Thanksgiving

Dragon Mood? -- anticipating and salivating

Like most Turkey Days at our house, Thanksgiving was a whirlwind.

Caroline was up and knitting in her jammies when I emerged from the bedroom. The dogs had casually thrown their bodies all over the fireplace room in repose. I climbed over the various limbs and paws and headed for the kitchen.

First order of business was the bird. We had brined it about ten hours earlier, so after all the requisite cleaning and sanitizing of sinks and utensils, we washed the bird, buttered the bird and stuffed it with citrus fruits and a few small onions for good measure. Into the Rival oven out on the porch, it went.

Then we started in on other dishes that still required preparation. But, because of our post-inebriation cooking frenzy the night before, we were in pretty good shape.

Before I knew it, Lina was out on the deck building a fire in the firepit. S was outside in the stunningingly warm autumnal air, blowing a zillion million leaves off of the grass and into the woods. Josh, well, I don't know where the heck he was. Probably watching soccer or football or something on TV. (Although, bless his heart, he did peel an entire stockpot's worth of potatoes for our dinner and then risked life and knuckles cutting them up!)

So here's what our menu ended up looking like:

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2006 Thanksgiving Menu


Appetizers

*Olives
*Spinach Dip with Pumpernickel Bread
*Cheese Plate


Main Course

* Citrus-stuffed Turkey with Bicentennial Rub
* Traditional S&M Wild Rice and Sage Sausage Stuffing
* Apricot-Rosemary Roasted Root Veggies (NEW!)
* Steph's Famous Celery Root
* Mashed Potatoes and Hearty Gravy
* Mixed Greens with Pears, Red Onions, Blue Cheese,
Walnuts and Country French Vinaigrette
* Spicy Cranberry Chutney (NEW!)


Desserts

* Pumpkin Pie with Whipped Cream
* Apple Cranberry Currant Crumble Pie (NEW!)
* Milwaukee's Finest -- Alterra Coffee


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It's late, I'm tired and I'm going to bed.

More to come.