Were There Always This Percentage of Total Nuts in the Gene Pool?

Tags

life in the foothills, nothing special, Thanksgiving

Well, did you survive?

Just barely?

I still feel mildly bloated even after traipsing through the desert with Diego this morning.

But oh the joy of knowing I can laze around all day and just warm up dinner later. Sweet bliss.

Shopping?

Not on your life. Hate crowds, hate traffic. Don’t care. We though about going to Home Depot for about a minute when we saw that they were offering a $179 Christmas tree for $50, “as long as supplies last.” But we read the reviews of the tree online and apparently it’s a fairly crappy looking thing. So saved from that misery.

Yes we are taking the tip over into artificiality. Frankly I’m utterly unsure whether that is good environmentally or not. I guess there are arguments on both sides. But I’m tired of fighting to get a decent straight one, a full one, a tall enough one, a short enough one, one that doesn’t lean, one that doesn’t drop needles starting the next day, blah, blah, blah. I have no clue whether you can get fresh-cut ones around here anyway.

So, I make you excuses other than we are getting a non-living specimen. And that’s that.

I hope your Thanksgiving was grand. Ours was. Grand that is. So much food, so little time.

I thought a lot about the difference between this year and last year. Last year we were awaiting a court decision, packing had been suspended, we had no clue when we would move. It still was a nice day, but not nearly as nice as yesterday. It was so warm here we literally could have eaten out on the patio. Diego enjoyed himself immensely though he certainly got tired of “NO” to his every attempt to enter the kitchen to get closer to the smells slipping from the stove and oven.

I am grateful to be here, grateful for the Contrarian, grateful for Diego, our home, our views of the mountains, grateful we chose this house and not the other one we were torn between. We now have our bearings and know exactly where that house is in relation to this one and this was by far the best choice.

I’m grateful for all you, my friends of interspace. I know many of us, most of us really will never meet, but that hardly matters does it? We have shared a lot over the last year(s) and I think we do what all good friends do–listen, advise, and enjoy each others successes and commiserate with each other at our failures large and small. I know I have been amazingly enriched by knowing each and every one of you.

I am grateful the Israelis and Palestinians have found a way to stop killing each other, at least for a while. I pray for the people of Syria who continue to endure such awful war. The same is true of the Congo which I realize is in the midst of trading warring factions which imperil all the people there.  I am sad for all those affected by the hurricane and hope that they found some joy and peace in yesterday.

I wish that the crazies of this country would let it go. When people suggest that life under Obama is nearly intolerable, I wonder what drugs they are taking. They suggest that any day now, they will be rounded up and placed in camps, and that marshal law will be declared. They are sure there will never be another election since the President is sure to become dictator before long. How do people who have such a tenuous hold onto reality manage to function day-to-day? I wonder. And what’s worse, they project all their insanity upon liberals and progressives and claim that they and they only are in position of the true facts–aided of course by similar minded right-wing grifters who make their living out of this sort of manipulation.

Did you hear tell that the fool who started the “unskewered” poll site, who admitted that he was DEAD wrong about the polling, has flipped his site to be a “how Obama won by voter fraud”? Yeah, a real genius there in the making. When that one has gone its way, he will start a new one about Aliens poisoning us through Proctor and Gamble products.

I guess the question becomes–evolutionarily speaking–were there always this same percentage of total nuts in the gene pool?

Ponder that one.

I hope you are getting a respite from the overload of yesterday.

To Detroit Lion fans: what did you expect? They always break your heart.

Upon the Theory that NOBODY is Listening. . . .

Tags

cooking, Diego, life in the foothills, New Mexico, Thanksgiving

I do hope you aren’t in this kind of mess. Or worse, hanging out at some dreary airport waiting for a flight. Or fogged in which apparently is what is happening in the Midwest.

But even if you are *gasp* working today (and of course not really working but playing on your computer), or just waiting for the big feast, I figure that most people are too busy to be bothered reading the tripe I work so diligently to produce.

That being said, I’m unable to shut my trap for long, so here’s what I’m doing.

The menu is of course decided upon.

