Saturday, November 28, 2009

between thanksgiving

yesterday we had thanksgiving with friends up the mountain. its lovely to go there because they have a house with a lovely tropical garden cut out of the jungle. and you sit in front of the picture window with a cup of coffee...its terribly relaxing. i brought the turkey and (for my own future reference) we packed it in a rubbermaid box. Carboard lining, then the Illini fleece blanket, then a layer of newspaper. turkey wrapped double in foil. then wadded up newspapers. i also put in the broth from boiling down the neck and a separate container of dripping from the bottom of the turkey pan. also for future reference a 16lb bird shouldn't be put in a large cooking bag- it needs the fuller sized turkey bag if its available. it did ok but more room is really needed.

today i went around to market, bought 6lbs of potatoes, 2lbs of green beans, 2lbs of onions, eggs, celery and bread. i made 2 pumpkin pies, cleaned the green beans and washed the potatoes. we dug out the serving dishes, wiped them off. found the extra plates and silverware. wiped off the glasses. cleaned up the kitchen a dozen times and washed dishes at least as many. went to get water. i did as much prep work for tomorrow as i can really get away with.

tomorrow we have somewhere between 6 and 16 people coming for thanksgiving. we're pretty sure we're going to hit 12 but everything is soft until you see the whites of their eyes. lunch isn't until something in the ballpark of 3ish so there isn't a big rush. i'll need to wash out the fridge after taking out the turkey. its a drippy thawed out mess in the crisper drawer at the moment. i need to do something about cleaning out a few million plastic containers but that will come as lunch prep comes together. jonathan will be in charge of peeling potatoes and i need to think of some locally inviting way to make green beans. i suspect it has something to do with oil and chilis but i wish there was a way to make locally pleasing and healthy. probably not going to happen.

but now i'm off to rest. i love having people over but turkey is stressful. there's to much "not killing your guests" talk associated with it. that isn't something i normally have to factor in to having people in for dinner.

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