Here’s hoping my U.S. readers have a very happy, healthy, and safe Thanksgiving.
We’re catering again: turkey; gravy; potatoes au gratin (travels much better than mashed); stuffing; cran-apple sauce; asparagus; baked mashed pumpkin with brown sugar, butter, and nutmeg; pumpkin pie; whipped cream; and finally, lemon meringue pie. Anything that needs to stay hot seems to do so, packed in a cooler with a couple of towel-wrapped hot bricks. It’s pretty much carb overload, even if we don’t overeat.
I made the two pies, cran-apple sauce, and potatoes au gratin ahead of time, although the latter will have to be baked tomorrow. Béchamel based sauces seem to keep just fine in the fridge for a day or so. Once the bird and bricks are in the oven, nothing else fits, but the toaster-oven is large enough to hold a casserole, so the taters can go in there.
As much as I love holidays, and cooking holiday meals, I don’t particularly appreciate having to prep the bird and have it in the oven by 7am. My instinct is to head for the shower at that time of morning, not the kitchen.
Enjoy your Thanksgiving, everyone.
Sounds divine!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Have a safe and happy thanksgiving everyone!
With my sister back in town, it will be the first Thanksgiving in about 5 years we’re all together. She bought a 23 pound bird, so we’ll have a load of leftovers.
A very Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.
I am absolutely in awe of a bird that big. We got a 13 pounder, because it was the smallest one we could find. It’s really my roasting pan, not the bird, that hogs up all the oven space, but I don’t think a 23 pounder would fit.
If I hadn’t been there when she bought it, I wouldn’t have believed it. There’s 11 of us, and I still think it’s probably too big. She was going to fry it, but it wouldn’t fit, and I’m not sure how they’ll get it in the oven. I’ll definitely be taking a picture of that bad boy.
My dream kitchen would have a 6-burner gas stove with a double oven, but there are no gas lines this far out of town, and it’s not worth having a propane tank installed just for a stove.
Happy Thanksgiving! My plan, as usual, is to work all night, go home, help with the prep, sleep while the bird cooks, then get up and help finish things before we have dinner. And wine. And then sleep again 🙂
Perhaps my favorite part is the nap after eating.
I’ll be going to a relative’s home today who lived maybe 15 miles down the road. I don’t know how big the turkey they get it as they cook it the day before, carve it up and put it in a large roaster and warm it back up this morning. Every year I swear I won’t stuff myself silly, but there are so many good cooks in my family I can’t help myself.
Sounds great. I am the cook in the family. Mom doesn’t cook anymore, which is just as well, since I’ve seen her torch frozen green beans more than once. Dad never learned to cook. They claim they love my cooking, but I’m not sure dad would really know the difference between so-so and really good. Anyway, if I wanted to eat decent food, I pretty much had to learn to cook it myself.
I am thankful that my novel, Wolf Hunter, is finally out. It was getting annoying to hear from Pacione about how he was so much better than me because he had a bunch of books out, while I did not.
I know that it’s better to be published well, so with that in mind, you can check out Belfire Press’ website for my book:
http://belfirepress.com/main/our-titles/wolf-hunter/
You can go there and pre-order a book (and get a 25% discount). If you pre-order, it will be drop-shipped right from the printer, so you’ll likely get it before my publisher will. For those who have asked about the pre-order process, you’re really just reserving a book at a discount. They’ll send you a discount code to use on a special page from the printer.
http://belfirepress.com/main/our-titles/wolf-hunter/
If you’d prefer the eBook version, you can pick it up at Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/260444
(use code XE72C for 25% off, until 12/3/2012)
Or Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Wolf-Hunter-ebook/dp/B00AG5MVTC/