It is the usual fare.

I like tradition a lot when it comes to my Thanksgiving meal. It’s MY tradition, by the by, not necessarily yours. So feel free to bemoan that there is no wretched green bean casserole (made it once thought it was awful boring), or pumpkin pie (like it just fine but just finished eating a pumpkin cheesecake about a week ago thank you very much. –stay tuned for that recipe on What’s on the Stove in upcoming days  or weeks)

*FanFare***

• HAM (because I couldn’t find a goose and didn’t feel like trekking to Wal-Mart *shudder* to see if they had one) Nothing special here, just a honey/soy sauce baste I think. Or I might get brave and try some of the chile honey I have to spice it up a tad.
• Mash potatoes (standard fare)
• Gravy (it will be chicken based cuz that made more sense than beef and I couldn’t find any turkey broth-go figure-and I may put in some bacon grease to liven that baby up a bit, but Thanksgiving without gravy is like sex with your clothes on, very exciting to start with but a poor finish)
• Corn casserole (my synthesis of many recipes and I think mine is actually the best. It comes out light and fluffy without all that cornbready taste of a heavy topping. I don’t use JIFFY by the by). You can find it here. (I know, it’s too late for Thanksgiving but gee, Christmas is just around the corner.
• Sweet potato casserole (again, I synthesized a lot of really lousy sweet potato casseroles to get one that is more savory than sweet. No marshmallows on this one. You can find that recipe here.
• Italian stuffing (this is a recipe I picked up from ABC on one of their holiday contests. I modified it a bit, but we love it. Combines cornbread and regular bread and well, you should try it. You can find it here.
• Brussels Sprout Saute. I created this one myself and it’s wonderful. If you like Brussels, and you will if you make this. Trust me. You can find it here.
• Relish Tray. Standard scallions, radishes, pickles and olives.
• Rolls. Having my Cheddah Jalapeño biscuits that I made a few days ago. I just froze the balance for tomorrow. You can find that recipe here.
• Cranberry Sauce. This is a new recipe but it turned out wonderfully. It’s made with mulled wine. I’ll be posting it in a few so be on the lookout.
• German Chocolate Cake. Again, this was a new recipe. The layers were all sunk in, but I’ve been advised how to fix that. I may post the recipe. The frosting is the standard coconut/pecan type. I’ll be posting that too.

I’ve got the brussels cleaned, as well as the scallions and radishes. The Sweet Potato casserole is in the fridge all put together. That came together a bit faster than expected since Diego was caught grabbing the cooked sweet potatoes. (A gate is being prepared for the kitchen since the boy now regularly sneaks in and scarfs anything off the counter (eatable or not) within his reach. It’s becoming a real pain.)

The veggie parts of the dressing are cooked and stored in the fridge and the breads are drying out.

The cake is made and the cranberry sauce as well.

I guess I’m about done for today.

A nifty bunch of left overs from past meals is serving us well these days, so I don’t have to spend extra time in the kitchen. Today, baked rigatoni and salad.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone and we’ll talk on Friday again.

Related articles

• 135 Nourishing Thanksgiving Recipes (unmistakablyfood.com)
• Smashed Sweet Potatoes (lifewithalittlespice.com)
• Web’s Best: Thanksgiving Leftover Recipes (coolmaterial.com)
• My very favorite Thanksgiving recipes (thegrassskirtblog.com)
• Sweet Potato and Sage-Butter Casserole Recipe (talesofinspiration.wordpress.com)
• Thanksgiving Menu (kansaspokerwife.com)
• What Your Favorite Thanksgiving Foods Say About You (1019litefm.cbslocal.com)

 

How Dare They!

Tags

Diego, holidays, Humor, Thanksgiving

What the frack? (Such a much more polite way to swear doncha think?)

Had you asked me before today when Thanksgiving was, I would surely have told you it was in a couple more weeks, on a Thursday. Plenty of time yet to plan that baby.

For some reason I was absent the day our first grade teacher taught us all the rules for holidays. So I guess I never learned that Thanksgiving was the FOURTH Thursday even when there was a FIFTH Thursday.

