Well, Thanksgiving here was pretty great. Not perfect -- Katie woke up sickish and only got worse -- but otherwise first class. The company was excellent, and the food was ... well, amazing. Ed performed his usual magic with the bird (a bird which my parents, very sweetly, contributed), and my part -- all the non-turkey bits -- came out really well also. The green beans were new this year, a recipe from the NYT with fresh ginger, garlic, and almonds (well, I added the almonds in, but I figure almonds are kind of a given), and they were crisp and delightful. I added orange liqueur to the cranberry-orange relish, which was very nice. My sweet potatoes were especially small and succulent in the sweet potato pudding, and the spices and all (and I think a splash or two of the orange liqueur, because, why not?) came out just perfectly. Gosh it was good! All the other things were as usual. Oh, except the pies!!! I made my first mince pie, and it was (still is) absolutely amazing! I am now a self-proclaimed mince pie goddess! The pecan was excellent too, and I'm told Katie's chocolate pie was first class. My pumpkin pudding was put rather in the shade by the glory that was the mince pie, but I visited it again this evening, and with a couple spoonfuls of rum raisins (and rum) and a friendly dollop of Cool Whip, even a mild mannered pudding becomes quite the luscious thing.
Here are Ed and Katie watching the Thanksgiving parade. I followed our usual tradition and puttered in the kitchen feeling thankful that I didn't have to watch the parade.
And Travis. Also parade watching.
Dinner. Katie was doing her best to look chipper, but her best wasn't much. Poor lamb. Still, the rest of us had a lovely time. Good conversation about politics, books, and bread baking, and no quarrels or spills, and the champagne (also a parental contribution) was just the thing!
Dessert. I made a gluten free crust for the mince pie, and it was Not cooperative. Or pretty. But it tastes fine. The crust for the pecan pie was a normal one, but it also gave trouble. but it didn't go all goofy in the oven the way the gluten-free one did. Anyway, I was glad that I did the pumpkin as a pudding.
Not a pretty pie, but so good. The filling is from Sweetie-licious Pies, which I highly recommend. The text is over-the-top hokey, but the pictures are good and the recipes have been, without exception, excellent.
And yesterday, Wednesday, we went to see the new "Harry Potter" movie, "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them." It was very entertaining. The plot was a little on the skimpy side, and the action was... well, there was a lot of it, and it seemed likely that much of it was intended to dazzle in 3-D (which we didn't see, because I loathe 3-D movies), but the fantastic beasts were really wonderful. And what there was of story was very sweet, and I actually teared up for a moment when the "Harry Potter" music came on at the beginning, because I have so many happy memories of seeing HP movies with the kids over the years when they were little and it was really nice being in the theater with them again, even with just a "sort of" HP movie. Sniff.
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