We'll definitely be giving thanks for the abundance we have, and especially for mr wtg's recent good news on the medical front.

Just me and mr wtg staying home and making a traditional meal, which means I won't have to cook for a few days because of all the leftovers.

Julia Child/ATK deconstructed turkey (I just got done putting it in the brine), stuffing, gravy made with the various turkey parts, green bean casserole (recipe on the Trader Joe's fried onions can), sweet potatoes, and cranberries.

Way more food for than we eat in an average meal so we're skipping the dessert.

And you?

My mom sent me a xeroxed copy (does anybody say that anymore?) of and article called “The perfect Turkey” from Sunset magazine in the early 1990’s. I’ve cooked Thanksgiving dinner from it ever since. You start the turkey breast side down and flip it a third of the way through cooking. It works, so I’ve kept doing it. Best gravy recipe ever, and oyster and sausage cornbread stuffing. I always put parsnips in under the turkey, and roast a bunch of other veggies in another pan. Mashed potatoes, Steve parents are driving over from Spokane, bringing other veggies and pie and cranberry chutney (I will make Cindy’s bourbon cranberry sauce)

We ordered a pre-cooked turkey (same as last year) so I will do that, and make stuffing (the way I made it last year, which was super yummy, tho not Cindy's famous recipe), mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, cranberry relish (the good kind, not from a can). And then we lost our minds and ordered three pies (because they don't sell half-pies, god knows why).

Since it's just the two of us, that's what we'll be eating for a week.

Although, I'm thinking of taking some pie and maybe left overs etc. over to a colleague who lives alone. Assuming he's ok with that.

We will pick the prepared food at a restaurant tomorrow.
Thursday we will cook it and eat it.

absolutely nothing.

Which is either a downside or a perk of living by yourself during a pandemic.

For just the two of us, I figured a chicken would be more than enough. I had one in the freezer that we bought from a local farm, and it's thawing now.

Quirt has asked for mashed potatoes, gravy, and dressing/stuffing/whateveryoucallit. He's good at making mashed potatoes. I'm good at making gravy. He prefers dressing made from white bread, which I enjoy eating but do not actually know how to make. There is no Quirt Family Recipe that we can use, but I think we can wing it. We will make Cindy's bourbon cranberry sauce.

He bought me some already-made sweet potatoes with pecans, so I can have my redneck fix without having to do any work.

That's certainly enough food, but I'm gonna want something that's not starch. I've still got tomatoes from the garden that I can slice, and there was broccoli in the CSA bag if I want to go whole hog.

And if I want to go whole hog in terms of dessert, I have a recipe for pear preserve cake. I made pear preserves from pears we grew in our back yard, and using it for Thanksgiving seems like an appropriately harvest-y thing to do.

I really, really do not need to eat all that starchy food, but it's Thanksgiving and I want to, so my plan is to eat it tomorrow and then freeze a plate of leftovers for my birthday next week and maybe another one for Christmas, so that I can only eat poorly on individual days now and then.

Cross your fingers for me...

A couple of local restaurants are offering Thanksgiving packages - one allowing pickup on Wednesday, so we will enjoy a 2-day carryout Thanksgiving!

We may drive out to the suburbs to see our parents outside - maybe for a walk.

Otherwise, maybe binge some videos or start some xmas decorations...

We are going to a restaurant on Thanksgiving - the first time ever. We are bringing my MIL.

The restaurant has a T-day special and tables set up outside under an awning. The weather is supposed to be nice on Thursday so it all sounds great!

Friday we leave for the desert - Salton Sea area. I don't ride any more but we have some friends who are going and plan to hang around outside and perhaps hike a bit with Sam.

We'll make a scaled down version of the feast ... have some leftovers.

It's us and my wife's sister. She's in the bubble.

hmmmm...i still have one of these left...

Very little.

We bought a small ham and some chicken. Plus the usual assortment of carbohydrates. And a can of the non-lumpy cranberry sauce.

None of us really likes turkey. I finally figured out that one of the benefits of being an adult is that you don't have to eat things you don't like.

I said we would paint Mrs pj's office so she can move her work setup in there. She's been working at the dining room table since March. But we haven't made it to the store to buy paint yet. Maybe tomorrow.

quote:

And a can of the non-lumpy cranberry sauce.

Eewwwwwwww.

I make my own cranberry relish. Won't touch the stuff in a can! Especially the jelly.

It's a Thanksgiving tradition! Like sticking olives on all of your fingers.

If it was up to me, Thanksgiving dinner would be stuffing, gravy (very dark), jellied cranberry sauce, and olives. Period. And pumpkin pie with as much whipped cream as you can put on it. Finish it off with a glass of eggnog with Myers's Dark Rum.