You have no idea how not knowing that Mother’s Day fell on some numbered Sunday rather than an actual date has cost me. I learned at the ripe age of 46 that I was the most ungrateful rotten daughter on the entire North American continent, just because the damn card arrived on Monday instead of Saturday like I had expected. I still have no freakin’ clue on WHAT Sunday in May Mother’s Day actually does fall, but that is okay since I know longer commune with my producer, because as we all know, I’m the most ungrateful rotten daughter on the entire North American continent. Having not checked, I may well have surpassed that distinction to include all of at least Western Europe too.

Anyway, I am now facing a Thanksgiving NEXT freaking Thursday and I’m NOT PREPARED! Since I grocery shop on Wednesday, that means I shop THE DAY BEFORE Thanksgiving, after going to the pool and then having to cook my fanny off all the rest of the day to get caught up. Sigh. . . .What have I done to you GOD that you would treat me this way?

So, scrap all my carefully laid schedules for maintaining my mind in a healthy state of only near-anxiety provoking hysteria. The Contrarian will do the Tuesday cleaning–that ought to be rich since what man has a clue how to clean anything but a gun? The Tuesday cleaning is the kitchen and both bathrooms. What you bet I get a swish or two with the magic wand in the toilet and voilá, the usual insipid male statement: “I don’t know why you fuss so much about cleaning. I didn’t find it that hard or time-consuming.”

So that leaves me to get the meal fixin’s on Tuesday and then I am on schedule to cook on Wednesday as I usually do. All in all, I have no clue why I spend two days to fix a meal that is consumed in twenty minutes, but I do, and it’s a tradition and traditions ought to be respected because they are like little islands of calm sanity in a sea of chaos, doncha know?

Phew.

So I have the dessert which is a wildly complicated cake/cheesecake/pumpkinish thing with frosting. I am thinking of making a turkey, but brining it in the garage when the nighttime temperatures may be only in the low 40’s is problematical. So I’m not sure. I saw ONE duck in the freezer section today, and NO gooses. I could do ham as well. As for the rest, it’s fairly standard and I doubt I’ll change it much. Dressing, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, corn casserole, Brussels sprouts, cranberry sauce, rolls, veggie and pickle/olive plate. Anything else I am forgetting?

It would not be worth it, but for the fact that we eat the same meal Thursday thru Sunday, so I get a lotta bang for my buck if you will, or I will, or God wills, or Diego allows.

Speaking of said, kleptomaniac, yes the boy is a thief. The Contrarian has had to build a box to contain the kitchen wastepaper basket since our little bundle of poo loves to dumpster dive and then cart it out to the back yard and shred it. Plastic bags are his favorite. Last night the little piker was heading for Diego’s door with my slipper. The other he had already snatched and placed in his bed for later enjoyment. He steals pencils out of the garage, which are tools of the woodworking business.

We have learned to leave no foot attire on the floor or within reach. Yes I said, reach. He will stand on his tippy toes and remove things from the kitchen counters, most recently a bag of cheese which he was deeply inhaling in the backyard when caught. He looks contrite for only moments, before he sashays by exclaiming:

“I dunno what goes on in my head. I don’t mean to do nuthin’ wrong. I just finds myself doing it. It’s a puzzle. I is a very inquiz-tive sort I must say, and I bores easily. Zats my ‘scuses. Now I must run out and poo some more cuz I know you like to collect it.”

He’s a sweetheart.

I am so NOT ready for all this holiday stuff!

How are you coping? Assuming you aren’t those who sit and watch football waiting to be called to the table to gorge, belch, snooze, and watch my football, and then exclaim: “I don’t know why you worry so much about holidays. They all seem to go very nicely with not sweat at all.”

Oh, I was told this today: “Two things women can’t do: pee standing up and back into a garage.”

I guess my backing up skills are not up to the male standard. I think I’m serve left overs all week for that one.

 

Who Started This Insane Holiday Anyway?

Tags

Humor, life in the meadow, Thanksgiving

You see that woman?

With the perky pointy boobs?

In high heels?

Smiling?

