Dear Gudrun -
Should I have Thanksgiving in Real Life or Second
Life this year?
Last year I had a fight with my mother over what is the best
temperature/time combination to cook the perfect turkey. I wound up getting up at 5:30 am to start
it. She likes to cook a
turkey for six hours at 325 degrees, and she says the slower the better, so I
put mine in for 8 hours at 250 degrees, and mine was better than anything that
ever came out of her oven, thank you!
She’s still mad.
Plus, I have a vegan to deal
with… Not only do I have to be careful
with his food, but people tease him ‘til it hurts. Plus his dad wants him, now that he’s 18, to
carve the turkey. Fortunately for the poor
boy, many of us are comforting types.
And there’s an aunt I have to
invite, whom I hate! Last year I said
something that sent her storming out of the dining room to sit in her car. That was fine with me. But I can’t remember what it was I said. L
But, getting back to my original
question… Should I have Thanksgiving in RL or SL this
year?
Thanking you in advance,
Abundance Pleasance
Dear Abby -
Ummm... whether to have it in RL or SL depends upon
whether or not you actually want to eat...
also on whom you want to see at your table, or, as the case may be
"table" (in the virtual sense).
Much of my time in RL
is spent thinking about food: what's in the fridge, when to go to the store,
what's for dinner, or is there a cool restaurant I really want to go to. (Oddly, much of my time in SL is also spent
thinking about food. Like what delicious
hors d’oeuvre I can consume with the cocktail I’m drinking :-/ )
My Thanksgivings are
as complicated as anyone's... Though
most of my family are carnivores, we have two vegetarians (thankfully not
vegans). So we start out with a shrimp
platter plus some cheese and veggie appetizers, then have turkey, Polish
sausage (smoked and fresh), a Tofurkey, candied yams, mashed potatoes,
cranberry sauce, and green bean casserole, followed by pumpkin, mince, and
apple pies, assorted candies and nuts, etc.
Eating, of course, is
one of the joys of life. It’s an activity that engages all of the senses at
once. In SL, however, food is not so engaging. No sound, no smell, no feel, and
no taste. Why even have it then? Because like all the other things in SL that
aren’t quite like they are in real life, it can be fun.
In RL, many questions
need answers:
- Who carves the
turkey?
- How do I seat
people who aren't speaking?
- What would be the
most appealing centerpiece for my table?
Oddly, the same
issues arise in SL. Your answers to
these questions may, in fact may determine what life you have Thanksgiving in,
or whether you have it at all.
"Thanksgiving is an emotional holiday. People travel
thousands of miles to be with people they only see once a year. And then
discover once a year is way too often."
- Johnny Carson
Anyway, how do you
prepare for an SL Thanksgiving?
I have to admit a
passion for virtual food. For many
years, since I was a newb, one of my favorite places in SL has been the Cas
food court at Voti (209, 21, 43), where you can purchase almost any virtual
victual you could possibly desire. These foods are beautifully prepared and
offer some cyber-enjoyment as well. They make great gifts and are handy to have
on hand. For entertaining I keep tea and
crumpets, antipasto, tapas, oysters, artisan cheeses, champagne, whiskey
drinks, wine flights, lemonade, and iced tea. I also have an absinthe fountain,
for the truly adventurous imbiber (and you know who you are). Cas also offers Gorean and vampire selections,
and, of course, table settings.
Another fave is
HomeLife at PondLife (77, 129, 21). Here you can purchase dining sets with
fully animated food service (as opposed to just pictures of food), and a bunch
of other kewl stuff, indoor and out, as well. Dining sets are the handiwork of
Eladon Galsworthy, whose products I have always owned and greatly admire. To
me, Eladon is certainly the pioneer of SL eating… For years ALL the better SL
restaurants used his dining sets more or less exclusively. (There are some lovely picnic blankets made
by others at the store, but their attraction is not the food they have
pictured, but the cuddles they include. :))
Not quite as overwhelming
as Cas is Kitchen Korner (128, 128, 60), which does food, liquor, furniture,
and dining anims with a somewhat different approach. There are gender specific approaches to
eating and drinking both fingerfoods and dining table items. You may or may not prefer them. The table dining offers variety and choice in
how you eat. You can also get groceries,
pots and pans, etc. in addition to prepared dishes. Also featured are a variety of buffet style
food and drink dispensers.
Utensils in SL are
interesting. They're there if you want to use them, and of course, they
contribute to a genteel dining experience. All of those I've seen operate in a
European fashion: no one switches their fork to the right hand after cutting.
This makes very good sense given the complexity of a hand switch in an animation.
And some of you may
prefer one stop shopping - getting an entire Thanksgiving spread at a very
reasonable price… You can do so by
visiting Angel Damask in SL Marketplace, or at her store in Winddragon (82, 74,
22 – Go here and find the shops on the Teleport map; explore Winddragon while
you’re at it). Angel can make you ready
for ANY holiday!
But there are many
who feel that all the fun of Thanksgiving lies in the cooking, often a
convivial communal effort starting early in the morning, involving siblings,
parents, aunts and other available help,
and consummating in the great feast, followed by a jolly clean-up
party. For those wishing to accomplish
this is SL, there is some amazing stuff out there. For example, the La Antigua kitchen, made by
heart homes for the Aphrodite Shop.
This kitchen contains
over 25 menus you can make; 55 single animations, 18 scenes, and 9 couple
animations; over 105 items that dispense wearable props; working lamps, water,
appliances, and cabinets; and all the necessary items - dishes, shelves,
plants, cookbooks, pots, pans, jars, fruits, meats, vegetables, etc. To get the the full impact of this remarkable
creation, you MUST watch this video:
You can get it on
Marketplace.
ANYWAY, whether you
have Thanksgiving in RL or SL, you should probably make some Fig Toasties
(adapted from Leah Eskin's "Home on the Range" in the Chicago Tribune).
4 slices crusty (artisan)
bread
2 oz triple cream
soft-ripened cheese
4 fresh ripe figs
(these would be purple on the outside, pink inside)
2 tbsp unsalted
butter
1 tsp balsamic
vinegar
1 pinch crushed red
pepper
Toast the bread
golden brown
Spread cheese on the
slices of bread and cut each into 3 pieces
Cut off the bottom of
each fig, and slice each into 3 circles
Heat your butter in a
skillet and sauté the fig slices ‘til the pink turns tan (about 1 min per
side), drizzle on the vinegar, sprinkle on the pepper, and saute until deeply
colored (1 min more per side)
Place figs on cheese
toast, and eat.
*These instructions
will, of course, vary depending upon the size of the bread and the size of the
figs.
These yummedies can
be served as appetizers at an RL feast, or you can have them with your favorite
cocktail at your SL event.
So, beware of
gluttony, defined as: "prae-propere, laute, nimis, ardenter,
studiose."
AND, above all, don’t
talk to your food!
“Some of my best conversations were with a lettuce. I
couldn't go on though, because people were starting to look at me funny. So I
turned over a new leaf and ate it.”
TC ~ Gudrun
