#(My own set is late 80s Shadow Iris and in very good condition still)

[msbarrows]

Oct 14 - Busy, busy day. It was Thanksgiving today, so I spent the day rotating between various turkey-dinner related tasks, doing three rounds of dishes (pre-prep, after-prep, and then after dinner), playing some more Planet Crafter, doing laundry since said game meant I didn't get it done earlier this weekend, and crocheting whenever I was giving my feet a rest.

I go into way too much detail about the meal under the cut.

The turkey wasn't too much of a problem since I was roasting it unstuffed, but it proved to be too big for our regular roasting pan so I had to dig around and find the giant aluminum roasting pan (complete with lifting rack) that my brother and I have inherited from our dad, and give it a wash before using, which delayed getting the turkey in the oven.

When our cousin was here last weekend he brought over a ziplock of wild cranberries he'd picked at his camp, so I turned those into orange spice cranberry sauce (1 lb of fresh cranberries, 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup water, 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon each of ground cloves and ginger, 1/2 teaspoon each of allspice and cinnamon, about 1 teaspoon or so of orange zest, bring to a boil, turn down and simmer 10-15 minutes, then remove from heat and let cool, it should form into a stiff jelly). It made enough for today plus some to have with the leftovers plus enough to throw a small jar of it into the freezer for future use.

Also cubed the slightly-less-then-a-half-loaf of cornbread I had left (good job past me on randomly deciding to bake a loaf of that last week, that was a particularly good choice for making dressing out of) spread them out on a cookie sheet and let them dry for most of the day. Then I combined it with minced onion, dried chives, coarsely chopped walnuts, poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper, then stirred it while gradually adding chicken broth and some melted butter to moisten it. Lightly pressed it down in a Corningware casserole, and when it was getting close to time for the turkey to come out of the oven I microwaved it to heat it through, then after the turkey came out it went in under the broiler to crisp up and brown the top. I was VERY pleased with the end result.

Other than that the only mildly complicated thing was making gravy; the drippings from the turkey were a little salty so I grabbed some homemade chicken stock out of the freezer to dilute that with. Was tight on time (especially since I was having to thaw chicken stock at the last minute) so rather than cooking a roux first I cheated and brought the drippings & stock to a boil then whisked hard while gradually pouring in some thin flour paste, then turned it down to medium and continued whisking until it thickened.

And of course there was mashed potatoes to go with the gravy, plus some green beans and peas for the veg.

Much to my surprise there was very little actual dishes to do after the meal; the turkey is in its lidded roasting pan in the (uninsulated, unheated, and it's currently 0C/32F outside) front porch overnight for me to do something with tomorrow. The leftover dressing and veggies and gravy are in the fridge in the Corningwaer pieces they were cooked in (we have the 4 cup saucemaker piece, including the twist-on handle; it is excellent for making gravy with and I'm glad it's one of the five surviving pieces from my parents' set). Which left just the pans the potatoes and cranberry sauce were cooked in and the chicken stock was melted in, a few utensils, plus the couple of dishes and cutlery the two of us used.

I am feeling pleasantly accomplished for getting all of that done and actually getting the timing of everything more-or-less right