She is not real. Much as you male types wish to believe otherwise, she is NOT. She is a fictional Madison Avenue creation. She is nothing but a flamboyant mental derangement with the two-fold purpose of trying to convince women that if that have that lovely stove, they too can sail through holiday cooking with nary a hair out of place, all the while providing MEN the excuse they need to sit on the couch and play tag with the remote.

There! I said it. Much as you may wish to believe otherwise, MOSTLY women drive the holiday food fare. MOSTLY women slave away in an often cramped, steamy, environ trying to juggle the creation of seventeen different food items and turn them all out in perfection on the dot of 3 p.m. when a hungry mob of family descends upon an equally perfect table (with cloth, best china, silverware, and appropriate festive decorations) to drip, drop, spill, gobble, their way through your lovely dishes of bliss.

And then, they have the audacity, the sheer chutzpah, to belch, get up and wander back to their couches leaving a train wreck on the table, a mound of dishes, pots and pans in the kitchen, and nary an offering hand to clean it all up.

That’s what most women face this two-day marathon.

And yes I did say two days. More like five. When you add in the menu divining, the list making, the shopping through multiple stores, the planning, and the execution of breads, pies, birds, sides, relishes, and more, it’s a non-stop mental gymnastics that makes sleep nearly impossible.

Yesterday I made ciabatta bread, and holiday bread. Today, I spend FOUR (did you hear me?) FOUR hours creating pie crust and pie and salad and most of the dressing and giblets, and sweet potatoes, to say nothing of drowning the bird and draining it and putting it in to dry, and re-organizing the refrigerator forty-two times to accommodate all the extra food. And who in the hell ever thought it was a good idea to have pearl onions?

I am frazzled.  I look more like this:

I have washed every dish in my kitchen four times now.

I have wrinkles in my wrinkles from dishwater hands.

I have burns under my burns. (It’s a hoot to try to upside down a boiling hot apple pie to uncover the pecan now hardening into candy brown sugar top)

I have screamed at the dog thirty-seven times to “get out of my kitchen.”

The cats are hiding under the bed.

I am done.

For today.

I think God made pearl onions as a joke.

I spent hours peeling off papery skin.

Tomorrow I get to do the bird.

That’s always fun.

Mostly I have to “finish off” recipes I started today. You know, add the topping to the sweet potatoes, and mix up the dressing ingredients.

We’re making a lot of new stuff this time. So it’s a bit of a crap shoot.

The Contrarian was ordered to “make dinner”. Making dinner = making gruel which usually includes some combination of meat, tomatoes, pasta, and shaking seasonings around it.

Did I say, that I am done?

Until the cock crows and I leap from my bed to attack the final assembly of “THE MEAL”.

And did I mention that once we sit down, it takes on average 20 minutes to consume?

Sigh.

And I still have to pick off all that meat from the neck. That is such a pain in the ass.

Let’s hear it for giblet gravy!

Have a happy Thanksgiving!

The Wacko Right Has Lost it’s Giblets

Tags

American History, Dream Act, fiction, food politics, free press, Gunter Grass, immigration, Korea, Media, Poetry, right wing wackos, Thanksgiving

The first couple  six times I read posts about this, I ignored it as the work of some nut case in Hoboken or Alabama. But then I started seeing more, and I realized that this issue has legs!

The wacko religious right is at it again. You see, when you decide what the bible means, then you cram, twist, turn-inside-out, turn-upside-down, and otherwise thoroughly alter reality to fit your notions. Then the world is okay. See? History agrees with ME.

Not content to trying to believe that our Founding Fathers (FFs) set up a Christian Nation upon a high hill in Plymouth Massachusetts, they are now trying to involve the poor Pilgrims in their revisionist ideas of what really happened.

It should come as no surprise that Rush-me-some-Oxycoton-Limbaugh is onboard. Ditto, Glenn-bend-you-mind-around-me-Beck. Singing the praises is nutjob-wannabe, John Stossel. Soon to be climbing upon the Silly Express will no doubt be Michele-which-way-to-Bellview-Bachmann and Sarah-worshipin-my-bank-account-Palin.

