A STORY SERVED UP IN STYLE.Byline: JOSH KLEINBAUM Staff Writer The phone call came about three hours before Thanksgiving dinner The centerpiece of contemporary Thanksgiving in the United States is a large meal, starring a large roasted turkey. All of the dishes in the traditional American version of Thanksgiving Dinner are made from foods native to North America, according to tradition the Pilgrims received these , and it was urgent. Did I have a platter One of the disks in a hard disk drive. Each platter provides a top and bottom recording surface. There may be only one or several platters in a drive with each platter having its own pair of read/write heads. See magnetic disk. ? We had everything for a great Thanksgiving dinner. A turkey for the meat eaters, tofurkey for the vegetarians, stuffing, side dishes side dish n. A dish served as an accompaniment to the main course. Noun 1. side dish - a dish that is served with, but is subordinate to, a main course entremets, side order . All that was missing was a nice, big plate to serve the bird. This is what happens when a half-dozen bachelors, living far away from home, get together for a holiday dinner: Turkey gets eaten on the most ridiculous platter in the history of serving dishes. But first, the background. I'm a Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. transplant. I was raised in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , went to school in Michigan and moved to Los Angeles in 2000. Like many other transplants, I moved out here with no family and few friends in Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, . Around the holidays, when friends and co-workers get together with family, it can be depressing. So in 2003, Sharat Raju, a college friend, invited me to his apartment for a bachelor Thanksgiving. There were about a half-dozen of us -- no family, no girlfriends. Chris Metinko, another college friend, drove down from San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden and was put in charge of the food. ``Because the recipes called for more than beer, I had to come down to Sharat's with a bag full of herbs and seasonings, because Sharat had little in his cabinets,'' Metinko said. ``He ended up getting a big turkey and it barely fit in his small little oven. ``One of the best moments was when Sharat came in to make the mashed potatoes n. pl. 1. Potatoes which have been boiled and mashed to a pulpy consistency, usu. with sparing addition of milk, salt, butter, or other flavoring. It is a popular accompaniment to a meat course [U.S., 1900's], providing bulk and calories to a meal. . He had bought a bag of potatoes, and thought you just needed to mash them. When I asked him where the milk was, he said, `You need milk to make mashed potatoes?''' The highlight of the meal, though, was the platter. And to understand the platter, you must understand the mind of a mother of a Los Angeles transplant. My mom hates the fact that I live 3,000 miles away. So whenever she sees anything sports-related, she thinks of me, because I love sports. Even if the object in question is absolutely ridiculous. Too often, she buys it and sends it to me. About five years ago, she sent me a large ceramic platter. On one end, a ceramic television rises out of the base, with a small picture of a quarterback about to throw a football on the screen. On the other end is a man sitting in an armchair, watching the game. In between, a football field. ``That platter is great, because not only does it have the dude sitting there in front of the ceramic TV with painted images of a football game, but it also has those quotes along the rim,'' Raju said. ``All sort of cliche sports-ish quotes. Like `That's a terrible call!''' Said Metinko: ``I've never had to carve a turkey around a little man watching a fake television, and I likely never will have to again.'' The platter formed the frame for the turkey, and was the centerpiece of a very cluttered clut·ter n. 1. A confused or disordered state or collection; a jumble: sorted through the clutter in the attic. 2. A confused noise; a clatter. v. Thanksgiving dinner (to see a picture of the famous platter, with the turkey carcass carcass, carcase 1. the body of an animal killed for meat. The head, the legs below the knees and hocks, the tail, the skin and most of the viscera are removed. The kidneys are left in and in most instances the body is split down the middle through the sternum and the vertebral nestled between the TV and the dude, visit dailynews.com). I left the platter at Sharat's apartment. Three years later, he still has it. And three years later, we're still joking about it. Most people spend holidays with family, and this year, I'm spending Thanksgiving with my fiancee and her parents -- my new family. But that bachelors Thanksgiving was great. It was a bunch of friends getting together, watching TV, drinking beer and just hanging out. That's not a bad way to spend a holiday, either. josh.kleinbaum(at)dailynews.com (818)713-3669 CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) Writer Josh Kleinbaum's turkey platter helped make one Thanksgiving unforgettable. |
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