A reporter asked about the lack of turkey dinner in the official NASA menu, but mission commander Charles Hobaugh replied "shockingly, yes, I think it will be" as they flashed some bags with the goodies inside. Hobaugh didn't care a lot:

Thanksgiving to me has not always been about the food you eat, but the company you keep, and I'm keeping some outstanding company here. I can't wait to get home and share a late Thanksgiving meal with my family but, in the meantime, I've got a great group of friends and I'm really thankful for that.

A NASA spokesman was surprised and didn't have any explanation except that some of the ISS crew may have sneaked turkey—smoked and irradiated—candied yam, freeze-dried cornbread stuffing, and green beans packages into the station.

Meanwhile, this Gizmodo editor is surprised that he didn't vomit while writing this article, after eating between five and three hundred pounds of turkey today. [AP]

Oh, Dr. Bunce, where have you been all my life, especially when I was dozing off in chem class? [Technology Review via Make]

Do you have any Thanksgiving tech support horror stories? Shoot them to me in email form or drop your stories, photos and video in the comments below. You don't have to suffer alone.

This recipe is for an ultra-simple chocolate-cranberry mousse, chosen for its simplicity (only a few easily-obtainable ingredients and no advanced skills needed). It's also appropriate for Thanksgiving, being a sticky-sweet dessert with cranberries, and doesn't require any baking (only chilling, and this time of year, that means "put it outside"). It does, however, require some mild heat to create both the chocolate base and the mousse itself—and instead of using something boring like a microwave or saucepan, you can actually use an ordinary hair dryer.

Equipment:
• Handheld hair dryer
• Mixing bowls (anything metal works—an ice bucket, aluminum tin the pie crust came in, whatever)
• Whisk (or fork)
• Measuring cup

Ingredients:
• Pre-made pie crust
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup vanilla-flavored white chocolate chips
• 1.75 cups heavy whipping cream, plus 2 tbsp
• Orange zest
• Whole-berry cranberry sauce

Notes: Recipe adapted from this one—the original is a traditional recipe, using traditional tools, but "low heat" is just so ambiguous that I started looking around for an unexpected source of heat. I found it in a hair dryer. Also, I cheated and used a whisk to whip the cream, but a fork will do the job—it'll take awhile and it's a bit of a forearm workout, but it'll work.

Step 1: Get your pie crust ready. In the interest of forming a recipe that could be made in a hotel room, I first tried one of those cookie crusts that doesn't need baking—huge mistake. As soon as I tried to spread the chocolate base on it, the crust crumbled like my self-confidence, becoming a mass of gooey disgusting chocolate cookie (pictured above). I ended up going with a frozen pie crust, which unfortunately needs to be pre-baked—not very MacGyvery.

Step 2: Mix your gross vanilla-flavored chips with a half cup of the heavy cream in a medium-sized metal mixing bowl. Turn your hair dryer on high and hold it against the bottom of the bowl, and with your other hand stir the chip-cream mixture slowly until smooth. Once it's smooth (shouldn't take more than a few minutes), cover and chill.

I found the best way to perform this balancing act was to point the hair dryer straight up, put the bowl on the nozzle, and press the whole precarious contraption into a table for some kind of stability. This is, of course, highly dangerous. Hopefully your hair dryer, like mine, is flat on the bottom side, but if worse comes to worst (or if you're some kind of wuss), have somebody else hold the hair dryer.

Take another mixing bowl, or the first one if you've moved the results of Step 2 to a different vessel, and mix the semisweet chocolate chips with 2 Tbsp of the cream. Repeat the hair dryer chocolate-melting technique and stir until smooth. Spread this chocolate mixture on the bottom of the pie crust and chill.

Step 3: Beat the rest of the cream, 1.25 cups worth, until it's stiff whipped cream. This is kind of a pain in the ass if you don't have an electric beater, which if you're using this recipe you surely don't, but it doesn't take that long with a whisk. As much as I'd like to use aerosol whipped cream here, it won't work; you've got to fold some stuff into the whipped cream and the aerosol type would deflate.

