Turkey Day, Part 2, Coming Up!

For most of the U.S., tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day, but for those of us in the food service industry, we have to take it when we can.  Mom and I had a lovely thanksgiving dinner yesterday, with everything that each of us wanted the most.  Mom brought most of the sides:  green beans with bacon and almonds, sweet potatoes withe apples, the fixings for the stuffing.  We put the stuffing together, smeared the turkey with butter and herbs and spent the roasting time reminiscing, hanging Christmas lights and hanging out together.

 My kitchen is tiny, and things like turkeys hang out over the edges, but here is Tom being stuffed.  And then there's the pumpkin pie.  I know how to pie, no doubt.  It was always my favorite part of the day, when Mom and I toiled in the kitchen from morning until late afternoon, carefully placing the pies in the oven, trying not to slosh the custard.  We tried to remember what we used for crust, and shamefully came to the conclusion that we bought the pie shells already in the aluminum pie plates.  We used can Libby's pumpkin, which I also use at work, I'm not ashamed to say.  Fresh pumpkin is stupidly difficult to use, and I refuse to waste my time on it when Libby's does it just fine, every single time.
  As we waited that final half hour while the turkey rested, we munched on olives, a family tradition, this time joined by pistachios.
  The turkey came out a lovely shade, minus the breast skin missing from trying a new roasting technique.  The person interviewed on NPR said that since the leg meat cooks more slowly than the breast meat, start the turkey out on its chest.  Unfortunately, the luscious skin stuck to the pan!  But it did work in evening out the cooking temperatures.
  It was a wonderful day, but now I feel funny spending tomorrow making Thanksgiving desserts for our guests!  Don't they know T-Day has already come and gone?
  I hope you all have a wonderful day tomorrow, full of family, friends and fabulous food.  We are so lucky to have so much to be thankful for, and so much to celebrate it with.
  Happy weaving, cooking, baking, chatting, being together...
Maggie