I hope you all had a warm-hearted, enjoyable Thanksgiving day.

My day went well, considering it was a ton of work and I figured out what makes it as daunting as it is. It’s not that one makes more side dishes than usual, it is that at normal dinners, I don't use serving dishes but put side dishes into the containers they will be stored in if there are leftovers. Sometimes, depending on the entree, I fill our plates in the kitchen. With guests, one must use serving platters, serving utensils, etc., and some of these are used only once a year and must be retrieved from top shelves. We use coffee mugs, but guests should have cups and saucers, and sugar/Splenda and cream dispensed into bowls and creamer. I keep sugar in a small Pyrex container with a snap-on lid because ANTS, YES, BLOODY ANTS, find their way into the sugar bowl if I do not do that, and I pour creamer from the carton. All of this makes for a much more involved clean-up.

Our formal dining table is in the former outdoor lanai, now part of the house. There is a pass-through window from the kitchen looking out into the dining area. Does this make transfer of dishes easier? Not if you are under five feet. If the dish is heavy, I can’t get it through the window safely so I find myself running around a lot.


I used sausage in the stuffing. It is a Portuguese sausage that came highly recommended. I bought the mild kind to accommodate troubled stomachs. Taking the skin off was almost un-do-able. I managed. It’s a good thing neatness does not count.

The directions on the turkey Stove-Top stuffing called for veggies and gravy I did not have. I had enough gravy for the table,but not for a recipe so I just added butter and chicken broth. The chicken variety doesn’t call for all that bother and that’s what I am getting next time I do this. It’s also tastier, if memory serves. The store-bought sweet potato casserole was too sweet. Next time I am making my own, although I find it is tedious to work with sweet potatoes. Maybe I am doing it wrong.

I made a Greek-style greens and tomato salad with purple onion slices, cucumber, and feta cheese with (what else?) oil and vinegar dressing). It was a success (but as I have mentioned, Nadine grew up in Cairo and French Canada and has a European palette). And I steamed some fresh asparagus in chicken broth and butter. Ed did his mashed potato number. Ed will one day turn into a potato. Or, anyway, a glass of Diet Coke.

Our next-door neighbors came by for dessert late in the afternoon and everyone got along really well. Tammy, who is terminally ill, although her prognosis seems to be that she can last about another three years, was cheerful to the point of heartbreak. Her implanted feeding tube, however, is no longer necessary since she is making herself eat.

Dessert was pumpkin pie and cherry pie and ice cream cake that Nadine brought from Mickey’s birthday party a week before and German Stollen cake that Ed is absolutely ga-ga over. I have a lot of pie left over. I’ll have to freeze some. Ed bought a pie cutter that looks like an alien space craft. Nadine loved it. She loves gadgets, she said.

Nadine brought me a hostess gift and I finally opened it after everyone left. It is a little package of basil seeds that, she tells me, will grow beautifully almost anywhere and provide me with fresh basil any time I need it. I guess I’ll have to upgrade my gourmet credentials. Also a little plug-in hot plate and a cinnamon candle in glass. One places the candle on the plate and heating it spreads the aroma throughout your house.

The clean-up took me about 3 hours. Nadine couldn’t help because she is favoring her leg and has been told not to over-do. As it is, she was in pain when they left and had to go home and elevate and ice. I didn't break anything this year. Ed tipped a whiskey sours glass off a high shelf but we didn't use it anyway.

There was another hour spent this morning tucking dishes into high places. And the turkey platter is still holding the turkey remains and is stowed in the refrigerator in the garage. Ed is making trips to the garage with plate and fork.

I am two pounds up this morning but a return to routine will soon fix that. It's always something.

xx, Teal