Today was the big prep day, hopefully keeping tomorrow less hectic. We eat the big Thanksgiving meal in the middle of the day, so advance work the day before helps avoid getting up at 4 AM to start cooking on the day.

Today's output: the Turkey Orloff is all assembled, and will just need 30 minutes in an oven to heat and brown the cheese. The dough for the lemon butter crust rolls is in the fridge, ready to be shaped, and the lemon butter to brush on them is in there too. Pumpkin cheesecakes, baked in my new mini-cheesecake pan, are done, as is the bourbon caramel sauce and the lightly candied pecans that will top them. Younger niece came over and tackled the chocolate pecan pie, which we then consumed with dinner this evening. I did grilled chuck roast for tonight's dinner, but younger niece did latkes, and sister-in-law did the veggies, salad, and grilled chicken for those who are reducing their beef consumption.

Older brother, t'other sister-in-law, and one of the two nephews in that family arrived in early afternoon--brother and sister-in-law drove down from Durham, NC, and nephew flew in from Rochester, NY. The other nephew in that family is in Madrid, taking advantage of having a friend doing a study tour there.

Older brother is in charge of Pie, even though I usually make at least one dessert and niece stepped in this year with the chocolate pecan. (Which was really good, incidentally--traditional pecan pie is really too sweet for most everyone in the family. The bittersweet chocolate really offsets the sweetness.) The plan: coconut cake (a Shirley Corriher recipe for an almost-soggy, moist cake. Black-bottom pie. Pumpkin pie. You can infer that Pie has become a family-defined term for "desserts served at Thanksgiving.

After dinner, he took over my kitchen and made the coconut cake and the black-bottom pie, while I prepped brussels sprouts for tomorrow's brussels sprouts with bacon and walnuts, then helped by blind-baking the crust for the black-bottom pie. Tomorrow morning one of us will do the pumpkin, trying to get it done before the casseroles and the rolls fight for oven space.

1. Got back from Disney Sunday evening (more write-ups to come, whenever I finish all the drafts I've got stored), and took Monday off for the home catchup on laundry, errands, etc. Went back to the office Tuesday.

2. I'm not caught up at the office (that's perpetual, only aggravated by the vacation), on my iGoogle feeds, on email (piffle and Bujold being the worst), on SFF.Net, you name it. This will not improve until after Thanksgiving, probably. Facebook has not yet become a regular haunt, so I never think of 'staying current' over there.

3. Fred and Fish feel that the staff (that's me) should not spend 9 nights away from the job, and are still demanding recompense. Fred has been training the substitute (sister-in-law) but live-in staff attendance is really required.

4. Thanksgiving is NEXT WEEK!!!! We're gathering in Atlanta, having decided not to have one last occasion in Moultrie. Older brother and spouse, and his older son are coming, and will stay with me. Sometime. (Probably Tuesday.) Cooking and cleaning are underway.

5. Sears and the freezer. There is progress, and the account probably deserves its own post. Short version: freezer is working, though the tech suggests not putting anything I care about in it for 2 weeks lest it fail again.

Thanksgiving came off very well. The menu for the big meal, which we have in the middle of the day, was just as planned, and followed in the evening by turkey and rice soup that was supposed to be turkey chowder, but I completely forgot to add the milk at the end. Oh, well, it was fine as a non-chowder. I supplemented mine with an angel biscuit and smoked turkey, others did variations on sandwiches with bits of leftovers from earlier meals, and then we all had Pie.

( More on Pie, and the downtown festival, etc.... )

( Friday's activities )

Tomorrow we'll do a little more of the chores-and-shopping before the Georgia-Georgia Tech football game starts at noon. I'm assuming we'll have lunch in front of the TV, then I plan to hit the road after eating (and will listen to the game as I drive). Brother and s-i-l will watch the game in Moultrie before starting home.

Am making lists, checking them twice....for Thanksgiving, that is. I'm not thinking about Hanukkah or Christmas. Maybe I can do some Christmas shopping while at Disneyworld. Maybe I'd better do some Christmas shopping while at Disneyworld, 'cause there won't be much time left when I get back. (The Disneyworld trip is Dec. 6-14--I'm meeting a friend there.)

I squeezed in a blood donation today, though it had to get pushed later because of a conference call. That makes 6 donations this calendar year--best I've done in a long time. Tomorrow has another conference call, start time pushed to 12:30, then I'll see where I am in terms of trip prep. It would be far better to drive tomorrow, then shop and cook on Wednesday...but I'm not feeling like I'll have my act together to leave town tomorrow afternoon. We'll see how this evening's organizing and packing goes.

