Thanksgiving Prep - U.S. Culture & English Vocabulary with JenniferESL

You all likely know that the highlight of Thanksgiving is the holiday meal.

But what happens the day before Thanksgiving?

In this video, I'll give you a look into the preparations for the big feast.

Thanksgiving is on a Thursday.

So the weekend before Thanksgiving, I go to the grocery store and I buy a frozen turkey.

This week the turkey is about 13-14 pounds.

And I put it in the refrigerator, and it has a few days to thaw.

Natasha, do you want to help me crimp the pies...the pie crusts?

Okay.

Okay. So we have the pie crusts in the pie tins.

And well we can't bake a pie like that because it won't look very pretty, so we have to crimp the pie crust.

Do you remember?

So that's pinching it and making the crust folded in different ways...pinching it in different ways

...around the top (the edges).

All right. Do you want to go like this or like that?

Here you do this one.

Do you remember...like that one?

Okay. You do that one, and I'll do this one.

Before I make the pies, I have to preheat the oven.

While the oven is preheating, I have time to make the pie filling.

I have my mixing bowl, all the ingredients, and my recipe book.

Because although I've made many pumpkin pies, I don't have the recipe memorized.

The best part about pumpkin pie, I think, are all the spices.

And I remembered I needed my measuring spoons and my measuring cups.

So let's start putting in all the spices.

After I put the eggs in, I can mix everything with a whisk.

But to get it really smooth, I'm going to switch to an electric mixer.

So my pies are just about ready to go into the oven,

but first I have to put foil all around the crusts so they don't burn.

My pumpkin pies are baking in the oven,

so it's time to move on to the next thing: cornbread!

Cornbread is another common treat at the Thanksgiving Day table.

I have muffin tins because I like making cornbread muffins.

And I have a new mixing bowl, a spatula...and I'm ready to go.

My pies are almost done baking in the oven.

And the house is starting to smell really good.

That's one thing I love about Thanksgiving.

Today is largely a baking day.

Tomorrow when the turkey is roasting in the oven, it's going to get even better!

So next I'll bake the cornbread muffins,

and there's one more think I need to bake.

A dessert for my son -- brownies!

And that's because he really isn't much of a pumpkin pie kind of kid.

So it's one more thing I have to bake.

So I'm putting the brownie batter into the pan now.

Spreading it out.

It's always tempting to lick the batter, but they say shouldn't

because the batter has raw eggs.

But it sure smells good! I'm sure it smell even better when it's baking.

As you can see it's getting dark outside,

and I need to keep an eye on the clock because I still need to make dinner for tonight!

But today's not just about baking.

See... we eat our holiday meal, our Thanksgiving feast around noon.

So I need to get up early and get that turkey in the oven

so it can roast for a few hours.

And one of the things I have to do tonight is prepare part of the stuffing.

I have onion and celery that need to be cut up.

So I'll prep my vegetables tonight.

I have my cutting board and my knife.

I'll cut those up really well.

And then tomorrow morning I can just quickly mix my stuffing,

put the stuffing into the bird and the bird into the oven.

And I took all the vegetables out so you could see what I'm planning to do.

The vegetables will have to wait till tomorrow

because you want them to be as fresh-tasting as possible.

I have green beans for a green been casserole.

I hated green beans as a kid, but I love green bean casserole now as an adult.

And I'm going to try a new recipe

with parsnips and carrots.

I'm going to glaze these vegetables with orange juice.

Sounds yummy.

There'll be butternut squash.

This is very traditional.

You can do different things. I'm going to boil it, mash it, mix it with butter and spices.

It will taste kind of sweet.

Speaking of sweet. We'll have candied sweet potatoes.

And of course mashed potatoes.

That's a big hit at every Thanksgiving table.

Did I mention we'll also have peas and corn?

So, yes, we'll have turkey. Turkey is the main course.

But we're sure going to have a lot of vegetables on our table as well.

So one of the last things I can do the day before Thanksgiving,

or rather the night before Thanksgiving, is make my bread crumbs.

These bread crumbs will dry overnight,

and then I can use them tomorrow morning when I make the stuffing.

The stuffing will go in the turkey.

Another thing I have to do the night before Thanksgiving is get things out of storage.

See, for the Thanksgiving dinner you can't use your everyday dinnerware,

meaning your everyday dishes, your everyday utensils...

It's such a special holiday and such a special dinner

we need to get out our formal dinnerware

or what some people call our fine china.

I have dishes that belonged to my mother.

I have a whole set. They're very pretty.

So I only take them out for special occasions.

I also have some candlesticks, which I rarely use.

But it's pretty to have on a holiday table.

I need to polish these and make them shine.

I'll also use a platter that belonged to my grandmother.

And I have some very nice utensils we call silverware

because they're made (at least partly) from silver.

So now you have a pretty good idea about what happens the day before Thanksgiving.

But the preparations aren't over yet.

One more thing that needs to be done is cleaning the house before the guests come.

I did wash the floor yesterday,

but I know there are a few more things I have yet to do.

So hopefully I will find an extra pair of hands to help me clean a little more.

Natasha, Alex, you guys gonna help clean?

Are you going to help clean the house?

I hope so.

That's all for now.

Thanks for watching and happy studies!

And to all celebrating -- Happy Thanksgiving!