There are those that say you should always "go big or go home" and if you apply that logic to spending money, then you should have been in New York City today for the $50,000 Thanksgiving dinner. Restaurant Old Homestead is always a fancy affair, promising to offer guests "more opulence and decadence than the lobby in Trump Tower" and their Thanksgiving dinner is no exception.

So what does a $50,000 holiday dinner experience consist of? Well, it's not all food. You also get four tickets to an upcoming Giants game worth $10,000, a $5,000 a night room at the Waldorf with room service and breakfast in bed, limo service while in NYC worth up to $2,000 and a $7,500 Fifth Avenue shopping spree and a carriage ride through Central Park.

What about the other $25,000 or so worth of goodies? That's all food, baby. And your meal will feature a 20 pound free-range, organically raised turkey worth $85 a pound seasoned with spices imported from the Middle East and basted with $17 an ounce olive oil; stuffing featuring $465 a pound Waygu beef, $54 a pound foie gras and made from $46 a loaf sourdough from the UK; sweet potatoes topped with $1,600 caviar from the Caspian Sea; green beans prepared with $90 per pound ham; pumpkin ice cream topped with $4,200 a bottle rum-infused eggnog sauce.

Sadly, you know at least half the dinners will probably throw away at least half of their food because leftovers are so gauche.

Via Gothamist

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Thanksgiving is supposed to be a day of giving thanks, spending time with friends and family and celebrating the wonderful bounty offered in the fall, but let's face it- sometimes Thanksgiving comes and you don't give a crap. 

That's because Thanksgiving can be a nightmare with all the family feuding, uninvited guests and the massive dinner preparation headaches in the kitchen, and all for zero gratitude or reward.

So if you're feeling as blue as a turkey's face, or you're just looking for more things to be thankful for, then feast your eyes on these cards, ads and photos from the good old days of Thanksgiving past!

Apparently pumpkins who survive Halloween hate Thanksgiving turkeys

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Young Elmer Fudd wanted to serve wabbit on Thanksgiving, thankfully that tradition never caught on

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The mid-20th century was full of Jell-O happy maniacs who thought outside the roasting pan and came up with this meaty monstrosity

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And children once wore the skins of fallen turkeys in remembrance of their sacrifice

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Remember the cronut? Well the genius behind that culinary creation, Dominique Ansel, has also developed a new and whimiscal creation that may not blow your mind flavorwise, but is certainly one of the most beautiful ways to enjoy a hot chocolate. That's because it features a marshmallow that blooms into a flower, only to reveal a chocolate truffle on the inside. Time to add this to your food bucket list.

Via Incredible Things

A couple times already this year, we've discussed how Thanksgiving dinner is a celebration of American foods. That part of the feast flew over the head of one of the most famous French chefs ever. Auguste Escoffier wrote Le Guide Culinaire in 1903, which became a bible of sorts for French cooking. That's what he is most remembered for. But in 1911, he wrote Thanksgiving Cookbook as a newspaper supplement. That one is rarely mentioned these days.  

The book was intended to double as a guide for home cooks preparing a Thanksgiving meal and an intro to French cooking. Escoffier did include a suggested menu for a multi-course Thanksgiving meal. Strangely, though, it did not have any of the dishes we’d now associate with Thanksgiving—no turkey, no mashed or sweet potatoes, no stuffing, no gravy, no green beans or brussels sprouts, no squash of any kind, no cranberry sauce, and no pumpkin pie.

Instead, in the cookbook, Escoffier offered 12 separate recipes for rabbit, a chapter on ragouts that featured only mutton, recipes for tomato sauce and macaroni; “some new ways for preparing tomatoes” including “Tomatoes à la Americaine” (basically tomatoes sliced and sprinkled with salt, pepper, vinegar and oil); crawfish recipes and tips on making cream soups.

Yeah, tomatoes are American, but are usually out of season for most of the country by Thanksgiving. The story of how Escoffier totally misunderstood the American attitude toward French cooking for an American holiday is at Atlas Obscura.

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Most people learn to rely on their can openers because it's the easiest solution, never feeling the need to learn alternate ways to crack open canned goods.

But if you love to learn new ways to do basic and necessary stuff then you'll definitely want to watch this tutorial video by Dave Hax so you can see how easy it is to open a can with a spoon.

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Once again the humble spoon has proven it's one of the most important tools for survival.

-Via Laughing Squid

Mike Chace concocted an extreme Bloody Mary that's got everything but the kitchen sink in it. It would have the kitchen sink in it, if you didn't need that sink nearby when you consume it! Ingredients range from turkey sliders to vodka (seven shots!) to bacon to pumpkin pie. The drink is so inclusive that you need a pitcher to fit it all in. This cocktail is recommended for dealing with: annoying family members who insist on discussing politics, Black Friday sales, and/or a holiday hangover. It's also a way to use up Thanksgiving dinner leftovers. See the complete ingredient list for the Ultimate Thanksgiving Bloody Mary. It's pretty long.