Step 4: Fold the vanilla chocolate chip mixture into the whipped cream, along with about a third of a small orange's worth of zest. That's about a teaspoon, if you can figure out a way to actually measure zest. Here I ran into my most damning problem: My whipped cream wasn't quite whipped enough. It seemed fine as I set down the whisk, but I guess it wasn't stiff enough because it sort of lost its stiffness and turned into puffy cream rather than whipped cream once I folded the vanilla and orange zest into it. Try not to cry directly into this mixture: You'll want to, because it's the most depressing thing you've ever cooked, but it will add unwanted saltiness.

Step 5: Get out your pie crust and layer about a third of a can of repulsive cranberry gelatin product on top of the chocolate that's already there. Then layer the quivering mass of nearly-whipped cream, horrible artificially flavored vanilla chocolate chips, and orange zest on top of the cranberry. The recipe I used calls for you to run a knife through the finished pie to marble the white top with red from the cranberries, but I used that jello cranberry stuff, which is too solid to really spread color around. I halfheartedly ran the knife through anyway but it just looks like somebody really weak tried to slice the pie and barely made it through the whipped cream layer. Anyway, chill this monstrosity for about 6 hours while it sets.

Step 6: Normally this last step would be something cheerful like "Eat!" or "Enjoy!" or "Dig in!" but for God's sake please do not do any of those things. Yeah, I may have extra-ruined it with my un-whipped cream and my can-shaped cranberry jello cylinder of sadness, but in my defense, I think this pie had zero hope to begin with. What I can say is that the hair dryer was not at fault—it's actually not a terrible way to melt chocolate. Usually I'd use a double boiler but that's kind of a pain to set up and honestly I think the hair dryer did pretty much as good a job.

How did it taste? It tasted horrible enough that I actually considered not posting it because I thought it might damage the international reputation of American cuisine. It's horrible enough that I wouldn't eat it while stoned, drunk, or literally starving. The bottom layer of chocolate was way too thick and hard (since it's just melted chocolate with a tiny bit of cream, it's pretty much a candy bar, not a mousse), the naturally vomitous flavor of the cranberry jelly remained woefully unchanged, and the whipped cream tasted like an orange-creamsicle-flavored medicine you might get at the dentist.

This is the worst thing I've ever cooked. Please, nobody ever make this (at least, not the way I did).

Happy Thanksgiving!

The official challenge: "Thanksgiving." As always, interpret the theme however you'd like to give us the best shot that you can. (Food shots are always great, but Thanksgiving can mean people, Black Friday trampling and more.)

Of course, if you decide to do food, check out this list of ways you can cheat a bit: Food Styling - Fun Tac, anyone?

The rules:

1. Submissions need to be your own.
2. Photos need to be taken the week of the contest. (No portfolio linking or it spoils the "challenge" part.)
3. Explain, briefly, the equipment, settings and technique used to snag the shot.
4. Email submissions to contests@gizmodo.com.

Send your best entries by the end of SUNDAY at contests@gizmodo.com with "Thanksgiving" in the subject line. Save your files as JPGs or GIFs at 800 pixels wide, and use a FirstnameLastname.jpg naming convention using whatever name you want to be credited with. Include your shooting summary (camera, lens, ISO, etc) in the body of the email. [Image]

The $30 device slips into a pair of jeans or slacks and does as advertised. It stretches them out to a more pleasing and comfortable size 40, or whatever your waistline might be after a full day of gorging on turkey, potatoes and pie.

The stretcher promises to breath new life into your old wardrobe by adding one to five inches of extra girth. All you have to do is moisten the waistband of your pants, shorts or skirts and insert the stretcher. It's "easier and more economical than taking tight-waisted clothes to the tailor for alterations," says the marketing spiel, and who are we to argue?! The sad thing for the heftiest amongst us is the Waistband Stretcher only "rescues" garments with waistbands ranging from 21" to 45". But look on the bright side, you 46-inchers—there's always the mumu! [Skymall via Random Good Stuff]

The poor Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends float was just minding its own business when that cocky (though rugged, handsome) superstar Rick Astley showed up and spoiled all the fun. Man, what's with that guy?? Happy Thanksgiving from the internet meme incarnate.

