A veteran preparer of many Thanksgivings, I try to make as much ahead as possible w/o sacrificing flavors. On the other hand, some years, it's just a very early wakeup and starting to rattle them pots and pans. It's all good in the end....

Golfing! I can shop and cook at night.

What am I doing today?
Wishing that I, like you, would have my college student daughter come home this week.
Also, since she won't be here for Thanksgiving, thinking how this is the first time in my adult life I won't be cooking the traditional T.G. feast......no fun without family to enjoy it!

I'm trying to figure out why my motorcycle won't even turn over, let alone start.

*sigh*

Oh, prep for Thanksgiving? Well, um...my only plan is to sleep in, and I don't need much prep for that.

I'm going to Turkey Bowl, so my planning involves a trip to home depot, and then my local vendor of spirits, and a mass tran day pass.

Made two pumpkin pies this morning (made CI's Vodka Pie Crust on Friday)...have candied sweet potatoes and a pork loin ready to go in the oven in an hour or so.... Thanksgiving? Naaah. This is all for a potluck tonight. I'll be shopping on Tuesday evening and cooking all day Wednesday. Scalloped oysters, caramelized Brussels sprouts with pistachios, roasted root veggies, and a ginger-pear upside-down cake....all to be schlepped to the Eastern Shore on Thursday.

OK, that's impressive. EL

Had lunch at Clementine. Will start Christmas shopping for myself [ :) ] and others later, and really need to mail that overdue Thank-You card to a relative I will be seeing on Thnx Day.

I heart The Good Wife.

BankStreet - Where do you live and what time is dinner?

NM,

I live in East Baltimore, and dinner is (I think) at two. Problem is: dinner is nowhere near East Baltimore.

"sieving rests" ... it does, doesn't it?

Had sushi for lunch, a wine dinner tonight. Thanksgiving is at my sister's, we'll prepare our contribution Thanksgiving morning.

BankStreet--very impressive! The ginger-pear upside-down cake sounds especially good.

I just made Mollie Katzen's cauliflower with cheese and cumin, and a pork loin is in the oven. I'll toss together a green salad while the pork rests. This is for our dinner tonight., with planned leftovers for later this week. My sister is in charge of Thanksgiving dinner, so we'll just show up to mash the garlic mashed potatoes (my duty), stuff the turkey (my husband's duty) and wash the dishes.

Captcha: fishy people. Oh, come on!

I finished most of my Thanksgiving shopping yesterday. Best find: my butcher uses a Bon Appetit recipe to make his own turkey stock (double strained and fat scooped off), which means I can make my gravy a day ahead of time (along with the dressing and mashed potatoes).

So I made an Eric Ripert recipe for dinner tonight, Chicken Paillard. Nothing difficult, just 45 minutes of chopping/prep. I was pretty delicious.

Really? None of you are golfers?

I am, Carol. But...

We are all eaters, Carol in Hampden.

JoAnn, I expect one of the D@L girls to comment on your typo in your last sentence, but while we wait for them to wake up, I am wondering how you can make good gravy without pan drippings--?

I haven't known JoAnn long enough to tease her about an obvious typo, Dahlink.

Carol, I'm no golfer, being of the belief that clubs should be applied to heads, not balls, but I did get roped into working the division putt putt game at the CFC fair last week. My call of, "Come hit things!" seemed to be pretty effective.

Carol, I'm not a golfer. You couldn't get a haiku out of what I know about golf. But I'd love to hear about your golfing experiences. For instance, what do eat when you're out on the links?

Dahlink, I'm with you; gravy without pan drippings is unthinkable.

Made-ahead gravy doesn't preclude using the pan drippings. Deglaze the pan, and add the premade gravy to it.

Captcha: hairdo Cincinnati

Since I'm visiting family instead of hosting this year, there's not much in the way of preparation on my part. Because I'm feeling even lazier, I just ordered a pumpkin pie (though not from Dangerously Delicious - a bit too late to order one in advance it seems) and a Tiramisu from Piedgrotta (because I wanted an excuse to give them another try)

jwiv, I'd highly recommend picking up a few creampuffs from Piedgrotta. They won't keep, but I thought I didn't like creampuffs until the counter person handed me one to apologize for the dithering person in front of me.

Oh, my gods good, they are. I think I ate an entire dozen by myself that day. And wanted more.

Okay. Bucky, Dahlink, Lissa and Laura Lee have sorta encouraged me to post again about golf.

Laura Lee, I usually grab a tuna- or chicken salad sandwich at the turn, which all of the local courses seem to do well. Or maybe I'm just really hungry at that point.

Bucky, I feel your pain. We're having a mild fall here - every weekend since early October I thought would be last chance to golf, but then the next weekend is mild and I get to golf again.. Denver has the same mild weather, but those intermittent snow storms have made golfing impossible for you.

I should be thinking about cooking the T-givinleft g dinner, but instead I'm wondering if I can get in another round of golf next weekend.

We've been going to the Laurel Race Track for Thanksgiving for years. It's usually a nice day, sometimes we win a little money, and there's free pie for everyone at the end of the day--pumpkin or apple. They're pretty good pies and I don't have to bake them.

I play golf most every weekend! i don't usually grab anything at the turn, but my golf buddy gets two hot dogs. At one course we play, there is no "turn". Thankfully, there is at least a beverage cart girl.

For non-golfers: The "turn" is between the 9th and 10th holes, which usually brings you by the clubhouse/snack bar.

captcha: misstep pouse

Lissa wrote: Carol, I'm no golfer, being of the belief that clubs should be applied to heads, not balls, but I did get roped into working the division putt putt game at the CFC fair last week. My call of, "Come hit things!" seemed to be pretty effective.

Sorry to belabor the golf thing, but I meant to comment on this post from Lissa. Gave me a big happy laugh!

Sorry, that 9:16 post was from me. My computer keeps asking "remember personal info?" and I keep checking the box, but it never remembers me. Ignored by my own computer? That's cold.

Hmmm. Maybe it knows that I was recently a victim of "identity theft" and it's just trying to protect me.

Elizabeth, don'tcha just feel victorious? Life's grand when you can just sit yerself down and do whatever the heck you want. Sure hope the rest of your week is whatever you want it to be.

There are 12 of us celebrating at my "sister's" house; she and I split cooking duties. I'll do the sauerkraut, cranberry molds and Brussels sprouts, and buy the desserts, today. I'm also bringing the (homemade) pickles, and olives.

Captcha: carped $277.40, Is it trying to tell me something?

Kinda appropriate for the holiday season... ovens rears.