Thanksgiving

Burt and Bobbie weren't able to make it - Burt is coughing like a mad man and is taking antibiotics again - the trip is just too much. Such a shame, though Larry's Right Hand Man, Tom, and his wife and 3 children came. It was a great success, as the children played really well together and the adults were able to visit. The meal was a success as well (my first ever full-hostessing of the event), though I would tweak several things if I could - the turkey was quite tasteless, which surprised me, since we stuffed it with onions and garlic and spread garlic and several other spices on top (next year I may try brining overnight), and even though we used a roaster bag, it was dry on one side (boo hiss!) The mashed potatoes tasted good, but I should have mashed them more (they were quite lumpy). The (Stovetop) stuffing and store-bought gravy were less than satisfying, no surprise there - I should have gotten Pepperidge Farms! The pecan pie was gorgeous (Jeannie's recipe), but could have used 5 more minutes in the oven. The wild rice stuffing that I made from scratch was wonderful, but the wild rice was crunchy - not the texture that I had expected (I would make it again, but partially precook the wild rice).

The major triumph was that I really timed everything perfectly - everything that was supposed to be hot was hot when we sat down to eat. Also, I made cranberry sauce from scratch for the first time and it came out really well (next time I would dress it up with some orange peel or chopped pecans or something). There were plenty of leftovers (we sent some home with Tom and his gang) and I made soup with the turkey carcass, so that felt like a triumph too.

Alana was especially excited about Thanksgiving this year and had said several times in the days leading up to it how much she loves eating turkey (not sure why, since I don't think we've had any since last year, which she surely doesn't remember).

Caleb said the sweetest stuff that he was thankful for - only his family and not his toys or anything ("that stuff doesn't matter") - I almost cried.

Larry is suddenly fixated on Turducken for some reason and when Leo called in the morning to say "hi," what do you think he'd just made? Turducken! He ended up talking with Larry so I never got the story of why, but it did seem a freaky coincidence. Larry had a huge turkey banquet at TRH on Wednesday, with contributions from all the staff. They deep fried a turkey and all agreed that it was fantastic (crispy outside, juicy inside). Larry is determined to deep fry ours next year!