Thanksgiving 2009

So this year, Thanksgiving plans were kinda up in the air for a while. Sara (my sister) was due to give birth any day (her official due date was Nov 17th, but that date had come and gone). My folks and I then made tentative plans to do a small family dinner (them, my youngest bro Kyle, and myself)...maybe even invite my Grandma Doris & Aunt Jody over (assuming they didn't end up accepting one of their other Thanksgiving invites). We didn't want to do anything super big in case the baby decided it was time to come, and we all would be disrupting our plans to go to the hospital.

Then on Tuesday (Nov 24) got an email from my dad saying that mom had badly sprained her ankle (not broken, they went to the hospital to x-ray it and make sure). Thus, I ended up cooking dinner for my folks and Kyle. We kept it fairly simple since it was just the 4 of us. And it turned out great.

My very first attempt at cooking turkey (by myself) turned out wonderful. Fortunately, earlier this year (a few months ago?) while flipping channels randomly, I stumbled across PBS's airing one of Julia Child's tv shows on how to roast poultry (including cleaning & trimming, trussing it, etc.). I thought it was interesting stuff at the time (you all know how I like to cook :), and though I had no plans to utilize the info in the immediate future, I filed her advice away for later.

And it came in handy for Thanksgiving! :)

The turkey was about 13 lbs (fresh), and I stuffed it with fresh sage, rosemary, & Parsley, a thinly sliced lemon, 2 large shallots (also sliced), a couple of cloves of garlic (smashed & then cut into large chunks), and a large pinch of salt. I also rubbed the outside of the turkey/skin with some butter. Cooked it for about 15 minutes at a high temp (500 degrees) and then lowered it to like 325 for the rest of the 2-1/2 hrs of cooking time. ( I did baste the bird a few times throughout the cooking process, but not *every* 20 minutes.)

I also made mashed (red) potatoes. (Discovered that they didn't want the skins on after I had chopped most of the potatoes, so spent next number of minutes slicing/peeling off skins from potato chunks. Oh well...at least I got them all. :) I also cooked some fresh green beans (so spent a while trimming & cutting green beans after I washed them). Oh, and I can't forget the stuffing/dressing! Used the Trader Joe's cornbread stuffing (just breadcrumbs & seasoning) which I cooked on the stove and then finished in the oven. (I added a bit of turkey flavoring to it too...and some of the chopped giblets).

AND, of course, I made gravy. While I did use some Trader Joe's Turkey Gravy (comes in a small box/carton - no funky stuff/preservatives, etc added), I definitely made some gravy from scratch using the turkey drippings, some of the chopped giblets (and using the broth from the water/herbs that they cooked in), and some flour/butter. My homemade gravy was WONDERFUL, but obviously not much, so I added it to the Trader Joe's gravy, and it mixed very well. (Didn't loose the flavoring, cause mine was strong enough - I had cooked it down before adding it in to the other stuff). So we definitely had plenty of gravy, which is always nice.

I think the best compliment was my youngest bro, who is a picky eater, giving the Thumbs Up approval on the food...especially the gravy. :) He took plenty of helpings of that (for his turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing). Not that my turkey *needed* gravy (it was flavorful and moist), but it is nice to have a bit of gravy with your turkey. :)

So the four of us (Mom/Kathy, Dad/Greg, my bro Kyle and I) sat down to a simple but yummy dinner at about 2:30/3pm and enjoyed the food and each other's company. :)

a Busy Thanksgiving Weekend - Part 1

Where to start?



Well, the day before Thanskgiving (Wed), I got off work early (yea for work closing early!! =) and was able to go home and start my baking. I had LOTS of items (cookies and such) on my list of "to bake"...of course.
=)


I baked all the rest of the afternoon/evening, with a brief stop to run out to the store to pick up more flour (didn't realize how low I was until I was in the middle of baking) and another break to cook/reheat some leftovers for dinner. (Still no microwave, so need to be creative in re-heating).

Cookies baked that afternoon/evening:
2 batches of Pecan Cookies (Great Grandma Florence Thelin's recipe =)
1 batch of Pumpkin Raisin Cookies
1 batch of Lemon Squares (made from scratch with freshly grated lemon zest & squeezed lemon juice...of course!)

The Pecan Cookies & Pumpkin cookies took a long time to bake, since both of those were baked at lower temps and would therefore take longer to bake all the way through. Plus there's the whole frosting the pecan cookies (and making the frosting) and topping with a whole (i.e. non-broken) pecan half (preferably before the frosting sets ;-) which can take a bit of time.

The only batch of cookies I didn't get made that night, which I wanted to do, was the batch of Chocolate Chip cookies. I was a little bummed, but I wanted sleep too.

