Thanksgiving Countdown

As the designated Thanksgiving cook, I’ve done much, much better this year at delegating food responsibility among the family. I’ve managed to farm out the mashed potatoes, squash, salad, rolls, and two desserts to others.

My goal is to sit down to dinner without being exhausted and grumpy.

What am I grateful for this year? Many things, of course, but one of them is that I’m not working anymore and thus don’t have to cram the prep into one day. For those of you lucky enough to grace someone else’s table this time of year, consider how your host and hostess may have spent their time before you arrived at their door with your bottle of wine in hand.

I will say I do tend to micro-manage and plan and organize myself into a snit.

I guess the list below shows I still have work to do in that area.

Here’s my Sunday Status:

1. Turkey bought, thawing in small basement fridge which I check obsessively until Thanksgiving just in case it suddenly stops working and doesn’t tell me.
2. Gravy made from separate purchase of turkey wings a week ago, and frozen. (surprisingly, lone turkey wings are not that easy to acquire)
3. Bread for stuffing cubed, drying in pans around the dining room which now smells vaguely like the day-old bread store.
4. Squash soup made and frozen, packaged with sliced mushrooms sautéed in a lovely mixture of soy sauce and sherry to add later (This was over-achieving – I won’t be serving it on Thanksgiving, but it’s really good and I like to have it handy.)
5. Apples for pie cut up, doused with lemon water, packaged with bags of spices and frozen. (Thank you, fellow blogger –sorry, can’t remember who – for this idea.)
6. Accoutrements bought: cranberry sauce, wine, makings for punch,  (all stored on porch, which I treat as a spare refrigerator on holidays - A moderately cool patch of weather would be appreciated – cold enough to keep food fresh, not so cold as to freeze), whipped cream for desserts, snacks for mid-afternoon, etc. etc. (everything necessary for 13 people descending on house)
7. Meals planned for stay-over family plus vat of spaghetti sauce made and frozen a week ago, plus chocolate zucchini bread, banana bread, made and frozen as back up.
8. Dishes and linens sorted and ready.
9. Beds for incoming family made and ready, towels stacked, bathroom cleaned.
10. Books from library for incoming grandboys.

Wednesday Tasks

1. Leafs (leaves??) into tables, find chairs
2. Lay out all serving bowls, platters, and label which is for what
3. Spot-check glassware and assemble
4. Find hot plates to keep food warm (we do buffet due to lack of table space)
5. Make stuffing (New recipe this year! Sausage, apples & cranberries), chill
6. Make pie, store on porch Peel shallots for green beans, bag, store on porch
7. Trim and blanch green beans, bag, store on porch
8. Thaw gravy

Finally, take-out for dinner (this is a big night at the pizza shops, apparently) accompanied by LARGE glass of wine.