inspired by Pumpkin Spice CoffeeMate

Dinner was a success.

For me, Thanksgiving, has never really been about the turkey. Or for most of my family. This year, we just fixed a turkey breast and lots of fixin's. I ran across Emeril's Cranberry Glazed Turkey Breast, and Cranberry Compote. The turkey turned out well, it was the first time I've brined the bird, the glaze was tasty too - though I scorched it a bit and ended up just serving it carved on a platter. Nice effect though, with the glaze drizzled over the white meat.

I WILL be making another batch of compote, it was amazing. Canned cranberry just won't do it for me, now.

Mom fixed yams and apples (slow cooked in enamel clad cast iron pot for ages... yum). I made Brussels sprouts with bleu cheese, green bean cassarole, baby peas (from can), stuffing (from scratch), spaghetti squash, collard greens, pumkin pie and pecan pie. Maybe some other stuff, I don't remember now.

We did have a potato fiasco. I got sidetracked -- okay I'll say it here, walking Daryl through mixing the green bean cassarole took way longer than just doing it myself (but he now knows how to make it!) so the potatoes, after having overcooked some, then sat and cooled off too much. The effect was similar to Elmers Paste ( in the jar, with the little stick-lid). So we had to throw them out. I couldn't serve them. Of course it was 3:30 p.m. and poor Daryl did run out to try to find any place that might have potatoes -- no dice. But....we didn't even miss them.

Nothing too fancy, but colorful and tasty. Doug and I went to Mom's the day of -- I started cooking and he started cleaning. I think Mom was thrilled-- she came in from work at the group home, with two of the clients and got to be all dressed up and the table was set nicely (we broke out the good dishes) and so -- a success. All the brothers in the area made it, including Devin -- Mom even got to schnooze a bit.

Now to work on Christmas, eh? While I'm not a marathon baker (nudge, grin) I do enjoy the baking part. I haven't made my Lebkuchen in a few years, I'm really hopeing to get it done this year, as well as some good shortbreads, Harlequin cookies, and I'm hoping to try my hand at springerle. AND I've stumbled onto some intriguing pie recipes. One is for a whipped pumpkin pie with a spice cookie crust, another is an apple pie with a cheddar cheese crust.

On top of THAT, I'm drooling over a ginger chocolate Bundt cake with Bourbon sauce and I'd really like to try to make a pudding -- either persimmon or plum (okay, I'll admit it, I'm just looking forward to the flambe part) And the living room painting project should be done this week, which means we can decorate. We have a perfect place for the tree. Here's what we have of the paint job so far, before, primer, and after.

the tinted primer was rather pretty, only it made me think we needed cabbage roses and plastic on the couch. I've seen this color done well, it's just not my style. :)

this, however,is more my style. doug really likes it too, he was a bit concerned over the color choice at first, but it makes the room a bit cozier, without making it feel small and dark. It's a rather large and tall room so a bold color really does help make it less intimidating. The floor is in rough shap, after the painting's done, it's next on the list, only I'm looking for someone to handle the sanding as well as assessing and replacing some of the wood. It's just too far above my skill level -- namely because our old floors are pretty uneven and that would require use of a drum sander, which is quite a beast.