I'll be thinking of you all tomorrow. Our T-day is going to be on Friday this year, because of various travel schedules, not to mention the several people who wanted to have dinner at their in-laws AND wanted to have dinner at DD's. I'm actually pleased ~~ for once, I won't be rushing home from work to start the prep for all the veggie dishes. Five vegs this year: cream-cheese/chili corn, harvard beets, gingered carrots & pears, snap peas (a change from the spinach squares), and a broccoli/cauliflower dish that has a nutmeg/cheddar sauce. Tried this last year and it was a success. 1 big bag of baby carrots, thoroughly rinsed, and the fat ones cut in half lengthwise. Dump in big pot of lightly salted boiling water, let boil for 10 minutes. While the carrots are cooking, open and drain a can of sliced pears -- this year, I'll have to slice halves, no pre-sliced in stock at the store. Put about ½ cup of pear jelly [or pear jam or apple jelly] in a small bowl and nuke just until warm and mostly melted. Stir ½ teaspoon ground ginger OR 1 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger into the melted jelly. Taste jelly and add more ginger if needed (you should be able to clearly taste the ginger). Depending on how many carrots, you may need to double the gingered jelly. Drain the carrots and dump into a large bowl. Pour the gingered jelly over and stir until all carrots are coated. Fold in the pear slices. For the dinner, it does very well on a warming tray, not going mushy. Have a good day, and may all your Thanksgiving dishes be wonderful.

Happy Thanksgiving! The snow has melted, but it's not going to be much of a gardening day since everything will be soggy. Still have bulbs that I dug out of front yard to plop in back yard. Eden, I wish my house smelled like pies this morning! Brenda, Hope those turkeys are thawed. If they're not, I know there'll be a good entertaining story from you later. Jerri, special thoughts to you this day. I know you will be missing Sassy, but are thankful your time with her. Martie, I just love that arborvitae hedge sprinkled with snow. Chelone, I checked our your chimney project photos and enjoyed the descriptive text too. It looks terrific and can't wait to see the mantle installed. Sue, I know how hurtful things can cast a shadow over the rest of your life, so I hope that you can shake that off as well as the cold. Consider the source is my best advice. I'm grateful that my wrist seems fine now and I didn't have to go to the Dr after all. Marian, I cringed when I read your comment about hitting the ganglioma with book! I do remember that 'treatment' for 'wens'/sebaceous cysts which are above the skin. Shudder. A ganglioma is below the skin, so there's nothing to break open externally. Oh, this is not very nice TDay talk is it lol. Monty's foot seems a bit better too. He has not slept on my bed with kitty's this week so that made me worry. This morning I invited him up, and he hurtled all 65 pounds of flailing limbs right up there. (I caught him running outside yesterday too, so figured he felt better :-) I do have appt for him at vet on Friday as we need to check out his bunny hopping on walks which is unrelated to the sore on his foot. Happy Thanksgiving from Foster Rippie, who knows how to live in the moment and be thankful for whatever he's got. Note that is a real smile on his face. Greyhounds are the only breed that actually 'smiles' just like humans do, with lips pulled back and teeth together. The clenched teeth can be scary to the unknowing :-) Cynthia

Hey folks, nice to read your experiences (even though some of them make me cringe!). Beef broth for Thanksgiving gravy!!! :-( Ours turned out fantastic! DW and DD said it was the BEST Thanksgiving dinner they've ever had! The only bummers were our friend's pumpkin-ginger cheesecake and the green bean casserole. The cheesecake turned out a little underdone and too bitter. Maybe it needs a cup of sugar or something! It was from "Cooking Lite" so perhaps adjusting it to be sweeter would have helped. And the greenbean casserole was undercooked. DW put it back in the oven for a while, but when it was allegedly done, no one wanted to try again (we were getting very full). I baked the bird according to that recipe I linked above, and it was simply delectable. Everyone commented on how moist it was, which I think is largely the result of not overcooking. We took it out when the temp deep in the breast hit 160, which was before the little "built-in" thermometer thing popped. That's the temp recommended in the recipe, and it's worked well for us, always producing a moist turkey. The recipe includes a wonderful gravy made from the turkey drippings with some chicken broth and whipping cream. It has great flavor from all the turkey seasonings (which include juniper berries, thyme, rosemary, garlic, marjoram, and anise seed). DD said the gravy was her favorite part. DW made some of those great skin-on mashed potatoes, which were perfect with the gravy. My apple pie and blackberry cobbler were very good (if I do say so myself!). DW's chocolate/vanilla swirl cheesecake was awesome, too. Oh yeah, I also made my locally famous crescent rolls which once got me in trouble with a SIL whom I do like, but her son exclaimed after eating one, "WOW! I've NEVER had a roll this good before!" This while his mom's rolls were in a basket right next to mine (and she had bragged about how good they were when she brought them). As for Bonnie's question about roles in the kitchen -- it works out really well for my wife and me. She is a stay at home mom, too, but she really likes it when I take on a challenging dish. She says she doesn't have the patience for complicated recipes, so she's happy to eat them after I make them. I like the challenge of something difficult to cook. I'm mostly into baking (usually desserts, but also the dinner rolls and turkey roasting). Well, barbecuing is my thing in the family, too. We get along fine in the kitchen, although sometimes she rolls her eyes at me because I'm too particular about something (like not putting two sheets of rolls in to bake at the same time, because the heat needs to be able to circulate around and two sheets fills up the space and blocks the circulation). Sometimes she's all about efficiency when I want to be all about quality. But cooking is actually one of the few areas where she has learned to trust my judgment on some of these quirky theories! :-)

we're doing thanksgiving tomorrow w/ 10 friends because we'll be on vacation next week. this a.m. before work i got the turkey in the brine, DH will take care of it during the day LOL. tonight after i get home, i'll start the stuffing, bake pies and get everything chilled for tomorrow. have never done a different day for this dinner but i'm liking the early prep...still have to grocery shop tomorrow a.m. and clean up. our thanksgiving day dinner will be traditional at Ruth Chris Steakhouse in Atlanta and we'll be w/ my sis, BIL and twins niece & nephew :-) ~ liz