I wanted to comment on the corn, mostly for people from my zone or near it....I will not grow Hickory King again. However, I will grow Hopi blue again for sure. There is only one spot on my property where corn will grow, a sweet spot that I think got lots of applications of composted horse manure over the last 50 years. Corn is exotic to me and very interesting. I got even more interested in it after reading 'An omnivore's dilemma'. I have been trying various varieties just for fun and to see how feasible it is to grow a crop in a 1/4 acre for grain (...not very....). It is OK, but just for holiday type meals. As I said, it will only grow well on that patch... I will have enough for corn bread to go with the New Year's black eye peas. It was nice to have something made from a non GMO, completely organic non hybrid corn, and share it with our loved ones, some of them do care about these things. The Hickory King grew vigorously and gave us decent production, but the stink bugs were on it like it was going out of style. It was a real pain to take the kernels off the cobs, since I sorted out the ones that got stink bug damage. It was also more difficult to grind, and i could not get rid of a bunch of really hard bits on it. For comparison the Hopi blue gave a larger production, grew as vigorously if not more, had no stink bug damage and was very easy to grind up. Could it be that the Hopi blue is a flour corn and the Hickory King a dent corn? I also loved the blue corn bread a lot better, even though I also like the flavor of the hickory king. Making corn bread out of freshly ground corn meal is so tasty, even with a less favorite variety. Anyway, as I said I love Hopi blue for corn bread and it does well here (in case any zone niner reading this is into trying it). I originally grew Hopi blue for tamales though, but I did not like it for tamales. I am still looking for some good tamale corn, and I would prefer blue. I know some blue corn is used in tamales since we get some at out local Farmer's market in South Pasadena, so what corn do they use? Thanks for the compliments on the raviolis. They went over big here in this crowd too, so they are on request again for the Christmas menu! Enough time between Thanksgiving and Christmas that I will feel like making them and eating them again, so that is OK. Also, first year that we grow ENOUGH winter squash. Curcubita moscata is our friend.

I bet the story would have gone something like this: Mary and Martha invite Jesus over for a "thanks" giving meal a week earlier and Martha gets to work--going through all her "cook-scrolls" looking for some improved versions of her old stand-by recipes. She probably wasted a lot of time doing that, the week before (like me) when she could have been getting her house in order instead. She probably wound up running out of time, (like me) and feeling very frantic to get it all together, she became cranky,worn out and frustrated, way ahead of time, just thinking about what she'd planned to be done (also, like me). The day arrived and she was hustling all around the house, falling over the men who had gathered early to watch a goat-wrestling match, in the middle of the dirt floor of the gathering room. The children were running in and out the kitchen door, needing *this and that* (especially something to drink) and looking for things to occupy themselves with and asking lots of questions about what she was doing (sounds familiar)! Jesus arrives, early, and they all rush to get the best seats next to Him. Mary, Martha's sister, also rushes in and happily finds a seat on the floor at His feet! She's very content to just listen to Him talk and hear others ask Him questions! She forgets all about the work to be done, planned by her sister! She could have at least finished setting the table or the floor (the custom of the day was to eat reclining! There must have been a *floor-cloth* to be put in place, at the very least)! Martha is incensed! How dare Mary abandon her to all the work, (her plans) of preparing all the latest and greatest dishes for her very important guest and family! Sure she enjoyed the idea of making all those wonderful dishes, but she had miscaluculated the reality of being able to accomplish it all in one day, especially the new recipes she hadn't tried before, and couldn't rely on familiarity to make them easier to do! Martha pulls Jesus aside and says, "Jesus, can you please shake some sense and shame into Mary, and make her come help me?" Jesus says to Martha, very kindly, "Martha, Martha! You are worried about making too many different things! A turkey and some dressing, gravy and maybe some green beans, a jello-salad and a pie would have been enough! We don't need, in addition to all that, *special* mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, roasted brussel sprouts, tossed salad, fruit salad, cranberries, home-made Parker House rolls (okay-whatever *special* bread they had then), spiced apple rings, green-bean casserole (onion rings and sauce made-from scratch) scalloped oysters AND marinated asparagus! (groan--that was A LOT--and that, also, DOES sound familiar!) Get real, Martha! Mary has it all figured out! It's more important to be with Me and those you love, than trying to prove how much you care, by how much and how fancy the food is you prepare! Make it easy on yourself, and have some of *you* left-over for those who love you!" Martha must have felt like she'd been hit with a brick-bat. All that work, all that fussing about what would be really impressive to set before Him and the crowd, and all He really wanted was for her to do just what was necessary to meet a need, and spend her time with Him. Blush! I hear it! This was also about me, and our Thanksgiving-Day celebration/not! Everyone else seemed to enjoy the day, (I must say) but I was left completely wrung out--and not much fun to be around--I'm sure! I hope the rest of you, learn from my experience yesterday! Please, take time to enjoy the day, by not putting so much on yourselves, doing more than is reasonable and expected. Your family wants to be WITH you! If they want a waitress and a chef, they could go out to a restaurant, instead of to your house! Enjoy your Thanksgiving, and please, take time to give *thanks*--I know you have much to be thankful for--I've seen the pictures! :o) Janice/'Martha' P.S. That 'Best Ever Green Bean Casserole', that I posted, above---wasn't--IMHO!

My father was a police officer when I was growing up, so sometimes we had dinner at 1:00 (if he had to be at work at 3:00) or we had it at 5-6 (if he worked days), so I am used to different times. Tomorrow dinner is at 2:00.

A repost. I will be using my grandmother's Theodore Haviland NY "Pink Spray" china. The menu is: Turkey and oyster dressing (9x13 pan) with giblet gravy English Peas Sweet potato casserole (no marshmallows) Fresh berry cranberry sauce Rolls Five cup salad Pumpkin pie with whipped cream I will probably have to add canned green beans and canned corn for the youngest two grandchildren. This a request from them. No extra seasoning and no frozen or fresh allowed, LOL. Seasoned, injected, wet brine, or dry brine not wanted. Also no grilled, smoked, or fried turkey. The grilled, smoked, and fried is okay in the summer, but not for Thanksgiving or Christmas. Anything with added salt is not wanted at anytime. My husband is very sensitive to salt and does not like it (I don't like that much salt either). Yes, it will be cooked in a covered roaster to 165* and allowed to rest. It will be carved before getting to the table. The mess will be in the garage frig before anyone gets here and saved for turkey stock. I am not knocking anyone else's way of doing their bird (unlike someone on here), but this is the way we like it. We have lots of juicy turkey. Plenty for leftovers and enough to freeze for all the other turkey dishes we like.