Quality time for quantity eating with your loved ones, while you study

I learned a lot from my experience as an IMC student during last year?s Thanksgiving. Yes, it IS possible to eat one Thanksgiving dinner at 12:00 pm in Rhode Island and a second dinner at 7:30 pm the same day in Detroit, but it?s hectic. And expensive. And sometimes your husband?s cousin?s internet connection disconnects right in the middle of a thoughtful reply you?re writing on the discussion board …

So, I decided this year, especially since I?m doing quite a bit of reading for IMC 617 and will have a demanding project due on the use of sales promotion to minimize the cost of product returns, that I really needed to simplify the holidays. For me that is very hard. I look forward to holidays and I love decorating, shopping, going to events and parties, and ?making a big deal? about them. But the truth is, enjoying the holidays when you?re in graduate school means quality time rather than quantity time. And to me, quality time means eating huge quantities of food with the people I love.

So here is how I?m managing the Thanksgiving stress this year: delegation and outsourcing (with thanks to Ashley Lantz for a great way of thinking about it!).

Here?s how it worked for me:

Delegation Plan A: Start asking family members in mid-October ?who? is going to host Thanksgiving. Imply that it won?t be you.

Outsourcing Plan A: If it starts to look like it might be you, phone the traditionalists in your family who insist on having them same foods at the same place on the same dishes year after year, and start bouncing around ideas like: ?hey, why don?t we go to (insert restaurant name here) for Thanksgiving? You love it there!?

Outsourcing Plan B: When that fails, e-mail traditionalists suggest that a fine grocery retailer nearby offers fabulous gourmet prepared foods. Reassure that we can still make a few things ourselves, to keep it a ?real? Thanksgiving. Note: Assume that those who didn?t respond to e-mail are in agreement but just forgot to tell you, and call to place an order for the turkey, appetizers, and some side dishes. Remember, you don?t have to pay until you pick it up!

Delegation Plan B: Assign traditionalists to make the ?homemade? foods they can?t live without. Assign yourself to make something straightforward, easy to shop for in advance, low enough on mental demand that you can actually keep reading your chapter of Sales Promotion Essentials while making it, yet still something that will be appreciated at the Thanksgiving meal. The cranberry sauce. Since you?re an IMC student, you?ve already have your eyes open for end cap displays and discounts on the brand that signifies cranberry holiday goodness. I don?t need to say more.

Realizing that while I?m in graduate school it’s not the time to create my own new recipes, even for condiments, and so I am following one on the brand?s web site. I?d like to thank you, the marketers, copywriters, web developers, and kitchen testers at Ocean Spray, for making my holiday so delicious.

FRESH CRANBERRY ORANGE RELISH

INGREDIENTS:

1 unpeeled orange, cut into eighths and seeded
1 12-ounce package Ocean SprayŽ Fresh or Frozen Cranberries, rinsed and drained
3/4-1 cup sugar

DIRECTIONS:

Place half the cranberries and half the orange slices in food processor container. Process until mixture is evenly chopped. Transfer to a bowl. Repeat with remaining cranberries and orange slices. Stir in sugar. Store in refrigerator or freezer.

Makes about 3 cups.

See how lovely? I bought the Turkey bowl for $3 on the ?holiday clearance table? at TJ Maxx. Does it help give it a more ?thoughtful? impression, rather than I-just-threw-this-together-in-10-minutes-because-I?m-really-busy-with-school?

I hope you guys are looking forward to Thursday as much as I am. Thanksgiving will mark the middle of our Late Fall IMC term, which means we?ve got a lot under our belts. And it?s a little break ? not from the IMC program, but for the +90% of IMC students who are working, from our jobs. Have a wonderful holiday!

As Always:

?Ask April? (like ?Ask Todd?) is Open! Click ?reply to article? and ask any old thing that comes to your mind about IMC 617 Sales Promotion and the IMC program.

– April