Thanksgiving Thoughts
9:22 a.m. - 2006-11-18


We have completed the Fake Thanksgiving, and last night was the church Thanksgiving. I spent the day making rolls, but when it came down to the crunch, they left them in the church kitchen and forgot to put them out. Several people were asking about my rolls, but they lost out. I ended up with four untouched bags of rolls to put into the freezer for our Thanksgiving, so it was not wasted effort. I also bought some 'manufacturing' cream at the Smart & Final to see how it compares with whipping cream. It has a slightly higher fat content and whips up to a very firm tasty whipped cream. I dissolved lots of powdered sugar in cream and vanilla and added it while the cream was whipping. The result was very good for a whipped cream that needed to be portable and stand for awhile. I was quite pleased. As an added plus, it was cheaper than buying whipping cream. I enjoyed watching people pile the cream on their desserts. Some people just plop about a teaspoonful on, some put on the proper amount (about a cup and a half), and some first used the squirty cream available, then piled my cream on top of that.

I was puzzled by two dishes of mashed potatoes at the dinner. They were flecked with pinky/red stuff, and when I tasted it later, having put a small sample on my plate, it turned out to be Baco bits, not even real bacon. It turned the potatoes pink. How weird. Why would anyone do that to mashed potatoes?

Now I have to figure out what to make for our family Thanksgiving. I have not made the dinner myself for years since we always go to the grandparents' house, usually one on Thursday and one on Friday. This year the EG's have decided to ditch the rest of us for the granddaughter who lives in another state, and Jason is having the meal on Saturday, so the Thursday meal is up to me. Besides the turkey, I will make the mashed potatoes (or delegate that to Abby), sweet potatoes, and pie. Probably not pumpkin pie, maybe chocolate and apple, but not together. And, of course, the green bean casserole. We never had this when I was growing up, and I never tasted it until I was married, but we have grown to really like it. Sometimes the mundane is popular for a good reason. And brussels sprouts if I can find some.

We are having wonderful fall color here now, with intermittent raining days. The lawn out front is covered with yellow leaves, and we have had one frost. In bee news, that blast of non-poison killer I gave them seems to have worked, and they are all gone. I am not sure what exactly they were, some kind of ground/waspy/bee but their stings were pretty bad. Though I hate to kill stuff off, it is better to be able to go out into the backyard without fear.