It goes, (the NEW and improved history) sumpin’ like this:

For reasons unknown, the pilgrims upon landing decided to engage in socialism. So they pooled all their stuff and lived in a big old commune, takin’ from each, and givin’ to each as was their due. This, bein’ unGodly, and most unbiblical, brought the wrath of the One Truest God down upon their heads, and they was a close to starvin’ come winter time. The dear Indians came to their rescue and saved ’em.

Well, that was enough of that. The Pilgrims stopped that socialism stuff, and discovered capitalism and free market economies and they became fat, rich and sassy and lived happily ever after, until that Muslim black man came along and tried to undue all their Godly work.

That’s it in a nutshell, though why you would want it in a nutshell is not before us today and seems slightly weird. Perhaps so it could be hid away and protected from destruction from Godless socialists.

Well, none of it is true of course. In fact Stossel just changes the dates of the first Thanksgiving in an attempt to make it appear more in line with his bilge. Rush has been runnin’ this crap for some time it seems, but now it’s caught on, which just goes to show you that lies, damnable lies, have a viral impact and are catchin’.

Crooks and Liars has a fine refudiation of the urban myth and some actual facts about the earliest of our settlers, coming from actual and real historians and not the fake ones Foxy and it’s brigands unearth.

***

It is reported that the Dems will be making another attempt to pass the Dream Act during this lame duck session. Border Explorer has an excellent piece on the truth of what the Act is and is not. Please read and familiarize yourself with the facts so that you can explain it to your more limited friends and neighbors. 

***

I read a book review of Nobel Laureate Günter Grass’s latest book, The Box.  After reading what Adam Kirsch from Slate has to say, I think you might take a look. A serious book, but perhaps a very good one. You decide as usual. I seriously need to read more fiction!

***

A topic of conversation for some time now, has been the unhealthy and unfortunate state of our media. While I don’t in the least subscribe to the right-wing blather than the MSM is liberal, I do subscribe to the belief that it has become mostly awful. Newspapers and serious magazines are on the wane. Can we trust our democracy to untrained folks like me to keep people somewhat informed?

Moe over at Whatever Works has a good piece that is an eye-opener for sure. The US ranks something like 21st in having a free press. Yes, 21st. It turns out that those countries that rank highest, subsidize their free press, something we don’t. It’s worth the time to look at this and perhaps follow a few links.

***

I’ve found a new poet that is really special. I invite you to see the works of FadedRomantic.

***

I don’t know about you, but I’m watching carefully the goings on in the Korean Peninsula. It is mildly chilling to watch the cold-dead eyes of Kim Jong Il, and the even colder eyes of his chosen successor, child-man Kim Jong Un. This IS a time for Sarah to shut her damn mouth, as well as all the politics-first GOP. The situation is just too tense. So please, for once in your sorry lives put the country first.

***

Since food has been the focus of the week, I thought you might be interested in this new book, Empires of Food. You can read a review of it at History Today Magazine.

Speaking of which, oh the leftovers yesterday were sublime. Just like the original meal, and sometimes even better. Today it’s work on the sides, but we are having turkey sandwiches with (for me at least) swiss cheese, lettuce, slices of green pepper, paper-thin onion slices and mayo.

One of the best items was a new recipe for shredded Brussel sprouts. It was a surprise hit. I’ll probably write out the recipe in the next day or two. I do love to try at least one new thing every year, and this will definitely be a repeat!

Off to nosh.

Related Articles

• Stossel: Pilgrims Failed At Socialism [Video] (realestateradiousa.com)
• China must push North Korea harder: U.S. military chief (reuters.com)

Reflections in the Pool

Tags

editorial, Inspirational, Iowa, life in the meadow, prayer, Thanksgiving

Okay, so I re-read yesterday’s post, and I thought, wow, that woman is a little O-C. Ya think?

But, I’m not. Really. I mean it.

It’s just that this is a complicated meal, and I don’t have a professional kitchen. And I don’t like to be frazzled and freaked. So I plan it like a major military operation.

I don’t do it but once a year. I swear.

