Thanksgiving is galloping towards us at an alarming pace, so I hope everybody is prepared for all of the food and family! Generally it's a time of long-held traditions, but there are ways to make your holiday just as digital as it is delicious. Here are my tips for a techy Thanksgiving!
The diners never expected so much electronic interference. Source.
Meal Preparation
Experienced chefs will have family recipes passed on from cook to cook, but younger turkey providers may need a few helpful tips. Thanksgiving Menu Maker for iOS is a real life saver, and free! It's loaded with over 75 recipes covering starters, main courses, side dishes, and desserts. There are variations for every dish expected at the table plus a few that you may not have thought of, including vegetarian offerings! The application allows you to compile your recipes of choice together in a cohesive menu and also creates a shopping list. One of the best features is the schedule: the application takes the dishes that you plan on making and organizes by when you need to start making them. No one will be left wondering when the mashed potatoes need to be started in order to coincide with the turkey!
A great companion piece for those iPad users who will be using digital recipes is a kitchen stand! There are a wide variety of options ranging from the simple, the sophisticated, and the fancy under-the-counter kind. Take your pick and get cooking, but keep your iPad free from food with these plastic sleeves!
Food Assistance
This could be you! Source.
Seeing as the turkey is the grand center of Thanksgiving dinner for most people, it only seems right to make sure it's properly cooked! A digital cooking thermometer will assist in making sure the pièce de résistance is done all the way through. Especially nervous new cooks can take comfort in the fact that the electronic read-out it difficult to mis-read. Dare I say... impossible.
Now that you've used the digital thermometer to create a perfectly done turkey, it's time to honor it during its carving with an electric knife. They're certainly not new to the world of Thanksgiving, but they are handy! It's also a simple way to gadget-up your day without causing confusion among less tech-savvy relatives. Perhaps you have a grandma who swears by her old-school thermometer, but may be impressed with a plug-in blade. I'm amusing myself over the mental image.
After Dinner Activities
Once everyone is fed, full, and happy, why not check out one of these two Thanksgiving trivia websites? Delight your family and friends with fun holiday facts, such as the name of the Chief of the Wampanoag Tribe (the Native Americans who were invited to the first Thanksgiving), or whether or not decorative corn is edible (it's not). The questions range from historical to present day to cooking, and seeing as colleges and offices don't host Thanksgiving plays to remind us of these facts, I'm guessing a lot of people could use a few refreshers. I know I can!
You know I've never been a part of the wishbone tradition. Am I missing out? Source.
If everyone grows sick of trivia, or isn't interested in the first place, then go ahead and indulge on some Thanksgiving themed movies while packing in some pie. My favorites are Dutch and A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. The internet recommends Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, as well as Alice's Restaurant, but I haven't seen those so I can't in good faith tell you to watch them. The descriptions sound entertaining enough, so you're probably safe. Sadly, Dutch, A Charlie Brown Christmas, and Planes, Trains and Automobiles aren't available through Netflix. Alice's Restaurant is though. There's one down!
Accessories
While not digital, amazing geeky aprons embody the spirit of technology and will make the day even more exciting! Choose from the TARDIS, Pikachu, Link, Marvel, and more from etsy seller NerdAlertCreations. You can find fancier fair over at darlingarmy's shop (take a look at this Dalek one!), and even a Batman half apron from jordandene.
If I had this I'd wear it everyday. I wouldn't even be cooking. Source.
You can even jazz up the functionality of your kitchen utensils with these floppy disc coasters, and be sure to protect your meat mitts from the hot pans with a Pac-man potholder!
So now you're all set to have a technologically driven and geeky Thanksgiving! What's your favorite movie for the holiday? Do you have a favorite piece of tech that you use while cooking?
-MJ
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