thanksgiving day meme

thanks to deb

1. Which do you like better: Cooking at your house, or going elsewhere?
i'd rather go somewhere else. that means the burden is not on me. of course, i've had it two years running, sigh. the most ideal to me? casino buffet. but i won't get that, mark is too much of a homebody.

2. Do you buy a fresh or frozen bird?
we always do frozen. they always want too much for fresh turkeys, and since it's such an expensive meel to begin with, i try to economize where i can (i'm a cheapskate, lol)

3. What kind of stuffing?
What ever i feel like making. one year i did rice stuffing (yes, rice. it was cooked, then mixed with nummies, then stuffed). this year was sage stuffing with apples. pretty tasty.

4. Sweet potato or pumpkin pie? Pumpkin pie, no question. I, personally, like sweet potato pie, but everybody else expects nummy sweet potatoes with the meal, not as dessert.

5. Do you believe that turkey leftovers are a curse, or the point of the whole thing?
most definitely a curse. we never gt them all eaten, and whatever i freeze ends up freezer burnt and in the trash anyway. fortunately, this year, we had a small bird, and steph took a large part of the leftovers as her group of friends is having thanksgiving saturday. and they're too poor to buy stuff (payday is next thursday, lol)

6. Which side dish would provoke a riot if you left it off the menu?
Well, i took candied yams off the menu this year, because my MIL is hypoglycemic, and i wanted to make something she could eat. so i whipped them, and added diced apples and a little artificial sweetener (it's the year of the apple, apparently, i put it in my cranberry sauce as well!). while no one else said anything, steph had a cow! refused to eat the "icky sweet potatoes" (she's 20, why do you ask?)

7. Do you save the carcass to make soup or stock?
yes. i have a culinary arts degree, so i know what to do to get maximum extraction. remind me to go comment on deb's blog about it, lol.

8. What do you wish you had that would make preparing Thanksgiving dinner easier?
a professional kitchen. it's the one thing i miss about not working in food service any more.

9. Do you get up at the crack of dawn to have dinner ready in the early afternoon, or do you eat at your normal dinner hour?
our meal time changes from year to year. last year it was supposed to be at 2, but mark's dad got sick, and the ham was being a pain we ended up putting it off til 330 or so. we ended up with double stuffing and pies, because mark's mom had made them, then didn't bring them because she took his dad to the hospital. we assumed the food wasn't going to come, so we shifted into overdrive, and i ran to the store to buy supplies, and mark made the stuffing, and i made quickie pies. then mark's brother and nieces show up with everything mark's mom had made. she'd left the door unlocked, and called them and told htem to bring it. we had 7 pies for 17 people. you do the math!

this year we planned on eating at 4 because mark's nieces were going to have dinner with their dad in lincoln, but wanted to come eat with us as well. we actually hit the mark pretty close. i think it was 415 when we sat down to eat. who knows where and what time next year (it's his brother's turn, dammit!)

10. If you go to somebody else's house, what's your favorite dish to bring?
pie. i can bake it the day before, regardless, and it's easy (i have my grandmother's crust recipe memorized) and you rarely have any to bring back home.

11. What do you wish one of your guests wouldn't bring to your house?
nothing. i haven't had any complaints. and this year, for the first time, steph asked if she could bring a dish "like an adult would." i gave her an easy one, green bean casserole. she even ate a little, and she doesn't like green beans. it came out well! (she can cook, she just hates doing it)

12. Does your usual mix of guests result in drama, or is it a group you're happy to see?
it's usually a group i'm happy to see. there have been a few issues with some in-laws, but it usually works itself out.

13. What's your absolute favorite thing on the menu?

my own homemade cranberry sauce. i adore the stuff. i love making it, and i love making it differently every year. this year was cranberries, apples, orange zest and juice, and lime zest and juice, and a buttload of sugar, and a wee bit of water. i was probably the only one who noticed the lime (liam watched me make it, but he didn't say anything when he ate it), but to me, believe it or not, that's all that counts. i knew it was there, and everyone who ate it liked it too. i also make sugar free relish for my MIL (read further up about the sweet potatoes), and send it home with her every year, too.

happy thanksgiving, and let me know if you do this, i'd be interested in your answers!