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.

This year, the family is not going over the river and through the woods to my house. My daughter is doing it up and I'm thrilled. She's a good and creative cook. There'll be eight at the table. She'll be doing the turkey and stuffing. I like oyster stuffing, but since my father died, I am the only one in the family who will eat it. So, it'll be a seasoned bread stuffing. I'm assuming she'll do mashed potatoes, we always have that. She is also doing the green bean casserole. I think all of us prefer it in a non-casserole version, but we're doing it in remembrance of my mother, who always brought that, and this is the first Thanksgiving in our life-time she is not here to share or cook the meal. I know she'll bake bread, as she is the family's bread baker. She'll also do the cranberries and a pumpkin pie with real cream she'll whip herself. I'm bringing the candied yams since they make her gag to even look at them. I'll also bring the homemade noodles cooked in chicken brother. LOL. I'll bring deviled eggs thanks to the gals in the henhouse. I've turned several egg customers away today to make sure I have the raw materials. I'll bring the five cup salad a concoction of sour cream, mini marshmallows, coconut, mandarin oranges and pineapple, and another pie, likely pecan. I make a killer cheeseball so that too to snack on with wine before the meal. My new DIL is also a cook at heart, and I suspect even if told she needn't bring anything..........she will.

I've smoked ours the last couple years. It's amazing! Put the turkey breast down in roasting tray. Make a tin foil tent ank smoke for about 1 1/2 hrs. Then open up flip and baste. Then it's another hour or so. Just look up herb & honey smoked turky on allrecipies.com. I'll look when I get home and copy link for you. It was easily the best turkey I've ever had. I would reccomend putting the turkey on a rack in the pan so it doesn't stick to the pan.

Barb, Here's the Flan recipe---I translated it, so scroll down for the English version. It is really easy and delicious. My other favorite is Flan de Queso or Cream Cheese Flan. Flan de Calabaza Sencillo por: Melanie Lugo Ingredientes : 2 1/2 taza calabaza majada 1 lata de leche evaporada 1 lata de leche condensada 5 huevos 1 cdta. canela en polvo 1 cdta. vainilla 1/4 cdta. clavos de olor (opcional) 1 taza de azucar derretida (caramelo Procedimiento Precaliente horno a 350. Mezcle todos los ingredientes y coloque en un molde previamente acaramelado. Ponga el molde en Baño de Maria por 1 hora. Translation: Simple Pumpkin Flan 2 ½ cups mashed pumpkin or squash 1 can evaporated milk 1 can sweetened condensed milk 5 eggs 1 tsp vanilla 1 tsp cinnamon 1/4 tsp ground cloves (optional) 1 c. granulated sugar for the carmel Pre-heat oven to 350. Mix all of the ingredients (I use a blender) and pour into baking dish/pan/mold that you previously put the carmel in. Put in the oven in a hot water bath and bake for 1 hour until knife inserted in middle comes out clean. Note: To carmelize sugar IÂve found IÂm less likely to burn it if I add 1TBS corn syrup and 1/4 c water. Then I let it cook over medium to med-high heat until it start to turn a light amber color. I donÂt have a custard dish, so I just use a round cake pan and put it in a 9" by 13" pan with hot water for the hot water bath. I have also found that the flan sets up better if I add 2 tsp of corn starch, or 1 TBS of flour to the batter. This is a very pumpkiny flan. You can reduce the pumpkin by ½ c. if you want a milder pumpkin flavor.