Wednesday, November 24, 2010

GETTING READY FOR THANKSGIVING

Thanksgiving is a major production at my house. I cook for at least two days ahead of time and enjoy nibbling and preparing the fattening, special foods I rarely touch at any other time of year. Think sour cream, creamed cheese, gobs of butter, rich pies and deserts. Yum. I avoid those foods except on special occasions, and that special occasion is about to happen.
 I take out all sorts of favorite recipes, then move along and sometimes discard one and opt for another. I cannot prepare them all, though I'd like too. We will have smoked turkey, two kinds of potatoes and gravy,  Italian stuffing, and artichoke stuffing, stuffed mushrooms, spinach souffle, corn pudding, pickled pineapple, kale salad, hippy broccoli, three types of cranberries, paella, sweet potatoes in broth.
New this year is a Spanish tortilla, made with 3 eggs to 3 potatoes. And, we haven't had roasted pepper salad at Thanksgiving. I debated between roasted red pepper dip and the salad. Decided on the homemade humus for dip instead. Well, the list is making me drool and its time to get at it.
I already made two crustless pumpkin pies, but normally the deserts are up to the guests to bring. Virginia's pear tart and Doug's berry pies. Oh, my. Haven't even started on the snacks. Its going to wonderful.
And, its not only about the bounty of food. We do reflect on what we have to be thankful for. We have so many cultures in our country and Thanksgiving is a true American holiday that everyone enjoys and it doesn't upset anyone. And, that's something of great value.
We've been without the wood stove for three days with the temperature lowering to 22 degrees. The chimney sweep came yesterday and cleaned the stove. Nice to have the house really warm again.
Happy Thanksgiving to all.

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