After dinner yesterday I was so tired and full that I skipped blogging and went to bed. But Grandma, Mom tells me you don’t read this until later in the day, so there’s still time!
Basically, I cooked all day and visited with Swathi and Mom in the kitchen. After reading Preethi’s Thanksgiving menu, I realized a) that her stuffed pumpkin recipe looked to die for and b) that I actually had all the ingredients on hand. Since we weren’t planning on eating dinner until 7pm, I made those pumpkins for lunch.
Good thing I did, because the only stressful moment of the day happened when Abe told me at 1pm that he’d told his family days ago that I would cook Thanksgiving dinner for his aunt (since she can’t leave the house). The food wasn’t going to be ready until after most people expect to eat Thanksgiving, and to be honest, I am not great at gauging portions, so I did not know if I’d made enough food.
Thankfully, I had made an extra pumpkin, and my mom kindly volunteered to purchase the dinners from Whole Foods, so crisis was ultimately averted. Even though we ate these pumpkins for lunch, they were, hands down, my favorite food of the day. We will be making those more often.
Aside from the panic that ensued at 1pm, the rest of the day did not feel hectic or crazy at all. I just stood in the kitchen and made one dish at a time with Swathi and my mom until at 7pm we had turned out: these rolls, mashed potatoes, cauliflower gratin, sweet potato casserole (next year I’d double the sweet potatoes, though), cranberry sauce, Alton Brown’s brined turkey, gravy, apple slab pie, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, three kinds of ice cream and whipped cream. Um, I like dessert. I had some brussel sprouts I meant to cook, but I ran out of time and space in the oven. Oh, well. Maybe I’ll cook those today.
At noon, while the pumpkins were cooking and before I found out I was in charge of an entire other meal, I even got some piano in. It was a great day. And now I’ll go eat some pumpkin pie for breakfast. (It’s my own personal tradition on the morning after Thanksgiving. Somehow, I still have room.)
Happy Thanksgiving!
