Thanksgiving Recap....

So, all in all things went well.

I was up at 7:45 so I could have the turkey (a 23+ pounder) in the oven by 8:30. The directions on the outside of the wrapper said that UNstuffed, my turkey should take only about 4&3/4 hours to 5 hours. I figured it'd take longer than that, and if we were lucky we'd be eatting sooner than our 3:00 pm meal-time. Wouldn't you know it, though, it appears my oven isn't heating up as well as it should and by 2:30, the turkey was still about 20 deg. cooler than it should have been. (The dark-meat areas are supposed to be brought up to between 180 and 185 deg. F. for food safety purposes, 170 in the white-meat.) At that point, it was actually about 150 deg. F. in the dark-meat section of the bird, and 140 in the breast. *sigh* So, back in it went, and Dad and I alternated checking it every 15 minutes until my meat thermometer FINALLY read 180 in the thigh of the bird at about 3:30. We finally got to eat at 4:00 pm, instead of 3:00 pm like origionally planned. BUT, all the food tasted fantastic! And there was OOOOOOOooooooh so much of it left-over. *grin* Well, not so much stuffing, and just enough potatoes to make some croquets with hopefully, but with everything else we had tons of left-overs. Dad brought a pecan pie (*DROOL*!!!!) and a pumpkin pie.

Dad showed up about 1:15, and helped out here & there as needed. My inlaws showed up at about 2 pm and the three of them & DH sat around chit-chatting, one or another coming into the kitchen every few minutes to help me with something or another.

I kinda had some frustrating moments when my Dad and my Father-in-Law started discussing the high price of oil, and how they wish "the environmentalists" would just get their noses out of Alaska's business and let us drill in ANWR and if we had more control over the price of the oil before the oil companies got to it (and this point I DO agree on) we wouldn't have oil at $3.07 a gallon, now.

(I'm sorry, but I DO see how badly the oil companies treat Alaskan soil & oil and how much profit THEY DO make off of it. Alaskan oil belongs to ALL Alaskans -it's in our state constitution- and yet we let the oil companies do what they want with it AND set the price, and STILL charge US -the owners- an arm & a leg for the oil that we're "letting" them exploit. If we took more control of our oil ownership rights, even if we DON'T ever drill in ANWR, you wouldn't see the CEO of Exxon raking in billions per quarter while we shell out at 3 dollars a gallon at the pump, and higher for our home heating oil.)

Then of course they started in on how Global Warming is a bunch of balogna & the environmentalists are full of bull, and there is NOTHING wrong with the environment and "Bring on Global Warming" for us Alaskans. *shaking head* I REALLY badly wanted to jump in, but I figured I was one against 3 or 4 (at one point my Father-in-law's best friend stopped by and was spouting off with my dad and father-in-law and hubby about it). Didn't figure that it was a good subject to get into, with 3 (or 4) close-minded old butt-heads. And of course, the point was made over & over that if the environmentalists have their way, each of them is going to have to STOP driving their over-sized, gas-guzzling, industrial-strength Dodge trucks, and keep their houses either colder or smaller, and therefore it just COULN'T be true, this global-warming thing, because then they wouldn't get to enjoy the material goodies they've worked SOOOOOO hard for the last 40-odd years for, each of them.

There was a part of me yelling "EACH of you has at least 2 grandkids who are going to have to deal with Global Warming, if it IS true, do you REALLY want to leave them THAT legacy so that you can enjoy your big trucks in the 10-odd years you've got left?????? But, again, I knew it wouldn't make any difference. *sigh* Talk about frustrating!

That was the worst of the day, though. Once they migrated away from the subject of global warming, it was actually kind of an enjoyable day.

My Sister-in-law called and apologized to DH and I and DD for her attitude & actions in the last couple of years. (You coulda knocked the hubby and I over with a feather, when we realized why she was calling, and I'm NOT joking!) Turns out her third child is due in April, at the same time her 2 sons each turn a year older. (April 14th for the younger, April 26th for the older, "late April" for the peanut.) *shaking head* I told her that she's REALLY going to have to avoid sex in July if she doesn't want to keep having kids in April. (Hell, for that matter, I hope she has a tubal when she has this one, if this pregnancy makes it to term.) So, as of right now we're going to tentatively try to have a good christmas. DH and I are still not completely trusting of her change of behavior & attitude. It's just that we've watched her go from nice to nasty & back & forth again & again, so many times. We'll take the apologies, we'll forgive, but we won't forget, and we'll be aware that things could change in a heart-beat with SIL yet again.