See at Christmas, we don’t make nearly the fuss. In fact we often have left-over stuffing and cranberry sauce. Anything that freezes well and is not eaten by Sunday following Thanksgiving. I might do a duck, or it might be steak. We definitely don’t make a big deal of it.

Why? Have no idea. Mostly I suspect it’s because I have very specific ideas of what Christmas should be, and it can never live up to those expectations, so I don’t try to force it. So call me whatever.

Anyway, I’m done with the prep and cooking for today, and all turned out well. I expect tomorrow to go along smoothly. The turkey feels like it’s defrosted. There is plenty of room in the fridge for stuff.

But that’s not what I have to say today. You see, through all the busyness, all the wafting odors of pumpkin pie and Italian sausage and onions sauteing, my mind was somewhere else. Thankfully not so far afield that I put  poultry seasoning in the pie, or oranges in the dressing. But, I guess I was offering prayers to all those I know who are having a tough time these days for diverse reasons.

As I babble about relish trays and gravy, I am all too mindful that friends of mine, Internet ones who live in various parts of the states, are suffering. Some are having financial woes and some are having health issues, or family disturbances. The holidays won’t be of concern to them. But they will be in pain from the loss of joy that they are supposed to be having, and aren’t.

I am mindful that millions are subsisting, barely in Haiti and in Pakistan. That millions more are victims of genocidal attack and famine. I am mindful that some are living in war-torn lands, never safe. I am thoughtful of those who exist in vicious regimes where they are treated as little more than fodder for the demagogues who rule them.

I am thinking of animals who are mistreated and who have no loving home, those whose habitats are being erased while they are eliminated as pests. I am thinking of all our oceans and rain forests under attack by a humanity that is more filled with greed than sense or compassion.

I ache for a planet under assault through indifference and deliberate rape.

And I pray to God to heal all that are in need. And that would be all of us. Our need of healing is broad and deep. It is physical and mental and emotional and psychological. We are mean, selfish, stricken with disease and burdened by the vagaries of aging. We are scared, angry, and melancholy for a time that in truth never existed but which we think did, when things were okay.

We are luckier than we think, and sadder than we realize. We are a mass of contradictions, and slave to forces that we barely realize. We identify enemies where there are none, and haven’t the presence of mind to recognize the enemies that are real.

We have more than most any people on this planet and we do less with it. We waste, and we consume and we ignore any responsibility for the tragic mess we leave behind as we gaily proceed down the highway toward some Disneyworld future. We will never get there, and we are unable to stop trying. We are careening headlong over a cliff and we cannot stop.

Stop if you dare, for a moment or two, and look around you. Make no comparisons with those who have more. But do compare what you have to those who have less. Those who have nothing. Hug the people around you who, come what may, have thrown in with you to take this journey. Pet the dog and cat. Look at anything living around you and give thanks.

For you are alive through no act of your own. It is way better than the alternative. Give thanks to whatever thing you believe in, and while at it, think about what you can do on a regular basis to make this world, or one person in it, just a little warmer, better, saner, or happier than before you drifted by.

And give thanks every day, EVERY DAY. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you, whom I so adore.

Amen

How to Manage the DINNER

Tags

life in the meadow, Thanksgiving, Tips for Thanksgiving

If you are reading this, you are already preciously late!

No matter, I’m late in posting it, and well, you can use it for Christmas.

Seriously, I was checking out at the grocery Sunday and the young woman scanning my stuff mentioned that she was hosting her first Thanksgiving. I would have liked to help her through the terrors, but of course the time and place were wrong.

So I thought I’d give some tips to make that first or forty-first big dinner a little easier on the old heart and blood pressure.

Make Lists

• First, make lists, multiple lists, covering all the stuff you can imagine. This matters whether your guest list is two or twenty-two. Setting the meal aside, list the beverages you wish to offer, how much, any decorations, napkins, candles. No matter how obvious you think some things are, list them, because you will find in the heat of the moment you will forget the most minor of things! We have already established that I forgot my precious pearly onions, so I know of what I speak.
• See where you lists overlap. Combine by stores or by areas of shopping, whatever makes most sense to you. Get what you can ahead of time, store in ONE place, so nothing is lost. Plan out when to shop, where, being mindful of storage, availability and so forth. Where are you gonna put that bird until you are ready to defrost it?

