Oh, it was a great weekend at the house of cruzanheart & Big Tex! My dad came over Thursday morning and I spent a happy day baking a pumpkin pie, making a flan, and starting on the bread. We celebrate Thanksgiving on Friday, not out of deference to the JWs but out of deference to Da Boys -- Big Tex likes to WATCH football with very few interruptions. I made pork chops with white wine gravy, which is a yummy recipe and we had a good time watching the Cowboys win for a change.
On Friday morning we got up early and started the smoker. Popped the turkey in at around 9:30 and let it smoke (put beer instead of water in the pan -- delish!). I started preparing the ham and the rest of the side dishes and appetizers. People started coming around 4:30, and stayed until 8:30 or 9:00. We had a total of 12: our five and 7 dear friends, some of whom we've known for 25 years, some we diapered, helped grow up until they diapered our kids, and are still dear ones. The subject of Jesika's interview came up - one friend who's an elder (but has still managed to remain a friend so far) watched it on the Internet but didn't have any comment on it. His wife, like a good elder's wife, hadn't seen it and didn't say anything. Our other friends, who are kind of where I was about a year ago, HAD seen it and had a LOT of comments about it. Very stimulating conversation!
Okay, the menu was: smoked turkey, baked glazed ham, mashed potatoes & turkey gravy, sweet potato casserole, bread stuffing, cornbread stuffing, corn, roasted parsnips and carrots, homemade bread, appetizers: escargots in puff pastry, mini quiche (courtesy of Sam's Club - I can't make EVERYTHING!), sausage stuffed mushrooms, shrimp cocktail, and desserts: pumpkin pie, flan, pecan pie and chocolate cake.
It was wonderful! Saturday was a lovely lazy day, and so was Sunday. Do I have to go back to work tomorrow?
Love to all,
Nina