I was in bed & asleep by 10 pm, and DD didn't even come home from skating with her best friend till after I'd gone to bed. *wry smile* I even got to sleep till 9:15 Friday morning. Which, after not getting to bed till 1 am Thursday morning, then getting back up at 7:45..... I needed the extra sleep. LOL

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Let's see..... My menu for this week looks like this:

Saturday (Tonight): Turkey soup
Sunday: Meatloaf & Mashed potatoes
Monday: Mac&Cheese & hotdogs or cheddar-wurst
Tuesday: BLT's
Wednesday: Chicken Piccata
Thursday: Dirty Rice
Friday: Kalops (recipe to follow)
Saturday: Clam Chowder

Here's the recipe for Kalops. I've only made it once, and it's a Swedish dish from what I know. But it's good. Or, it was good last time I made it.

Kalops

2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp veggie oil
2 lbs stew meat
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/8 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 bay leaf
1-1/4 c beef stock
2 Tbsp sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 deg. F. Heat butter & oil in skillet. When foam subsides, add meat & brown well on all sides. Transfer meat to 3-4 qt casserole dish with cover. Add onion to skillet & cook till soft & transparent. Scrape into casserole; add flour & toss ingredients. Add salt, allspice, pepper, and bay leaf. Pour stock into skillet and boil rapidly for 2 to 3 minutes, deglazing as you go. Pour into casserole. Bring casserole to a boil on top of the stove; cover tightly; then set in lower 1/3 of oven. Cook, lowering oven temperature if necessary, so that sauce in casserole barely simmers. In about 1-1/4 hours, meat should be knife-tender. Remove meat to deep, heated platter and cover lightly with foil. Skim fat from liquid in casserole. With whisk, beat in sour cream, 1 Tbsp at a time. Taste & season with salt & pepper, reheating if necessary. Pour finished sauce over meat & serve.

This is a good one to pair with buttered egg-noodles.

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It got so warm here on Thursday (no global warming?) that it was the second warmest Thanksgiving in recorded history, for us. The warmest Thanksgiving having occured in 1944. This year it got up to about 45 deg. F. We had snow dripping off the eaves all day long. The back deck was covered in slush instead of snow. And the roads are now slicker than snot! NOT fun driving!!! It has, of course, cooled down a bit. Today it only hit 30 above. Not quite warm enough to thaw more snow, thank goodness. And by mid-day it had started snowing again. Really tiny, fine flakes coming down pretty steadily, but not terribly heavily.

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Friday (yesterday) DD and I went over to Dad's and took Jenny (our 3 year old "white idiot" dog) with us. She gets along fabulously with Dad's dog, Shiloh. It was kinda bitter-sweet, though, because she didn't spend the whole time we were over there mauling on Shiloh and the two of them running hell-bent-for-leather around & around the house. You could see that while she's still a young dog, she's outgrown the puppy-level of energy. Instead of laying exausted, side by side on the floor, when they were done running, and continuing to try to maul each other, Jenny & Shiloh instead sprawled out & kept each other company but were very mellow. Shiloh is, of course, starting to slow down just a bit at 6 years old. He's a lazy big boy. *wry smile* He's also a rather barrel-chested dog, so I know that within the next couple of year's he's going to start being rather elderly. Dad is still talking about finding another home for Shiloh so that he (Dad) doesn't have to take Shiloh with him when he leaves state. I don't know...... I know Shiloh doesn't travel well, but I also don't think he'll do well away from Dad permanently. I hope Dad keeps him.

For lunch, Dad made these open-faced sandwiches he saw on Rachel Ray's 30-minute-meals at one point. It was garlic toast (though RR origionally used thick slices of french bread), spread with dijon mustard, topped with cooked, ground ham, then a couple of spears of asparagus, and finally swiss (gruyier cheese, in the origional recipe) and broiled for just a couple of minutes to melt the cheese & heat the ham & asparagus through. These things TASTE good, but DANG are they messy to eat!!!! The ground ham falls all over the place, the asparagus pulls right off the top, taking the cheese with it..... But yummy! *wry smile* He also had a "Creme Brulee" cheesecake that he'd picked up. Now THAT was delish!!!!!! *wink*

And, of course, we came home & had turkey sandwiches for supper. NO WAY was I cooking after Thursday's feast!

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I think that's about it. Now I've gotta go get our Turkey soup finished up.

Have a Blessed Sunday!