Thanksgiving

Hunh. I might be going to liveblog this, as a relief of tension or something. I may be a little tense. Also it may amuse you, to watch me doing all the wrong things in all the wrong order, my priorities all ahoo.

Anyway: it's half past eight, and I am up and showered and begun. I left a sourdough dough rising overnight; it was domed and positively fluffy this morning. I have now knocked it back to scratch,and I have no idea whether it will rise again, but I've put it in the oven with the light on in hopes that warm air will encourage it.

At the moment, the plan is to spend the morning baking pies and breads and so forth, while I worry about the turkey. Yes, of course I'm worried about the turkey. Some advices said "never leave it in the brine for longer than twelve hours, it'll be horrible," while others said "the longer the better, up to forty-eight hours if you can." So I'm splitting the difference, more or less; but if the first folks are right, then it's probably already horrible.

Anyway. I'm going to make coffee, and clear away the detritus of last night's dinner, and generally see what's what. Also, I need to nip round the corner soon and see if Lucky's is open. Just because I shopped four times yesterday doesn't mean I'm ready...

T'giving, II

I made a list! On yellow paper! Dunno if it counts as an actual legal pad, but hey. It's a pad. And now it says useful things like "Turkey: drain, dry, stuff, roast, rest, carve" and so forth. Stages for everything. And I just crossed one off! Pecan pie pastry, done. Tick.

The virtuous soul would at this point wash the food processor, and then probably go shopping. The unvirtuous soul would have another cup of coffee. The self-indulgent beast would follow Laura Anne's dictum, whereby the host is allowed to start drinking as soon as they start cooking (while everyone else has to wait till 11am). I could just use a glass of champagne right now, only sadly we drank it a couple of weeks back, when Shannon came by. Le sigh.

*goes to check wine fridge in vain search for overlooked bottle of champagne*

T'G III: the Syrups of Vanishing

I have seen roses damask'd, red and white;
But no such roses see I in her cheeks...

When first I came to Camelot California, Karen had bottles of corn syrup, light and dark, in the cupboard above the fridge. What's that, quoth I, what do you use it for? It is for pie, quoth she. Look! Pecans! (She says p'kahns, which I have tried to learn, but I still revert to my native pee-can.)

She may have been promising me pie for the three years since. Pie may not have happened.

Today, my purpose is to give her pie regardless. So I went to the cupboard above the fridge, where I have meantime imported many, many bottles. And I took them all out, those many many bottles, in search of the syrup. Which is not there. I swear, not there. I have not touched it; neither has she. Nevertheless. Not there. It is Macavity-syrup. (Actually, come to think? When something goes missing... Mac? Is this why you didn't want your breakfast?)

So I have been to Ludlow Fair Lucky's, and fetched home syrups light and dark, and molasses too just because I could. I do love Lucky's. It's open till six; I may be needing it till 5:59.

T'G IV

The brother-in-law and his partner are here. They have brought wines from Paso Robles. We like our in-laws.

In other news, I have crossed off cornbread and pecan pie from the list. Also, I have added cranberry sauce, simply in order to be able to cross it off. (I made it yesterday. Two different kinds.) Is that cheating?

Any minute now, as soon as the oven is scorchio, the sourdough will go in for an hour. After that, I'm on to the turkey. Halp?

T'G V

The brother-in-law is watching his team lose at football. I am myself unexpectedly a fan of American football, tho' not of the Dallas Cowboys; but I am summoning up fraternal sympathy (the 49ers not playing today), while I fidget in the kitchen. I am making stuffing. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I have adopted the principle that pork and bread and celery and onion and sage and apple is going to make something nice, whatever happens. I'm frying little balls of it to check the spicing, but it's confusing: I used part sausagemeat and part fresh pork, and I'm not sure how well they've mixed, so I don't know whether the spicing that I taste is constant or just that little bit. However. I think I'm going to go with it. Now I have to figure out how to stuff & truss a turkey. Never done this, either...