I'm just a cock-eyed pessimist

That's right, I'm having guests over for dinner. I realized last night when I was on my way to the show that while shadowdaddy had managed to pick up several key ingredients for the meal, they weren't actually all of what I needed to make any of the dishes - canned pumpkin but no spices, onions but no celery, etc. So the first thing to do today is shop, and to do that I had to comb through the various cookbooks and make sure I've got the exact list of ingredients. It's not like days gone by - I can't rely on my kitchen to have anything, especially not spices. And in this brave new world, I don't quite have enough chairs for all of my guests, though one of them is bringing one (or so he said).

Anyway, hopefully all of this activity will help chase away my Thanksgiving blues. The wine-laced lunch actually cheered up the bit of blues I had going into yesterday enough to get me through most of the day in a non-weepy mood, hurray. And at some point I must take a shower AND run to the shop downstairs and see if those size 39 1/2 boots fit me.

This time next week we should be swimming in a sea of boxes - only we'll be in Bath so I won't care. :-) I can't wait to get back my bed and my cooking stuff and my clothes.

I realized as I was getting my clothes on for the day that I looked like I was going out to run for a few hours. I've got on a t-shirt, sweat pants, and my hair is in a bun with a band holding it back. I guess this is my personal marathon.

I'm cooking bacon for sustenance, sausage for dressing, and I've scrubbed the squash - not sure how many I want to cook but they sure are a pretty lot. Now for some onion chopping.

I've got squash cooking and onions chopped; shadowdaddy has just put a pie crust in the oven and will shortly be making his very first pumpkin pie. It's raining like mad outside.

Do they have whipped cream in cans here? I could sure use some of that stuff for later, provided the pie doesn't burn.

Next: finish stuffing (involves cooking apples, celery, and onions), and determine if the cheddar-herb biscuits are worth fighting over the oven space to make. (I'm also wanting creamed corn gratin but this will require going out to the store.)

Well, getting the bird in the oven was actually a bit more of an affair than I expected. While the packaging bragged about how this was a turkey with dark feathers, I really felt they could have made a bit more of an effort to actually get them all OUT of the bird. I don't want gravy with feathers in it, thanks. Pictures will follow of me with my tweezers out. At any rate, as near as I can tell this turkey spent its life on a bird resort and probably had a martini glass in its hand until the last five minutes of its life, at least according to what the info in the package said (kindly provided by Kelly Turkeys).

shadowdaddy has made himself proud with his pie, except for the part where it's not done yet and now he has to fuss over it. My cornbread-sausage stuffing (an amalgamation of two different recipes, with homemade cornbread instead of box) is in the fridge, waiting for closer to time. I'm having some fruit juice because I'm feeling dehydrated. Now I'm going to take a shower and dream of a nap and maybe, just maybe, run downstairs to try on those boots.

I suspect I make the same jokes every year. Man, that turkey looks suntanned, almost on the verge of being burnt. I'm pretty sure I've overcooked it! The temperature seems to be very different between the front of the oven and the back of the oven ... oh, doom! I'm sure I can get some good meat out of it but it's just all done too fast and I fear very little of it is going to be very good. Dammit. Stupid celcius and kilos. Even my meat thermometer didn't save me.

Now some rice stuffing for the squash. I know I'll be able to feed everyone somehow, I'd just prefer not to waste a bird that was supposed to be as nice as this one.

Yep, we've got chocolate pecan pie and a pumpkin pie on the table, we're all drinking white wine (or something of the sort), and now we're ready for dessert! Good group altogether, slightly more saucy conversation than the typical for Thanksgiving, but we're having a good time and everyone is quite full. :-)

PS: Boots downstairs too big, boo.