Oh My Ears & Whiskers! The Turkey Cometh

Not even two weeks until Thanksgiving!

Meaning, a relative of one of these guys is on its way to That Old House.

Wild turkey,wandering aimlessly near our house. Silly bugger - it's November. Flee!

Because eventually, all November roads lead to this:

 This is motivating.

Yes, this wakes up my hostessing DNA and gets all those

holy-monkeys-get-your-act-together genes percolating merrily.

Because we won't just have turkeys here on Thanksgiving.

No turkeys in this group!  :-)

We'll have people.  Aged from 22 months to 88 years.

This year, I do not have a long, elaborate, impossible
To-Be-Done-By-Thanksgiving List.

Nope, this year, it's pretty pared down.
In no particular order, here it is:

Polish the old silver.  The easy way.
(You don't know the easy way?  I'll show you.  Tomorrow.)

Clean.
At least enough so as not to frighten the guests.

Plan the menu (yes, because Thanksgiving foods change

so much year to year), send Howard to shop (he likes this, or so he claims),

and then do the cooking, from cranberry sauce to pies.

Get the Thanksgiving china out of the breakfront.
Actually, that will be Annie's job when she gets home.
(I wish I had her home for days beforehand!  She cooks.)


Speaking of the dining room, I better include
"clearing off the table" on my TBDBT List.
Ha ha! Gotcha!
This was October 2010, when we were rejiggering the kitchen, and 
all the kitchen stuff was all over the freakin' house.  Including here:

We still don't have matching dining room chairs, but that's okay.
No one coming has matching bottoms, either.  :-)

I am tempted to add "sew dining room draperies" to my List this year,
as I have had it on my TBDBT List for years, but I am not including it.
After all, don't the windows look nice, all nekkid?

If the draperies get done, that will be a lovely surprise.  For me.
Do elves ever show up at night and sew curtains?  Please tell me Yes.
 

So, pared down, this year's TBDBT List is:

Clean, shop, cook.
(Yep, that covers a lot of ground.)

Change the chandelier lightbulbs, an annual event.

Find all the table linens, platters, wineglasses,
and the cords to the big coffee urns.
(More of a challenge than you might think.)

Fetch guests coming by plane or train.

Plan table centerpieces.
(I pretty much always forget this.)

Bathe the dogs before Turkey Day itself.
(This reminder is hard-won; don't ask.)

Don't poison anyone.
(So far, a perfect record on this one.)

Yup.  That pretty much covers it.
Mostly, just the basics.  And the fun stuff, like cooking.

What's on your T.B.D.B.T. List?
Cass

And thanks to Karen at The Graphics Fairy for the vintage images.
Her website is amazing, and addictive.  Go see!

I Elect Not To Fret

Today, here in these United States,
it is Election Day. 

E PLURIBUS UNUM.  The phrase suggested 'way back in 1776, for
the Great Seal of the United States.  Latin for "out of many, one," it describes the coming-together
of the 13 former colonies, which had strong regional differences, into a cohesive, purposeful whole.
It's still a part of the Great Seal.  You can read more (lots more!) about the Seal here.

Anywho, I'll vote today.

This isn't a presidential election year, so there isn't the great

excitement of nationwide voting, but that doesn't mean it doesn't count.

Me, getting ready to cast my ballot.

 Now, about that fretting mentioned in the title. . . .

You know my Thanksgiving "to do" list?

The TBDBT?

This year, I'm letting it go.

This year, I'm a bit hobbled with a bum knee, and spending

way too much time with that knee immobile.

Meaning I am doing way too much sitting.  Yes, annoying.

Going to the doc today.
Hoping for a quick fix!

With just 3 weeks till Howard heads out on his annual

Turkey Hunt, and brings home a whopper of a Tom,

those "to-do" items are most likely not going to get "to-done."

Howard does love his knickers.

The important stuff will get done; it always does.

Cooking, cleaning, more cooking . . . . Those things we'll do.

The old silver will be polished.

We'll get out the Thanksgiving dishes.

Cranberry sauce will boil merrily away on the stove.

And I'll make the walnut pie - just one this year.

We don't want a lot of leftovers.

On the great day, Howard will host - in his Turkey Shirt.

And most importantly, That Old House will be full of people.  Well fed people.  :-)

Thanksgiving Day 2009

But as for that TBDBT List,

for yet another Thanksgiving,

the dining room chairs will not have matching seat covers.

And it's a pretty good bet those draperies in there will not be sewn.

Unless Howard has heretofore hidden talents.

 And you know what?  Those things aren't important to anyone but, probably, me.

So I'm letting them go.  I'm allowed.  Kind of amazing.

You can find me here, today, un-laxing,

being all Lazy Lady Liberty on Election Day.

I seem to be in danger of a wardrobe malfunction.

Fellow citizens, please vote.

It is, absolutely, the least we can do to show our

gratitude in this month of Thanksgiving.

Happy Tuesday!  Keep an eye on that Thanksgiving

Countdown Clock on my sidebar.  Yikes! -- Cass

Vintage graphics courtesy of Karen, at The Graphics Fairy.

What T.B.D.B.T. List? One Day, Folks!

There is an Old Wives' Tale - When your 
squirrels are chubby in the Fall,
you are in for a rough winter.

Uh-oh.

One of our local squirrels,
perched on a fence post outside our sunroom.

Bring on the snuggies and the galoshes, friends.

I'm abandoning all hope of a mild winter.

But tomorrow, Thanksgiving Day 2012, will be a lovely day.