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Thirsty and away from home? Don't want to buy a drink? Well, up until now you're stuck drinking out of a boring old water fountain, but if you happen to be in the small town of Caldari di Ortona, Italy, you can always visit the wine fountain instead. That's thanks to the Dora Sarchese Vineyard, who wants the fountain to serve as road side attraction and filling station for thirsty religious pilgrims on the way to Ortona, where the body of the disciple Thomas is said to be kept. Something tells me it will also serve as a destination for wine pilgrims seeking to find something new and wonderful in the world of wine.

Via Eater

Having a giant worm in your stomach is generally seen as a bad thing, but when you're competitive eater Matt "Megatoad" Stonie that giant worm represents an eating challenge you tore through like a boss. 

Matt devoured an entire 3 pound gummy worm in just under 8 minutes, and the before picture above is also a faithful representation of what the inside of his intestines will look like after he finishes the challenge! (NSFW language)

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So that's what "4,000 calories of pure sugar" looks like! *drool*

-Via Laughing Squid

The Butterball Turkey Talk-Line was launched 35 years ago for customers who have questions about turkey, specifically cooking one. In recent years, they've hired 50 trained experts to answer calls in November and December, and they get more than 10,000 calls on Thanksgiving Day. In all that time, you know they've heard some strange cooking dilemmas. Talk-Line co-director Sue Smith shares some of them.  

"We had one mom call, and she was stuffing the turkey, and the kids had their little Matchbox cars, and they would park them in the garage, so to speak. So they went to carve the turkey and found the cars in the stuffing. And the kids were like, 'There they are!' I had them throw away the stuffing, but the rest of the turkey was fine."

Don't eat Matchbox car stuffing. Do eat Matchbox car turkey. Thanksgiving saved.

Some problems are funny, and then there are heartwarming tales of people who've never cooked a turkey before, but got the help they needed. Read those stories at Popular Mechanics. -via Digg

Thanksgiving is great, but cooking is such a hassle -especially when you want a sweet treat and not a big pile of savory boringness prior to getting to eat pie.  If you want to bypass all the trouble and get to the great dessert part, then you might consider investing in this 20 pound gummy turkey from Vat 19 -the masters of insane gummies. Best of all, you won't feel tired and worn down after dinner.

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As you can see in the video, it's a great main course in your all-candy Thanksgiving meal. Just pair it with gravy bubbles, chocolate chip cookie stuffing, gummy cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie soda and green jelly bean cassarole.

Via That's Nerdalicious

The biggest headache on Thanksgiving day has got to be the preparation of the meal, because as much as cleaning and dealing with uninvited guests can suck there is no Thanksgiving without the meal.

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And since it's one of those epic meals with a ton of sides, all of which need to be cooked or baked at different intervals for varying amounts of time, it can be hard to keep track of it all, especially if you're an army of one in the kitchen.

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But with a little chart based assistance and some pre-cooking prep on paper you can cook up an awesome turkey day spread without breaking a sweat. 

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See 23 Super Helpful Charts To Make Thanksgiving Dinner Less Stressful here

Thanksgiving is a day to give thanks -for food! And there's no better way to show that gratitude than to pig out, and to share those wonderful American dishes with the rest of the world. Let's see what Irish people would think of American Thanksgiving dishes: turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, pecan pie, and some side dishes that aren't all that universal.

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When you see what Irish people think of our traditional dishes, you have to feel sorry for them. What have they been eating all their lives?

It seems fan obsession knows no bounds, and some fans are so obsessed they want to see every single thing their favorite celebs do in a normal day, including their eating habits.

These fans feel closer to celebs when they can take a voyeuristic peek into their daily lives, and they are the target audience for weird Instagram accounts like @celebritieseatingthings.

At @celebritieseatingthings you can see awkwardly candid pics of celebs like Will Ferrell, Leo DiCaprio and Eva Mendes stuffing their faces, if that's something you're in to.

You'll also discover a mystery I have yet to solve- why do so many celebrities like to eat bowls of soup or ramen in strange places?

Like Natalie Portman literally walking around eating soup out of a ceramic bowl, doesn't she have ten minutes to sit down and eat her soup comfortably?

See Celebrities Eating Things Will Be Your New Favorite Weird Instagram Account here

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It's arguable about whether or not this is the largest sushi roll or ever as it has to compete against the longest (8,273 feet long) roll, but either way, it still is pretty damn impressive. This crazy beast was built by the Sushi Chef Institute for a Japanese Food Festival. You gotta admit that having sushi that's so massive it has to be cut like a cake is certainly a unique experience if nothing else.

Via Thrillist

There's not a lot to cooking a perfect turkey. Once you've remembered to properly thaw it by Thanksgiving Day, the rest is easy. You put that turkey in a hot oven until it's done, then eat. Joseph Herscher (previously at Neatorama) shows us exactly how to do it.

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You got all that? Then Thanksgiving dinner should be a snap! -via Metafilter