest taste treat is called nutria and comes to us courtesy of the good citizens of Louisiana, who, apparently, will eat almost anything.The decision to market nutria as a food source is not due to its wonderful taste (the smell of cooking nutria has been compared to that of Sarin gas)

For all of his documented troubles regarding field-goal attempts of 50 yards or more, Billy Cundiff can take solace in the knowledge that he has been quite productive in the fourth quarter. Since 2010, the Ravens kicker has connected on all 14 field goals he has made in the final period. He added to that streak with a 39-yarder with 3:10 left in an eventual 16-6 victory over the San Francisco 49ers on Thanksgiving night. Cundiff, who made all three field goals that he attempted Thursday night, said he understands that the onus is on him to convert field goals, especially in fourth quarters.

Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs has been named the AFC Defensive Player of the Week after racking up three sacks and forcing a fumble in the Ravens' 16-6 win over the San Francisco 49ers on Thanksgiving night. This is the second time that Suggs has won the weekly award this season -- he was honored after sacking Ben Roethlisberger three times in the Week 1 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers -- and the third time in his career. It was the fourth time this season that a Ravens player has been named the AFC Defensive Player of the Week.