Turkey Hunt: I may be soaking my turkey in duck fat pre-roast, but still, I don't want to play no Duck Hunt on this great day. Thankfully, there's Turkey Hunt, reminding us that for us to enjoy the delicious bird on the table, a turkey's life, somewhere, came to a violent and abrupt end.

Turkeynizer: A friend of mine has already started making Elf Yourself messages. They're fun the whole year 'round, but I'm going to show her the Turkeynizer. Make this turkey dance and I'll pay a couple bucks—for stills, free is good!

Convert Aid: This may be a 100% American holiday, and I may be 100% American, but at heart, I often find myself yearning for the metric system. Cups? Ounces? Tablespoons? Drams? What? Now when you're throwing together the feast, there's Convert Aid: solving the English system's mysteries one retardedly illogical measure at a time. $1

Last Call: If your Grandma's house isn't the place for one big sloppy sleepover (too bad!), make sure you don't spend Black Friday in the drunk tank by keeping a close, er, approximation of your consumption before hitting the road. Because "officer, it's not my fault that a great meal needs a great wine!" is just not going to work. It's free.

LED Football: Hate the Lions as much as Henry Paulson does? Then instead of watching John Madden dole out drumsticks, it's probably time to retire to the den with the can of Reddi Whip, sufficiently elasticized pants and some LED football, just like old times. It's a buck.

Some of this week's App news on Giz:

• iPhone App Dev Pays $$ for ***** and Sullies Santa's Name

• Dealzmodo Review: The $300 Sonos Rig

• Zagat To Go '09 Hits iPhone App Store

• Apple's Approval of BdEmailer Proves App Approval Process is a Crapshoot

• 3D Power Is Highly Varied Across iPhone/iPod Touch Iterations

• Simple Hack Enables Roughly One Gazillion Japanese Emoticons On Any iPhone

• iPod Touch Hack Gives Disgruntled Firmware 2.2 Upgraders Google Street View

• DuiPhone Breathalyzer Hack for the iPhone Tells You What You Already Knew

• iPhone Firmware 2.2 Jailbroken, QuickPwn 2.2 Released

Have a fantastic Thanksgiving everyone! For even more apps: see our previous weekly roundups here, Gizmodo's 20 Essential apps, and our original iPhone App Review Marathon.

Instructions:

Turkey parts can be cooked in a dish with a lid, or cover the dish with plastic wrap and vent the top. Timing can vary because of wattage differences, so follow the recommendations in the owner's manual.A 12- to 14- pound turkey is the maximum size most microwaves can accommodate...Allow 3 inches oven clearance on top and 2 to 3 inches of space around the bird. The time for cooking a turkey in the microwave is 9 to 10 minutes per pound on medium (50%) power. Rotate the bird during cooking to ensure even cooking.

Warnings:

Microwaves sometimes cook a whole turkey unevenly, so microwaving it in an oven cooking bag aids in even heat distribution. Microwaving a stuffed turkey is not recommended.

To those who are taking this post too seriously, remember: Just because something is edible doesn't mean that you'll necessarily want to eat it. Though if you do partake in a microwaved turkey this Thanksgiving, be sure to send us a photo...and maybe try stuffing the bird with Pop Secret after cooking. [USDA]

Brother MFC3360C All-In-One Printer - $29.98*

eMachines 19” Widescreen Flat Panel LCD Monitor - $99.98

Netgear Wireless-N Router - $49.98

Western Digital My Book Essential 640GB External Hard Drive - $69.99

Microsoft Office Home & Student 2007 - $59.99 *

Kodak EasyShare C913 9MP Digital Camera w/ 1GB Card - $79.99
(And you get a free Canon photo printer too with any purchase of an advertised camera)

HP Pavilion 15.4" Dual-Core Laptop w/ 2GB, 120GB - $399.98
(Free HP printer included)

Logitech Cordless Optical Mouse - $4.99

SanDisk 4 GB USB Drive - $9.99

HP 15.4″ 3 GB Memory 160 GB Hard Drive Notebook Model G50-112NR - $349.99

Toshiba Satellite 14.” 4 GB Memory 200 GB Hard Drive Notebook Model M305D-S4831 - $489.99

