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.

Same here concerning the green bean casserole. Too common after so many years and I never really liked it that much, anyway. Yams or sweet potatoes, yes; but not always with the little marshmallows. Sometimes I do a tropical dish with pineapple and a bit of coconut in them, with some butter and a touch of brown sugar. It seems to go over well, and is a bit different than the marshmallow overload! But always sage and onion dressing; that never changes, and of course homemade gravy and cranberry sauce!

HU - Well....look at that, I forgot all about this old thread. 8 years ago? Wow! So, you are happy for Thanksgiving....what are you looking forward to? So, do you have family somewhere that you are not going to be able to get together with? We will not be able to get together with our family. First time in our lives that will be the case. Not one Thanksgiving or Christmas that we haven't been able to get together for a holiday dinner. So I'd say that is something to be VERY thankful for. And I'm a lot older than you are. [g]. And I hadn't thought about it that way until just this minute. So you did me a favor to bring this thread up. We are going to be making dinner, which we enjoy doing. We will have dinner ourselves but we will be delivering Thanksgiving Dinner to a couple of our kids. A small, easy, traditional dinner. I just got through making a food order. I looked at a weather forecast and it may rain on Thanksgiving, which would make it difficult to even have a short visit outdoors with anyone, but the forecast is wrong a lot, especially when it's an early one. So, what are you looking forward to HU?

I find that cleaning and chopping vegetables always takes more time than I plan for so I do as much as I can the day before. I totally assemble the veg casserole the day before and put the topping on just before it goes in the oven. I have a recipe for make-ahead mashed potatoes that I like even better than freshly made! Cranberry sauce is tastier if made a few days early and allowed to sit. Even though I don't assemble the dressing until that day I have all of the veggies chopped (and this year I am adding sausage to the dressing and will pre-cook the sausage). Same thing with the salad - components all prepped and ready to assemble that day. I'm making a pumpkin trifle this year and will probably make the cake on Tuesday, assemble on Thursday. Butternut Squash Chowder will probably be prepared on Tuesday and reheated in a crock pot on Thursday. The bottom line is that if there is anything that can be made or prepped ahead of time, it should be. I find I do a lot more cooking the day before than actually on the holiday. Thanksgiving day I mostly throw stuff in the oven and make the turkey. The week before gather all of your serving pieces and label them with post-it notes as to which dish goes with what food. Set your table Tuesday. You can arrange the bar on Tuesday as well, except for ice. Skewer olives on plastic swords and place in a bowl, cover with water, refrigerate. Make lemon twists, dump in a glass and cover with a damp paper towel, refrigerate. I'll say it again - anything that can be done ahead of time should be! Lists are your best helper on days like these. Make them and use them! Also, I am not one to turn down an offer if someone likes to bring a dish. If your SIL wants to know what she can bring, tell her to do the sweet potatoes (or whatever). If you need table linens pressed or purchased, do it now! Plan your decorations and centerpiece this week as well. Candles? Candlesticks? Plan or order your flowers. Guest towels. Music. Kids games. Arrange or plan for house cleaning as well. All of this can be done in the next few days. Oh, and I love the turkey gravy base from Williams-Sonoma. It is a huge time-saver and the gravy always comes out perfect. Be sure to add the turkey drippings to the pan while you are heating it up! Nicole