Thursday morning, however, I was determined to bake them... So I did. =)

I was a bit late with arriving in time to help out with Thanksgiving Dinner (mid-day meal) prep, due to baking, getting ready for the day (I wanted to look nice - so I gelled, blow-dried and hot curled my hair before setting it in a 1940s look...it looked awesome by the way!), and making sure I had everything since I was planning on being gone for the next day. After the family Thanksgiving party, the plan was for me to join up with some friends in LA for the Enigma (UCLA) Thanksgiving Party, to which I had earlier been invited (Thanks Riz!). And since the next day (Friday) I'd be hanging out at LosCon35 manning the Costume Repair Station and then watching my friends perform in the Lux show that evening, I was able to get permission to crash on the couch at the FIRM that night (Thurs) so I wouldn't have to drive home late at night and come back in the morning. (Thanks guys! =). Anyways, that meant I had to pack for my time away as well as just my Thanksgiving day stuff, and that of course took a little time to think through and grab the items I might possibly need (and throw it in the back of my car with other stuff currently residing there ;-).

Thanksgiving with the family was great. Good food + good company = great times! =) Plus, it was nice to see my grandparents (especially since Grandpa's not doing well right now, and if I'm being realistic he probably won't make it to another Thanksgiving). I arrived around 1pm, and while the food was just about ready to serve, the grandparents hadn't arrived yet. They were still stuck in traffic, so the rest of us got to chat and keep the food warm as best as we could. =) Soon enough, the grandparents arrived, the greetings took place, a blessing on the food was said, and we all tucked into our scrumptious food.

Dinner at my family means a Turkey, stuffing/dressing, mashed potatoes, homemade gravy, yams, creamed corn (everyone's favorite!!), green beans, fresh baked rolls, cranberry salad (another of Great-Grandma Florence's recipes) and home-made pies! Such yummy dishes.
=)
Fortunately, I was able to refrain from stuffing myself, even though all the food was so yummy its kinda hard not to overeat.

Since we were at my folk's place this year, instead of all trekking down to Escondido (San Diego County), we got to use their new CA Poppies China (a reproduction of one of the sets of China used on the Santa Fe Rail Road, if I recall correctly). They're really pretty, and since they're reproduction of a Railroad China set, they're smaller sized than 'normal' china. Which is kinda cool since they all fit better on the table AND it means you can't overload your plate as much.
;-)

But I digress. As we leisurely ate our meal, we chit-chatted and in general had a good time covering a variety of topics in our conversation. (Not that I can recall any right now, mind you =). After dinner, my dad got a chance to show off his new flatscreen tv (to his folks and sister) with a showing of The Alps video. (http://www.amazon.com/Alps-Blu-ray-Michael-Gambon/dp/B001BEK892/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1228352291&sr=8-1 ) I must admit that this is a pretty cool video to see on a really good tv. Not only is the picture quality good on the tv, the video itself was filmed in IMAX *and* its Blu-Ray, so you KNOW that the resolution is amazing! All in all it was pretty neat to watch the gorgeous Swiss scenery as it flashed by on the screen.

Soon, though my sister (Sara) and her hubby had to leave for their next party, which was back down in San Diego with Jeremiah's extended family. After a family photo was taken, and a round of goodbyes had been made, SaraMiah departed. Next, Tim and Monica got to show off their photos (and photos taken by others) from their trip to Argentina earlier in the year. After viewing the photos, they too had to take off so they could join up with Monica's family Thanksgiving, and another round of goodbyes was made.

Not too long afterwards, I too made my goodbyes and headed up to LA to join in with the Enigma Thanksgiving (already going on, but I was just joining in when I was able to). When I arrived, there wasn't much parking (sorta expected that), but after circling the nearby streets for a bit I eventually found a not-terribly-*too*-far-away parking spot and made my way to the party. They were just serving dinner when I arrived. What great timing! =) I wasn't terribly hungry since I had only eaten a few hours earlier, but I did make a small plate and snack on a few items to tide me over till dessert.

I gotta say that the party was a lot of fun. I only knew a handful of people, but I did get to introduce myself to a number of Enigma people (or friends of Enigma) and occasionally someone, like Jen K, did remember to introduce me first. =) I even got to chat about costuming with one of the other gals there (who is interested in doing a costume for a Cthulu game that's coming up in January and wanted ideas for an outfit).

When the dessert came out, there were a couple of pies (including a yummy Lemon Meringue), a brownie creation (not sure what it was, but it was yummy) in a cast iron skillet, and my various cookies/treats. We definitely had plenty of dessert! And I got complimented on my desserts. (Yea! =)

And while the party was fun, it was a long day, and when David said he was interested in heading back to the FIRM (he still had stuff to work on to get ready for the Lux Theater show the next day) I decided to leave at the same time and give him a ride. Back at the FIRM, I got to chat with him while he got things together for the show, and also with Graydon when he arrived, and eventually we all called it a night. (Whereupon I got to crash on the couch...which is a very comfy couch, btw. Thanks guys! =)

And well, that's the end of my Thanksgiving Day, so I'll end Part 1 here. =)

(I'll continue with my weekend at LosCon in another post...later tonight most likely)