The Grocery List

• Collect all your recipes, even the ones you think you know by heart. Add every item to a master list, even if you have some on hand. Take no chances with running low or out of something as silly as flour or salt. Check it twice. I wish I had. Do the best you can to estimate amounts you will need for the group you are feeding.
• Choose your shopping day carefully. You do not want to be in the grocery story on WEDNESDAY, God forbid, getting last-minute items. You don’t want to go so early that your spring onions have wilted and started to turn brown.
• Group your food items by location in the store. Nobody likes racing back and forth across the giganticus Piggly Hog Store that is an acre in size.
• Upon arrival home, keep all the non-perishables together if you can, even in a couple of bags that you store in a closet or pantry. It will save a lot of time, especially in finding that poultry seasoning at the last minute.

The Preparation Week

• Do your decorating at least 5 days in advance, as far as you can. Depending on how fancy you are, with name cards and specially made napkin holders, at least collect these in a common place so they are ready to do. Same with linen for the table. Go through china and wash if necessary. Gather all the pieces. Go through your menu and gather together special plates, serving dishes and so forth. Clean the silver (you are insane of course). Make sure you have the right serving materials for the actual menu items. You still have time to shop if you need a relish tray.
• Make more lists. This time the lists should be by day. What needs to be done when. It’s a lot harder to create dried bread crumbs on Thursday morning than it is on Tuesday. When to start defrosting the turkey, planning room for it, when to make cranberry sauce. Each day of the final week should have a to-do list.
• Make someone else do the housework! Okay, at least ask them.
• Make sure that you are having low maintenance meals this week. You have plenty to do, and you don’t need leftovers, so cook accordingly. Eat out if it’s more convenient.

The Last Two Days

• More lists. Take your to-do list for the last two days. This is the Dinner-eve and Dinner day. Prioritize your list, by setting up the order of doing. Your goal is to get it done in the shortest most efficient time. Think about recipes and what they need. Cranberries need to cool before adding things. Don’t add nuts until just before serving, they will go soft. Do chop your nuts and put in a small plastic bag and store in your community food area.
• On the big day. Your cooking order is critical. If you want stuff coming out in some rational, all done, all hot way. Know your oven size. Can you get the turkey and the dressing in at the same time? What about the roasted squash? Turkeys, once done, are good to stay fairly hot for nearly an hour. You can warm dressing and roast squash after taking it out if necessary.
• How many burners have you? This determines the order of on-stove cooking. Gravy is usually the last to be made because you need the cooked turkey juices, but you can make the roux ahead of time. The point is, break down everything as much as possible and do ahead what you can.

The point of all this is simply to get the dinner on the table in good order, pleasing and hot. And of most importance, that YOU aren’t frazzled by the experience.

Here is an example of my final days prep and ordering:

Tuesday

• Cube bread and cornbread and lay out to dry on trays

Wednesday

• 1. Make pie
• 2. Make cranberry sauce
• 3. Clean onions and radishes and bag
• 4. Shred and blanch Brussel sprouts and bag
• 5. Cook 1st five ingredients for dressing and refrigerate

Thursday

• 1. Remove hot pepper from freezer
• 2. Remove and cook giblets
• 3. Soak Turkey for 30 min.
• 4. Construct dressing and set aside
• 5. Construct relish tray and set aside
• 6. Roast Turkey (shoot for 11 am.)
• 7. Warm dressing in oven w/Turkey (last 30 min)
• 8. Remove turkey and rest (it not you)
• 9. Roast squash and  onions, with dressing
• 10. Boil potatoes
• 11. Saute Brussel sprouts
• 12. Heat bread(everything is out of the oven now, but bread)
• 13. Mash potatoes
• 14. Make gravy
• 15. Carve turkey

That’s it. Hope you have a great day Thursday. Hope this helps somebody out there who is obsessing on the work ahead!

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