What's your Thanksgiving timetable?

It's time to REVIVE!

My current T'day schedule: hope and pray I get to go home on Tuesday 11/20.

research paper due monday 11/19. everything thanksgiving to occur after that.

Yeah, I'm thinking t'day might get pushed back a bit later in the month this year.

Although, Mr. Jaq is picking up the turkey today. I went for a small one this year, after the fiasco of the giant bird last year.

1 pm - go to chinese restaraunt and order $50 of food
2 pm - get home and get down

I didn't invite anybody this year because of this goddamn job and the high probability of it fucking up my life. But when I get home, those cranberries better WATCH OUT.

our menu per my host: pumpkin fritters to start, then pumpkin and pea soup, lemon-honey glazed turkey and pumpkin cupcakes with vanilla cinnamon icing

i have changed the dessert to rosewater napoleon and added green beans. i think he chose too many pumpkin dishes.

anyway, i don't know what his recipe is for the turkey, but the other stuff seems not too labor/time-intensive, right?

Will the fritters be fried? (Can you bake them? I don't know the options.) That might be a bit labor intensive, if they can't be done much in advance. Pumpkin and pea soup sounds yummy, btw. But I think 2 pumpkin focused things are plenty in one meal. Also, green beans = yes please.

Mr. Jaq advised he got "a nice" turkey - 9.8 lbs of standard bronze heritage goodness. Much more manageable than last year's 25 lb behemoth.

10-11am - everybody starts showing up at the farmhouse hauling foil-covered casseroles, crock pots, and various other serving dishes full of dumplings, roasts, cakes, casseroles (indeed), macaroni & cheese, greens, and ambrosia

noon - bell rings. uncle jerry says grace at the head of a long line of people I am ostensibly related to one way or another

2pm - everyone more fatter, thinking about seconds, wondering why aunt sally has such a thing about no booze at thanksgiving, 'cause a beer would be sweet

Mmmm, ambrosia.

The thing to try to get around the no-booze rule: rum balls, or a rum cake absolutely dripping with dark rum. Not the same as a beer, but not bad.

This morning: Wake up extra early, run to store, get eggs and various other ingredients, run home, make molasses cookies and peanut dip for today's pre-Tgiving "orphan's Thanksgiving" style party. All of which I have done with like an hour to spare.

well, i bought the wine and rosewater tonight, but it looks like everything else shopping- and prep-wise is happening on wednesday! eee the thought of the lines is not appealing considering how insane they were today.

omg! Tonight, I found out I actually get to go home for a few days tomorrow. Will be going to visit my MIL for t'day apparently, which I'm sure is the right thing to do, but I would so much rather just sit in my own apartment with my feet up, thinking about what I COULD cook if only I had the energy. I'll have 4 days in Seattle to be thankful for, at least, before I am returned to this sunny hellhole for as long as it takes to finish this fucking project.

Today I'm making pumpkin dinner rolls, cranberry sauce, maybe some mashed turnips and some similarly mashed potatoes. Some of which I'll have tonight and some of which I'll hopefully be sharing with someone tomorrow night.

But this is my 21st Thanksgiving as a vegetarian and I still haven't figured out a main dish that makes me happy.

Oh! And some brussels sprouts.

Happy Canadian T-day! Are you going to have a US one as well? I'm very interested in your pumpkin dinner rolls.

I never did roast last year's turkey ;_;

I hope it is not too freezer-burnt for this year.

I am planning to have a US one as well. We'll see how the pumpkin dinner rolls turn out, they are rising very slowly.

What sorts of things have you tried as main dishes? I'm generally stymied by what makes a good holiday vegetarian main, and hate falling into the gigantic cheese-bomb casserole trap.

i am going to a vegetarian/vegan thanksgiving this year at my boyfriend's parents' house. my first ever thanksgiving!

Does anyone know what that non-Tofurkey veg turkey recipe was? J0hn D had it on his site way back when, I forgot to bookmark and have completely forgotten the name.

Was it quorn? They make a turkey roast.

I've tried tofurkey, pasta/lasagna, nut loafs, and so on. I was thinking some sort of squash-and-tofu-on-rice dish might work.

The pumpkin rolls were ok, but something was a little off on them. Stupid internet recipes. But one of the comments said she added rosemary, which might have balanced it a bit more. Also they might taste better in the morning.

It was some little company that made them, then went out of business and released the recipe on their website.

i just realized the incredible difficulty presented by going to visit my little sister in dc for thanksgiving: i would not be able to go til wed night (i think) and she doesn't drive. wonder if i can convince her to plan ahead and buy a turkey (she's not good at this stuff) so we're not like 'WTF' on thursday.

Can you order one and have it delivered? Might be simpler than hauling one home on the bus or something.

well, we will be taking over my other sister's house, which means that if she plans, she can get them to take her to the store and drive it home. this means she has to actually plan, though...

other sister and her husband will be in korea during festive times.

Man, while standing in line @ the grocery store, I thought about Thanksgiving & got ANXIOUS at all of the work I'll have cut out for me. It's just me making all of the food, so I have to make a schedule. Doing a lot of stuff on the night before. Shudder.

