I’m still glowing from this day of food and friends. Our T-day tradition has been to join Jon and Claire for feasting. We woke up after a good nights sleep and snuggled with the girls. We actually had a leisurely morning given the fact we wanted to have 4 dishes cooked by lunch time. This is weather in that we’re having clear, cold days. Normally, November is when we have some out our worse storms and wind.
We got into the kitchen and started working. Wayne started with the traditional ‘brain mold’. I love saying that term. It makes me giggle. Our ‘brain mold’ is a recipe that caught my eye the year Sara was born from Cooking Light. Mom made this fruit jello with Reisling, satsumas, grapes, and frozen raspberries the Thanksgiving she was born. When my brother gave me a brain shaped mold for Xmas one year, we started incorporating it into the tradition. So now we have a jello in the shape of a brain. The recipe requires several hours to set the jello, so Wayne started on it first
I started working on the sausage sourdough stuffing. It got morphed into a sage sausage mushroom sourdough stuffing when my neighbor left me some clippings of her fresh sage. Wayne roasted some root veggies. It was the first time my kitchen has processed turnips. We used orange blossom honey and Wayne roasted the veggies directly on the jelly roll sheet which helped carmelize them better than my past attempts. They came out tender and sweet.
Finally, Sara and I crafted some gourmet rice krispie treats. I had spotted this recipe for chocolate krisps with slivered almonds and dried cherries in Cooking Light. Since it was no bake, I thought it would be reasonable to make on a morning we were already busy. Claire was going to make pumpkin pie. I wanted a chocolate desert for me and Sara since neither of us are partial to pie. Sara helped melt the chocolate and enjoyed licking the spoon afterwards. I made her wait to the very end. She kept begging to lick it before we were done. Laura kept trying to climb up Sara’s stool to get a piece of the cooking action.
I was hoping to go for a walk after lunch, but all the troops were pooped so we bedded down for naps. We slept for 2 hrs, which was lovely. Then we headed to J&C’s for dinner. Claire’s parents, Pauline and Derek, drove up from SF. They were certainly key in helping prepare the meal. Derek is a gourmand and had made homemade rolls.
Jon had brined the turkey overnight.
There was a orange-cranberry sauce made with triple sec and a wonderful dressing. I cooked Sara some pizza snacks, but she ate some of the rolls (removing the crusts, of course). We had a brief siting of the twins before they went off to bed. They are growing and so cute. My interactions with them are painfully brief. I was hoping to relive babyhood some, but they’re growing to fast away from my arms. I barely have time to hold them with taking care of my own babies.
We were hosted really nicely. Claire had removed the coffee table to the living room was open. The girls were able to run around and play.
Dinner was a sublime experience. It’s been a long time since I’ve eaten such a lovingly prepared meal. It’s also been a long time since I’ve been able to cook with my husband in such a way. I like having the two of us in the kitchen, concentrating on cooking and new recipes and knocking around. The dinner was just the culmination of that experience. We just savored and talked about the food we’d just prepared. The turkey was moist, the gravy tasty, the stuffing crisp and savory, the jello sweet with a hint of Reisling, soft yummy dinner rolls, the cranberries nicely tart…the whole experience wonderful. The whole thing fit together magically and was made sweeter by celebrating it with friends.
I had dreams of hanging around, putting Laura to sleep in a pack ‘n play, and whittling the evening away playing Mexican train. Alas, it was not to be. Laura and Sara were obviously becoming unhinged. Laura spilled Coke all over the floor and was scared out of her wits by the experience. We were lucky the glass didn’t break. Sara had a nice time playing with Derek. You can tell he’s an experienced grandfather. Sara’s going to have a wonderful time playing with Poppa at Xmas. We said our farewells and retreated with dignity. The girls were obviously tired.
Our nightcap was Hot Fuzz. It’s been sitting on the Tivo for weeks. What a fun movie! It was nice nonsense. They had a blast with blood packs. The plot was wonderfully corny. It was a perfect end to a lovely day.