Microsoft Office Home & Student 2007 - $69.99

Samsung 23″ LCD HDTV Model 2333HD - $279.99

Enjoy! [BlackFday]

1. Giz readers
2. iPhone
3. HDTV
4. MacBook Pro
5. TiVo Series 3
6. Sirius Satellite Radio
7. Google Maps
8. Amazon Unbox
9. Netflix
10. My wife
11. The Mac
12. My iPod
13. Blu-ray
14. HD DVD
15. Vibrators
16. The banhammer
17. Steve Ballmer, making Apple's job easy
18. EV-DO
19. Body Bouncer
20. Buddha Machine
21. CFL Bulbs at 2700K, instant-on
22. Audiophiles
23. Podcasts
24. Wireless anything
25. Wi-Fi
26. Wikipedia
27. Rock Band
28. Boeing 787
29. Skype
30. Halo 3
31. 1080p
32. Quad-core processors
33. Interns
34. StumblePorn
35. Blu-ray/HD DVD combo players
36. RSS
37. Rolex
38. Electric cars
39. Digg
40. Bacon of the Month Club
41. Wired
42. Vibrating alarms
43. Carbon fiber guitars
44. Wind turbines
45. Streaming Wi-Fi music
46. YouTube
47. Firefox extensions for easy video theft
48. 30-inch monitors
49. Windows XP
50. Boobies & butts
51. Home theater seats
52. Dive computers
53. Engadget, keeping us competitive
54. Books
55. Xbox 360
56. Gears of War
57. GPS
58. Wireless weather stations
59. USB humping dogs
60. Klipsch speakers
61. Self-driving robotic cars
62. Automatic shotguns
63. Webcams
64. Atomic clocks
65. Quicken
66. Flickr
67. Powersquid
68. Nikon D80
69. Speech recognition
70. Solar panels
71. 1080p projectors
72. Aeron chairs
73. Logitech Harmony remotes
74. Our moms
75. HD camcorders
76. Nissan stainless thermal coffee mug
77. Internet-controlled thermostats
78. DRM-free iTunes songs
79. Anything R/C
80. Carbon fiber and titanium
81. Flight simulators
82. Broadband, 50 down/20 up
83. Electric razors
84. Bedrooms on airliners
85. Garmin Forerunner
86. LEDs
87. Volcano Digit
88. Solid-state hard drives
89. Flying cars
90. The Burj Dubai (word's tallest building)
91. Amazon Kindle
92. Steampunk
93. Microsoft mice and keyboards
94. HDMI
95. Bunn coffeemakers
96. Mars exploration rovers
97. Turkey deep fryer
98. Montblanc pens
99. Our dads
100. Thanksgiving

We're looking for quality and humor here, so if you can make an impressive chop that makes us laugh, you're guaranteed a spot. So get crackin', and email your masterpiece(s) to contests@gizmodo.com. Have the subject say "Thanksgiving Photoshops" and make your filename read like so: FirstName_LastName.jpg. Don't screw this up or we won't look at your entry! Get your entries in by the end of the day on Monday and we'll post the results next week near the big day. Good luck, my friends, and happy chopping.

From the fine testers at YumSugar:

Fast forward several hours and I was cutting into a succulent and juicy turkey. The skin was a little on the salty side, but the flavor was classic and not overpowering....I also found that gravy made from the drippings was too salty with a hint of artificial flavor to it. You also can't make any stuffing in it, and it does not come with the giblets/innards pack like most turkeys...know quite a few people who don't love cooking and just want to have a nice bird on Thanksgiving. If you're one of those folks, then I would recommend you give it a try.

For those who've never tried brining, it's super simple. All that means is you essentially marinate the turkey. And you'll add so much moisture to the meat that it's extremely difficult to screw up from there.

But if Jennie-O ever releases a true freeze-dried turkey, maybe we'll reassess the plan. [yumsugar via bbgadgets]

That liquid boils up in there, infusing your turkey with marinated goodness while decreasing cooking time. Whatever you decide put in this auto-basting container/impaler is entirely up to you, with ideas ranging from cranberry juice, wine, herbs, various marinades, or heck, you could even put yer weed in it. [Camp Chef, via Hardware Aisle]