I could tell my friends I'm going to the in-laws and the in-laws I'm going to the friends and then stay home for Thanksgiving, but I've done that in years past so I'm going to the friends. There are assignments for what to bring so today I made special dinner rolls, bread pudding, and pumpkin pie.

The dinner rolls have corn meal in them and it's cooked in milk until thick then the yeast and flour are added. They just melt in your mouth.

The bread pudding (requested by my hostess) has 8 eggs, milk, and some half-and-half besides the bread and raisins. All those eggs and careful baking hopefully have protected it from getting runny. I might make a sauce for it tomorrow in case the whipped cream won't be enough.

The pumpkin pie is my long-deceased great-aunt's recipe that calls for a couple of tablespoons of molasses. There are a lot of pumpkin pie recipes around but I can't remember what this one tastes like so that's why I picked it. It baked a long time in a glass pan and the crust down in the pan got pretty brown, but at least it's not pasty and raw.

I remember years ago hearing Garrison Keillor ranting about how he doesn't like pumpkin pie. "It's an excuse to eat nutmeg," he claims. I remember when I was a kid thinking it was an excuse to eat sweetened whipped cream, and I don't mean out of a can.

Speaking of home-whipped cream, Paula Deen claims that adding a packet of artificial sweetener to whipping cream will stabilize it, so I'll try that tomorrow. I have recipes that call for the addition of unflavored gelatin as a stabilizer but that seems more extreme than I want to go.

I just remembered that we had discussed me bringing some cranberry sauce. I have some fresh cranberries and can make it from scratch in a few minutes, so maybe I'll go ahead and make it provisionally in case it's needed. The hostess promised there would be plenty of leftover turkey to bring home so I can use it here if we don't eat it at the dinner.

Have a wonderful feast day you all. Even if it's a TV dinner or pot of bean soup, it's all good.