It's started, I can tell. Today had 4 stops at grocery stores.

First was my usual Publix, with a short list for the stuff I can do in advance for the Turkey Orloff, plus some other stuff. Also had the turkey itself on the list (turkey breast cutlets, plus a couple of thighs to roast for those (nephew) who won't eat Orloff). Publix only had whole turkeys, except for smoked bits. Bought some smoked bits to use for stock, which will become turkey chowder.

Stopped at the Kroger across the way before going home: bought the fresh turkey I needed.

Put up groceries, with turkey going in freezer. Made the regular Friday challah dough and set it out to rise in the coolish kitchen. Paused shopping/cooking to move some pinestraw around in the yard, then went to Weight Watchers and lunch. Then back to Publix for the shortening I discovered I needed for pie crust.

Home again, punch down bread dough. Make a 1-1/2 recipe of the Cooks Illustrated pie crust with vodka, but 100% shortening and no sugar--this will be for chicken pie on Friday, if I have the energy to tackle it. I decide to do cheddar chipolte biscuits to go with a soup meal, and to use up more of the chipotles in adobo that have been hanging around the fridge.

Digression: can't chipotles in adobo come in tiny cans? I opened this one for an earlier round of the biscuits (uses 1 T.), made something I can't recall with more, then lima bean soup with chipotle broth, then today's biscuits, and there's still 2 chiles left!

Start checking the recipe--I'd bought the cheese I knew I needed earlier. Grrr...didn't notice the green onions. There are some in the hydrator...but they are slimed. Off for grocery stop #4, green onions only.

Back to biscuits. Pause before blending wet and dry stuff to braid the challah...or was that when the braided challah went into the oven? Not sure. Challah was baked, then biscuits were baked, then it was time for me to make the run to pick up dinner from Longhorns--neither s-i-l or I wanted to cook.

Tomorrow: the soubise. The duxelles. And maybe the angel biscuits. And/or steam the summer squash.

Hope the others of you who are celebrating Thanksgiving today had a good one.

We had our turkey and fixings in the middle of the day. I got the turkey into the oven around 9:15, and headed out for a jog to get a little exercise this week (missed Jazzercise Monday night because the facility had to be set up for the Tuesday runoff election, and then left town on Tuesday morning). After lots of storms yesterday, it was clear and brisk--I was in shorts and a T-shirt without being too chilly, but the temps kept going down during the day so I won't try that again this trip. Then it was back to the house to turn the turkey over, then take a quick shower and start the serious cooking. Everything turned out well, with the minor problems of the bottle of wine having a cork that disintegrated with age (1992 Riesling, not stored well)--substituted something from mini-bottles that were already chilled. And I forgot about the almond topping for the broccoli, so that will have to be taken back to Atlanta and used later.

After post-meal somnolence was shaken off, I offered to take the nieces and nephew to the rail-trail to expend some energy--nieces on bikes, nephew walking or running with me. Then sister-in-law got the kids involved in rolling and cutting out a couple of batches of her Chinese gingersnaps, which involve lots of grated fresh ginger and tablespoons of white pepper. At 6 we headed downtown to the festival for the lighting of the Christmas lights. (More on this later.) Came back and had sandwiches or chefs salads (with turkey, natch), and pie. That's it, I've had my limit of the chocolate chess. Besides, there's only a tiny sliver left, and surely someone else will get to it before me...

The turkey carcass is in the crockpot to make stock, so we can have the traditional turkey chowder for lunch tomorrow. (Saute onions and celery, add stock and white rice, cook until rice is done. Add milk and some chopped turkey, and heat. Season with salt and pepper.) Chicken pie is defrosting in the fridge, and Beatrice, the long-time housekeeper, will deliver some cooked vegetables for us to have with it tomorrow. She worked today, clearing most of the kitchen mess while we were eating dinner, but she said she'd rather bring the vegetables fresh tomorrow so she can do fried okra, knowing how the kids love it. Maybe I'd better go jogging again tomorrow...love Beatrice's fried okra, and of course, there's the chicken pie.

I'm headed to my father's tomorrow, laden with a lot of the Thanksgiving feast components. Some it's easier to buy in the big city, some things I can cook ahead and save the hassle, some things I'd rather cook in my kitchen with my equipment.

( More on Thanksgiving meal planning )

We'll all head back to Atlanta on Saturday, because of various activities that must be accomplished before next Monday.