Which is a mixed blessing;

brilliant afternoon sun on the west side of the house

highlights how really schmutzig the windows are.

Me?  I like a day with good cloud cover when I give thanks.

Supermarket flowers, waiting to be transformed into centerpieces.

My T.B.D.B.T List?

(To Be Done By Thanksgiving.)

Ha.  Ha.  Ha.

Between one thing and another, including this:

pretty much nothing got done.

Although we did hang the matchstick blinds in the study.

I am thankful for even that small thing.

(Which I call small, because Howard did all the work

and I just had to watch and supervise.  He loves that.)

Meanwhile, at That Old House, preparations continue for

tomorrow's feast and love fest.

Mmmm . . . chopped onions and celery, getting all

hot and bothered and ready for the stuffing.

Our biggest blessing?

A family which really enjoys family gatherings.

And, of course, a full refrigerator.

The turkey, a modest 28 pounder, is in the fridge downstairs.
So it's really two full refrigerators.  Come help us eat!

Next on the food prep list?

Hot artichoke dip, two apple pies,

one walnut pie, and a pumpkin cheesecake.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

You lookin' at ME?

I'll be back to say Hi soon, and share a picture of

this year's pin-up boy:  Howard in his turkey shirt!

-- Cass

Dylan and Dad; a dog and his boy.

Holy Turkey Day, Batman! And a Cake. Of Sorts.

3 weeks from yesterday, we'll gather 24 people
at That Old House, to celebrate America's 
favorite family holiday - Thanksgiving.

Is my T.B.D.B.T. List done yet?  Nope.

Have we had other fish to fry,

more important than sewing dining room curtains?  Yup.

Am I panicked?  Not yet.

Plenty of time for that later.

There's always room for Jello, and there's always time for panic.

******************************

We have so much to be thankful for, even while we
weather some recent challenges and trials.

There's a new boy in our life, 3-year old Dylan,
a 13 pound bundle of energy and passionate affection
whom we adopted on the Sunday before Sandy
from Cavalier Rescue.

Dylan's first days at That Old House involved a lot of rain.  Yes, he was damp.

***********************************
And, today, I ordered a really gorgeous looking roasting pan - 
one that can handle any turkey my husband decides to haul home.

I may regret this.
I emailed Howard and told him I'd ordered a great big roasting pan.
He answered: "You have thrown down the gauntlet, my dear."

Howard, 2011, with a bird he considered
woefully inadequate.  In my defense,
 I roasted two of them!

Since my husband has been known to hunt out 32-plus pound
turkeys on the day before Thanksgiving, even though I didn't have
a large enough roasting pan to cook that big a bird,
I may, as I said, regret this.

********************************
. . . and now for something completely different.
A Cake.
At least, it's billed as a cake in any recipes I found.

Anne made it, and she says "It was odd, but delicious.  Too sweet."

So here it is, something called a Dump Cake.
Because you take 3 or so ingredients, and dump them,
bake them, and then . . . eat them.

You need:

Yes, boys and girls, we used canned apple pie filling, and discovered
that it is wicked sweet.  So -- in went some big squeezes of lemon, a
pinch of salt . . . and still too sweet.  Like scrunch your face sweet.

Hmmm . . . what to do?
We happened to have a can of tart-sweet whole cranberry sauce in the pantry.

Plop - plop - plop - dump.  Right onto the apples.

 Next step -- the cake part.
You dump the cake mix right over the fruit.
Yup.  That's it.

Dumping layers.  Apples.  Cranberries.  Cake Mix.

Then comes the odd part.  Butter.
Our recipe said two sticks of butter, cut up and distributed over the cake mix layer.
Anne and I thought, "Yikes, two sticks?"  She did a stick and a half.

Into the oven.  350-degrees, preheated.

 For . . . until it's done.  It took awhile.
About an hour.  Maybe a little more, as we wanted the top nice and brown.

The sugary fruity parts got nicely caramelized.
But you can't cut this like a cake.
Well, you could, but it would be a holy mess.
Anne scooped out bits, topped them with whipped cream,
and served her grateful parents.  In bowls.

It was good. More like a cobbler than a cake.
But eventually, it all disappeared.  Like Magic.


Join Michael Lee West at Rattlebridge Farm
for Foodie Friday.  Click here!

And enjoy!  -- Cass 

If I Had Talent . . . .

Caw!  Caw!

My pet crows Sylvester and Hulk Hogan are

warning me that it is only 31 days

until their cousin Tom is popped into

the kitchen sauna with a timer in his bum.

Ack!

Not much Fall Time left, for me or for Tom.

********************************

If I had talent I would absolutely busy myself

in the Fall making lovely Fall-y things like this Halloween

runner from last year's Pottery Barn offerings:

Pottery Barn Halloween Runner

To make it, all I'd need would be a length of dirt-cheap burlap,

and a couple of Magic Markers.

And . . . ummm . . . talent.

Not much talent, come to think of it,

  based on a closer look at the drawings, but still . . . .

*******************************

If I had talent, I would paint these pears:

Not the actual pears themselves, but paint their images.

Aren't they beautiful?

Old barns make make me want to grab a brush and

get to work on a minor masterpiece.

Stewartsville, NJ

I would try and paint a portrait of

That Old House.

Only I'd paint the shutters back in.

'Cause we miss those shutters!

Sigh.

Once upon a time I did try my hand at painting.

The less said, the better.

Who knows?  I may try again . . . .

*********************************

Is there a talent you don't have,

that you wish you did?

What would you do if you could?

*********************************

Happy 31 days until Thanksgiving Day Day.

-- Cass