Tag Archives: Thanksgiving

Sep20

Thanksgiving in the Liberties!

Posted on by
Standard

Friday, 28-Nov-2024


Thanksgiving!

So many people in my MBA class are from the United States – out of 39 people, I believe 12 of them are from the USA. All 12 of whom, I believe, were staying in Dublin for Thanksgiving…

We couldn’t let it go un-celebrated, especially with so many of our classmates having never had the opportunity to celebrate this glorious and ridiculous festival of eating a simply incredible amount of food.

Polls were taken, people counted, and dishes prepped. I special ordered turkey from a nearby butcher, bought all the bits to make a brine, and reserved “The Parlour” – a special spot in my apartment intended for hosting larger dinner parties. We did a prep-dinner a few weeks prior, had plans, and confidence that everything would go well.

Which, I’m very thankful to report, occurred. I’m very proud to say that this Thanksgiving was one of the highlights (at least for me) of the social scene of the MBA – we had almost everyone attend (easily filling the room far past capacity), and had so much food that I was eating leftovers for literal months afterward. Wine flowed, Whiskey was poured, and bottles were emptied. Yours truly did a rather stellar job with the turkey, I’m very proud to report, and heartily look forward to recreating it sometime in the future.


Ahh, what else…? Good times were had, friendships cemented, and great food consumed. It’s something I’ve been endlessly thankful to my class for – They’re all simply amazing, and I greatly enjoy all of our big get togethers like this – I couldn’t have asked for a better cohort, and I’m confident that my decision to join this MBA program will go down as one of the best choices of my life.

Jan15

Thanksgiving, 2023

Posted on by
Standard

Friday, 17-Nov-2023 through Sunday, 26-Nov-2023


A few years back, I started up a rotation for Thanksgiving – Massachusetts, Arizona, Friends, repeat. 2020 was “Massachusetts”, in a virtual sense… 2021 was a flight down to Arizona for a lovely high-desert turkey dinner, and then 2022 found me driving down to Sacramento for a dinner that couldn’t be beat. This year, I flew out East for an equally unbeatable meal… combined well with a week of family and friends!


It’s hard to summarize an entire week in a blog, without rambling on too long or simplifying it to the point of missed joy… but I’ll try, keeping it short and sweet so as to not steal time and energy from the other posts and photos that deserve posting and attention.

So let’s see…

I flew out early – taking the full week to visit with everyone in Medway. I worked remotely, with many thanks to my sister for loaning me her work from home setup while she was in the office. It was lovely – and I definitely understand why so many people are so protective of their freedom to work remotely. On top of the joy of just relaxing and working all under the same roof… My friend Bri flew out to join us! This was her first year joining us, and it was awesome to be able to bring her along and share some of the Eigner family Thanksgiving fun with her!



I got to meet up with friends! Dillon and Liz, getting to have a lovely mid-workday lunch, and see their awesome new home, along with hitting my first climbing gym ever with Daniel and Bri! Turns out, the grades there are surprisingly similar to those in Portland… which is neat, since a few years back they were radically different. Advantage of a more interconnected world, maybe?



My Mom, Bri, Hannah, and I had a spa night! It was excellent, and led to some… slightly horrifying… group photos. No regrets, and they’ll make excellent Halloween decorations for next year.



Thanksgiving itself was in Amherst, at my Aunt and Uncle’s house. I got to spend some excellent time with my cousin and her kids, and even let him fly the drone around a bit! Amazing food, excellent times… It really was a gift to be able to see everyone in person and spend time just relaxing and catching up.



Second Thanksgiving in Medway was, also unsurprisingly, glorious! My sister cooked up a storm, with assistance of course, making a stellar second meal along with dangerously decadent desserts.



We took a hike to the Stoney Brook, the Audubon society camp where I spent summers for ages and ages. It’s just as lovely as I remember it being, and was a great walk (literally) down memory lane.


I brought the drone along! As mentioned, my cousin’s son has a blast flying it around… and it did a pretty good job of getting a few aerial photos of everyone!

default
default
default
default
default
default
default
default
Jan23

Thanksgiving, 2022

Posted on by
Standard

Thursday, 24-Nov-2022 through Tuesday, 29-Nov-2022


Ohh man! Thanksgiving! I love cooking! I love visiting people! I love Thanksgiving!


2022 had been a pretty strange year to date. Lots of trips, lots of changes, lots of uncertainty… but thankfully I had a pretty good plan for Thanksgiving – Drive down to California, and get to meet my friends newest family member, Baby James! A few unexpected hurdles arose, of course, as they always go… but we adapted and updated plans, and forged ahead with adventures.

I’m getting caught up with blog posts pretty late in the game this year, but frankly Thanksgiving didn’t have much to write about. We hung out, caught up, cooked an amazing meal, and mostly revolved around James’ schedule. Nothing unexpected, and honestly quite enjoyable – it was a nice diversion from the chaos of work and the solo nature of my normal day to day life.

We made a full meal, went on some great walks, and spent quality time both chatting and playing baby games.

It was glorious! And I’ll admit, the beautiful views of Shasta on the way down and back didn’t hurt… nor did the impromptu stop at In’n’out!



As a quick summary, since I didn’t think to add it in above… “Hey Ben, what did you guys actually cook for Thanksgiving?”

Well, other Ben, we cooked:
– A turkey! Obviously! Brined in a citrus bath for 24 hours ahead of time
– Out of the bird stuffing! Sausage, cranberries, celery, bread cubes… pure happiness.
– Mashed sweet potatoes!
– Seared Brussel sprouts!
– Cranberry sauce!
– Toasted French bread!

And for dessert?
– Apple Pie!
– Blueberry strudel, picked up over Octoberfest!