Oh my aching bones . . . I LOVE LOVE LOVE the holidays with family here and a big feast and lots of fun but when all is said and done . . . I AM POOPED !
As I was talking with someone the other day we noted that whether you have 2 people for dinner or 20 it is the same amount of work.
Ger and I spent yesterday afternoon making the mashed potatoes and stuffing and that took us about 4 hours. Then there is the clean up. Today after mass we worked on the turnip and the veggies. There were only 5 of us for dinner and one of them was Smith who doesn't eat. The turkey was delicious, the beer bread was done at exactly the right time and everyone ate their fill. We then sat back and stuffed in some home made dessert that I made from a recipe I saw in the paper. It sounded so very exotic and delicious . . . Creamy Chocolate Panna Cotta. The ingredients looked interesting: 2 oz. of bakers chocolate - GRATED, a cup of Nutella, a cup and a half of heavy cream, unflavored gelatin, and chestnuts. Other than the chestnuts I had all the other ingredients in so I figured I'd give it a try. Because it was chocolate I knew I couldn't go wrong. I spent an hour making this dessert. Melting chocolate, whipping cream, adding one thing to another then mixing that into something else. I couldn't wait to taste this exotic delicacy. I spooned some into my dessert dish and took a bite . . . . . . it is nothing more than home made chocolate pudding ! GOOD chocolate pudding but still, just chocolate pudding. I really must look up the translation of Panna Cotta. I guarantee that recipe will get tossed!
I also made my stuffing from a recipe I found in last weeks news paper. I usually make my moms famous stuffing recipe that is nothing more than bread crumbs, sauteed onions, an egg, some thyme and some parsley. But every now and again I like trying something new. This years recipe called for sausage and apples. It was a bit long and drawn out with cooking the sausage first, putting the sausage in with the bread, cooking the onions in the same pan and then adding them to the bread and sausage. Finally cooking the apples in some butter in the same pan with all the remains from the sausage and the onions. Personally, I would just as soon put the sausage, onions and apples all in the same freaking pan at the same time. Makes more sense to me. But an hour later, the stuffing was ready to wait in the fridge till I stuffed it in the bird this morning and roasted the whole mess. It was very good stuffing, I will give it that but it really was more work than it needed to be. I will file that away for next year.
So now I have a kitchen that looks like a turkey exploded in the middle of it. Dishes and pans every where and I don't have the energy to do a thing about it. I figure all the food is put away. The garbage has been put outside and the pans are all filled with water . . . soaking! And soak they will for the rest of the evening because Grandma is DONE.
Tomorrow is another day and hopefully the Advil will have kicked some butt on the pain in my feet, legs and back. The remaining mess won't look as intimidating as it does tonight and I can sit down and have some left overs before I tackle the rest of the clean up.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!
And just think . . . . we get to do this all again in 4 weeks for Christmas!!
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