Even though it was my first time, thanksgiving dinner turned out really awesome. I achieved my goal of getting Tom to eat and like the stuff that I made. I liked it too, thankfully, because we've got all kinds of leftovers. The only things that I would change would be the stuffing and dessert. Oyster stuffing is good, but it's not "20 bucks for ingredients" good, ya know? Tom is strictly anti-celery, so my choices are limited, but I'm sure I'll find something good for next year. My mom sent me a recipe for a pumpkin pie cake that I'd like to try out for next year. Hell, I've got some leftover canned pumpkin, so I might try it this year yet. Anyway, it'll probably take a lot less time than the cream puffs, leaving me more oven time for the turkey, et. al. Which reminds me, next year, I'm starting much earlier, shopping earlier, and cooking much more the night before. Cooking all day was fun, but tiring, and I want to be able to enjoy the meal more. Live and learn :)

I took some of the bisque and cranberry ginger chutney into work and they were a hit, so I think those recipes are keepers. ABLE folks know quite a bit of stuff, but they're specialists in the law and food. If they don't like something, you'll hear about it. So I'll have to make the proper additions to the recipes so I don't forget and tuck them away for next year.

Friday was a pretty crazy day too. Although I didn't make it up for the early morning sales (Kohl's had some really great sales, but I needed some sleep), I did head down to Columbus to spend the day shopping with Joe (blublublublublub). We headed out around 10:30 am, which is the time when all the psychotics who had been out at 5:30 am were heading home... the sweet spot. We shopped all day, had a late lunch at Red lobster (all you can eat shrimp! woot!), and shopped some more. We ended up at Easton later that evening, and boy was that a sight. It looked like disneyworld at night, with all of the features lit up, and Joe and I took a horse drawn carriage ride to see the lights. What a blast! By the time we were finally finished shopping for the day, both of us were pretty footsore and worn out, so we headed back to Joe's place. It's rare these days that I get to see Joe, let alone spend the whole day with him, so I'm really glad that I had been able to get down there, and bonus for getting to shop all day! Note: you may see me referring to Joe as "dubbya," which is a reference originating in the fall of 1997, when Joe and I nicknamed each other by our bgnet user names, mine being "bkristy" or "bdogg" and his being "wjoseph" or "dubbya-joseph" shortened to "dubbya." Not to be confused with anyone else with a similar nickname, I've always adored Joe, and I'm glad that despite post-college, being in different cities, and my horrible knack for keeping in touch, we're still able to keep in touch and hang out.

Saturday morning, I left Joe's place super early to head back to BG. Make a quick stop and Tom and I headed out to Kent to spend the weekend with his family. Turkey sandwich lunch, yum, and birthday presents (!) were awesome. I got a compassionate Buddha statue to join the Chinese dragon and Tom's ganeshi that we have on our coffee table. Do I see a collection building? Who knows.

Later that evening, there was a 40th birthday party for one of Tom's cousins, so we all headed out for that. Tom's extended family is pretty cool, so it wasn't as bad as the usual "significant other at the extended family get-together" can sometimes be. Two memorable moments included something about a mysterious second verse to the birthday song, of which I've never heard, that goes "may the good lord bless you," and some controversy surrounding that. The highlight of the evening by far was chatting with Tom's uncle Lou, who is this older Italian guy, who is just so awesome, words cannot describe. This was the guy, when we first met, said that I was "good people," and that's stuck with me ever since. Uncle Lou is one of the rare few that really appreciates and is thankful about a lot of things in life, it's really a breath of fresh air. We chatted about his travels, Charles Shaw, and thanksgiving dinner. Hooray for chatting with uncle Lou. I do have to mention, however, that Uncle Lou gave me the most gratuitous engagement ring check that I've ever had thus far. He hugged me to greet me, and then grabbed my hand and rubbed my ring finger to see if there was anything there. Well, I happened to be wearing my fancy ring to match my fancy heart necklace, but it's just a few silver bands, so there was something there, but no rock. Uncle Lou had to then do a visual confirmation, and then give me "the look." I'm not going to explain the look, but if you're a girl living in sin like I am, you're probably familiar with it. If it had been anyone other than Uncle Lou, there would've been issues, but then again, I've learned to be tactful about the topic, so no problem. Besides, he's Uncle Lou, and good people :)

After we left the party, I had been pretty tired and the night pretty uneventful from there. Sunday, we all headed to downtown Kent to this awesome used book store. There was free coffee, a cool chair, and the best used books selection I had ever seen. I looked around and picked up a copy of "zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance" and ended up stopping myself from further shopping, by testing out the comfy chair and having some free coffee. What an awesome spot! Then, we got to go to chipotle, which is quite a treat for us toledoans without a chipotle near, and I noticed that they use free range pork! Even though chipotle is owned by MickieD's, I can respect a fast food joint that uses free range pork.

Shortly after that, Tom and I headed home, only to get stuck on the turnpike for an extra 4 or so hours, due to a fatal accident. We were able to hang out for a bit, have some dinner at the rest stop, and got home eventually later that evening. What a weekend!

11.30.04 8:18am(13 comments)

ahead of schedule!

I've got my shrimp stock bubblin for my pumpkin shrimp soup. Taters are done (and damn they're good). I'm ready to start on my stuffing, but I need to pick up a few things from the store that I forgot yesterday.

I'm hoping meijer has fresh rosemary and sage, but if not, that's OK too. I can just use the dried stuff that I've harvested from my herb garden.

Man, I'm having a good time. See, this is why I do this on rare occasion... it remains fun :)

11.25.04 11:28am(0 comments)

Cooking update

Tom and I did all the turkey day shopping this evening, and were so pooped from the day, we didn't unload the car until about 11:30.

So far:

I've got the turkey breasts in a brine of salt, honey, fresh thyme, bay, sage, garlic, lemon, peppercorns, marjoram, and a bit of olive oil.

I've cubed the 2 bagettes for the stuffing, so that should be all set to go for tomorrow.

I made the chutney, and really improvised on the recipe. In addition to cranberries, ginger, apricots, white raisins, sugar, cinnamon, brown sugar, and pepper, I've also added onion, garlic, dates, dried berries and cherries, cayenne pepper sauce, garam masala, a bit of orange juice, the juice of 1/2 a lime, and cilantro. I'll put it more fresh chopped cilantro in the morning after it has cooled and the flavors have mingled a bit more.

Tomorrow morning I need to stop at meijer for some last minute needs, but after that, I think I'll start on the bisque, boil the potatoes, and make the croutons.

After that's all done, I'll do the cream puffs and pumpkin mousse for filling, mix up the potatoes, mix up the stuffing, do the bread thing and veggies, and then the haricot verts. Don't worry, I know it sounds like a lot, but I'm a multi-tasker, especially in the kitchen. Tom has been an outstanding sous-chef as well, so that'll be a big help too.

After all that's in, I'll do the turkey / gravy. I plan on this being a true thanksgiving dinner, and I want my turkey breasts to brine for as long as possible, so the bird won't go in until around 4pm, I'm thinkin'.

w00t! Turkey day!

11.25.04 2:28am(0 comments)

Behold…. my treasure!

Tina found this on the shelves at ABLE today, and being the cool chick that she is, recognized the value and gave me a copy in great condition...

What Luck!

11.17.04 4:16pm(5 comments)

Feeling *much* better now

Yeeehaw, who doesn't love antibiotics? I went through a box of tissues yesterday, but man am I feeling so much better. I'm back at work even!

Now if I could only stop that squeeking noise in my inner ear every time I blow my nose, my recovery would be perfect.

11.16.04 1:03pm(0 comments)