Doing Preparations

it's 2:30 p.m. in the holy city of zefat. it is only monday, but i've already started preparations for the thanksgiving meal. i made a corn bread and tossed some cranberries into the batter. the recipe called for buttermilk. i used rice dream milk, instead. i threw in a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to compensate.

it didn't come out so great. the top is crunchy and the inside looks brown instead of yellow. the recipe called for whole wheat flour. i used rye. go know! it also is a bit sweeter than i usually make it. i only added four tablespoons of honey. i'll just put it in the freezer and hope for the best.

i put up a pot of turkey soup with tons of veggies and little turkey steaks. i am currently, suffering from a viral throat infection. it is hard to speak or swallow. i have this annoying, dry cough, too. unfortunately, it doesn't stop me from over eating.

i figure, that the turkey soup, like jewish penicilin, will soothe my throat and i'm sure the dogs will enjoy the bones. i want to reserve some turkey stock to make the sausage sage dressing for the turkey. i cut up the remainder of the huge challah from shabbat, into cubes, and toasted them in the oven. so little by little, i am getting prepared for thursday.

i already set the dining room table for thursday. i placed a small, squared, cream colored table runner with a leafy pattern, onto the middle of the gold colored table cloth. i put some golden acorns on the table, filled the straw turkey basket with miniature lemons, and filled a clear glass vase wwth rosemary, hyssops, and tea geranium from the garden. i also placed the acorn cardboard tea lamp holders shaped like mini xmas wreaths, that i bought in the dollar store, last year.

the date on the american, canned, whole cranberry sauce, expired in august. i'm planning on opening it and tasting it anyway. who knows? maybe it's still edible. one friend is planning on bringing a can of libby's canned pumpkin to place on the table for nostalgia. i am toying with the idea of preparing the chestnut soup that i made for the tu B'shvat sedar last year. it is purely, 5 star 'restaurantish' but perhaps. a bit over the top.

the vet is coming over to give cookie dog her third mange shot. she wants to give cloey one as well, as a preventative measure. i'm not so sure that i agree with that. the little yorkshires are running all over the place. cloey doesn't allow them into the inner sanction of our t.v. room. they love running about in the front yard. there's plenty of room and no escape route. the downstiars is not at all secure.

the problem is that these little gremlin look a likes, like to tinkle all over the place. although, they piddle in small amounts, they don't seem to miss a spot. i got up early and washed all the floors. i used a mop today. i was in no condition to throw buckets of water around. it wasn't warm today, either. i had to give roxie dog a bit of first aid because, genie dog attacked her and drew blood.

the kids just got back from their night out at a tsimmer. it was their second anniversary last week. sahar stayed over night at his other grandparents' home. i was, originally, suppossed to keep him here. i really, was not in great shape to chase after him for 24 hours. he slept through the night and didn't seem to be so concerned that his paarents weren't here. they have eight sets of hands over there so i guess, it was the logical choice. i tried not getting too emotional over it.

everyone seems to have their special thanksgiving requests and likes and dislikes. i'm making a seperate fish dinner for one friend who doesn't eat any wheat, night shades or sugar. i'm planning on steaming some fish with carrots, pumpkin and quinoa. i'll cut up an apple and some celery, throw in some walnuts, sprinkle it with lemon and call it a waldorf. voila!

i'm leaning towards making peanut butter mashed sweet potatoes. i'll save some plain for a friend who doesn't like her sweet potatoes, sweetened. i'll add crushed pineapple and a bit of honey to the rest of the yams. i wanted to make rosemary baked potatoes but i think that i'll stick to simple, mashed potaotes for the potato purests.

i'm still thinking about making a veggie jello mold. i want to bake some mushroom and barley pilaf inside a small acorn squash and use it as a serving dish. i'm still not sure about making the waldorf salad with non dairy whipped cream or not. i'm definately, going ahead with the pumpkin pie. i also want to bake some apples. i'll make one without the brown sugar for the diabetic in the crowd.

it's only monday, thank goodness. i realize that you can't please everyone all of the time. i have to do some more thinking about the menu, i guess.