A Day of Thanks

Today was Thanksgiving Day. A day for giving thanks. Thanks for family, shelter, and good food. This Thanksgiving was the first time I actually cooked the entire dinner myself. I did try to plan ahead so that all I had to do on the actual day was stuff and cook the turkey, and reheat/cook the side dishes. Of course, I can't do anything the easy way. Dinner had to be served between 11:00-11:30am so that Nate could eat and still leave for work on-time.

Here's the menu that I had planned:


I did manage to get everything but the turkey and whipped cream done ahead of time. But, it was not without adventure. Of course, nothing I do can be done easily...

I put in the turkey to thaw out starting on Monday. By Wednesday morning, it was hardly thawed at all. How then, was I supposed to get the giblets, etc out of the turkey to make the stuffing??? The answer: thaw the turkey in the kitchen sink. In addition, I had to split the giblets, as Nate had requested his mother make her sausage dressing as well as my wild rice stuffing. After 8hr of thawing in the sink - almost thawed. I decided to run warm water into the cavity so that I could get the giblets out in time to get ready for work, drop them at my in-laws, and make it to work on time.

Lo and behold, what did I find when the turkey finally thawed?? NO GIBLETS!!! At ALL!! How could this be? Didn't all turkeys come with giblets? It had never occurred to me that this could even be an issue. So now what? I dug thru the trash for the turkey wrapper. No giblets in there. No info on the bag saying this turkey lacked vital parts. No time, also, so I had to think quickly. Grabbed some leftover frozen chicken giblets that I was going to use for stock. Head out the door.

Whew! I did make it to work on time. But, then after work, I stayed up until past midnight to get my stuffing done in time to stuff the turkey in the morning. Once the turkey was done, we let it rest for a bit. It smelled wonderful.


After all the rest of the side dishes were ready, it was time to set the food on the table.

First I brought in the turkey, to make sure there was enough space for it in the center. Then all of the rest of the dishes came in. Luckily we have a rather sizeable table, as we needed plenty of room for all of the food.




Once we finished up with the main course, it was time to clear the table for dessert. Seeing as there were only 6 of us, I only made one pie - of the pumpkin variety. I actually used a pie pumpkin, and cooked it down to make the pie. It was delicious. I also made cinnamon ice cream and bourbon-flavored whipped cream to top it. Everyone agreed that it was just right to finish off the meal.


And, even better, 90% of the dishes fit into the dishwasher! I love having a dishwasher.


This is even more amazing, when I realized just how much silverware I had left in the drawer...


Here's to a successfully cooked, first major family holiday, quite edible Turkey Dinner. It truly was a Day of Thanks!

It's Snowing!

Today was the first day of actual snow that we have had here in the Small Town. At least the first day that the snow actually stuck to the ground for more than a few seconds. It was beautiful. The entire neighborhood was transformed into a Winter Wonderland. The kids were out playing, and I even saw a few snowmen appear.

Here is a view from our backyard. The neighbor's tree looked quite nice against the fence and our back garden.


It stayed covered on the grass for a few days wherever there was shade. It was quite nice whilst it lasted, but, it is still too early and the ground too warm for the snow to stay put. Soon!