Write it all down and see where (if anywhere) you can simplify stuff. Everything you can do ahead of time (like weeks even), do it (freeze it or whatever). Like if you want to make a cake, make the layers now, wrap them tightly and freeze them, then they'll be ready to thaw and frost. Yeast rolls and bread - you can make ahead and either freeze the dough, or freeze the baked goods (again tightly wrapped).

The one place I consistently trip up - needing a particular pan or appliance for something when it is already in use by something else. Sometimes, you can make do, but other times creativity falls short at the last minute and that's really stressful.

I TOTALLY write out the game plan. Too, no one, NO ONE is allowed in the kitchen. I'm starting to re-gain my confidence.

I am making a pumpkin cheesecake instead of pumpkin pie this year! Mmmmmmm. Too, Jaq, I am going to use your yeast roll recipe. I'm going to "practice" them this weekend. Should they turn out, I'll make a batch to freeze. Good tips, thanks!

i would love to write out my game plan, if my sister would just settle on a location/general idea of what the hell we're doing!!! now she's talking about coming here!? i have no idea what's going on and this frustrates me because my life gets very busy and i just like to have things like this settled so i can organize what needs to get done!

my big t-giving plan is making a real, boozey, old-timey fruitcake that will get buried in sugar until xmas.

my aunt has suggested "hot flash sparklers" for thanksgiving. though the name leaves much to be desired, the recipe looks tasty!

1 cup pomegranate juice
1 tablespoon sugar
1 small piece of fresh ginger, peeled and cut to yield one 1/4-inch thick slice
4 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1 teaspoon Cointreau or other orange liqueur
1 bottle brut Champagne, well chilled

Combine pomegranate juice, sugar and ginger in a saucepan; bring to boil, and cook, stirring, until mixture is reduced to 1/3 cup, about 10 minutes. Let cool. Pour 4 teaspoons pomegranate syrup, 1 tablespoon orange juice and 1/4 teaspoon of Cointreau into each of four 6-ounce Champagne flutes. Add 2/3 cup Champagne to each flute. Garnish with 3 to 5 pomegranate seeds each.

that sounds delicious!

nom it!

awesome!!

nommed!

did you change the name to something a little less menopausal?

Starting to dig through recipes right now and lolling about drooling over cooking magazines. Will probably lollygag for another two weeks and then pretend that I HAD ABSOLUTELY NO TIME to get anything done! :)

Jaq, I'm back in Seattle until Thanksgiving. Would love to get together for coffee. My schedule is pretty open. Contact me at wee little sprout at hot mail dot com (no spaces) with your phone number, please! I've been looking forward to meeting you since last Christmas!

today i enlisted the intern to help me plan my menu since i don't seem to have time to do it!

she found a recipe for raspberry tiramisu today that looks intersting. i can't handle pumpkin pie.

Craven and I sat down and talked about fabulous Thanksgiving desserts this afternoon - raspberry tiramisu sounds delicious! I'm pretty set on roasting a leg of lamb this year instead of a turkey (the turkey that has been in the freezer since last year looks very very sad and frostbitten I'm afraid).

Jaq (and others), I posted a question on Is that pie..?, but I figured it'd be answered here more quickly.
We are getting a smoked turkey this year for Thxgiving. We aren't doing the smoking, so I"m not going to have turkey drippins' for gravy. I was wondering if you could share you cream gravy recipe from the blog? I am losing sleep over this!

Thx.

Sure thing - though cream gravy might be a bit heavy (it's what you pour over chicken fried steak). Melt 2 tbsp of butter in a skillet over medium low heat. Sprinkle in 2 heaping tbsp of flour and stir into the melted fat. Stir in 1/2 tsp of salt and several generous grinds of black pepper. Let this cook on medium low for a few minutes, stirring frequently. Heat up 1.5 cups of half and half (or 3/4 c milk and 3/4 c heavy cream) until very hot but don't boil. I usually put the liquid in a 4-cup pyrex measuring cup and nuke it for about 2 min. Pour the hot liquid into the butter/flour mixture, stirring constantly and gently. Increase the heat a notch or two and keep stirring until thickened (7-15 min). It will thicken up more as it cools.

You might want to make gravy with chicken stock instead. Use the same process (though possibly won't need to add salt and pepper depending on how your stock is seasoned) and the same proportions of fat/flour/liquid.

On the timetable: I made up the rolls on Sunday (including a test batch that we snarfed for dinner that night), have the turkey thawing in the fridge and will brine it tonight, am making pumpkin pudding today. Will possibly start the cranberry relish today - this year I'm making one with cranberries, quince, pecans, and port as well as having a can of the jellied stuff (which I adore). I'm making stuffing with pecans, fennel, and shallots. Brussel sprouts: parboiled, halved, brushed w/ oil, roasted at 450F, sprinkled with shaved parm. Sweet potatoes: simply mashed with butter, maybe a dash of cinnamon and cumin. Roasted fingerling Yukons and redskinned potatoes. Possibly deviled eggs. Possibly some other dessert. A guest is bringing the salad.