Muses

Musing on cooking for Thanksgiving. It’s only part of the story.

I love Thanksgiving. It has always been my favorite holiday.

After hosting the family dinner last year, my children begged me not to. 🙁

They thought it more fun at their grandmother’s. So I thought it my duty to step up and do my share of the cooking and help out Nannie.

Funny. Cooking is only half the task. The other is planning and shopping.

I am not good planner or shopper.

Maybe that’s why I was making my list at 2 p.m. this afternoon. (I was supposed to be shopping by noon but life got in the way.)

I read the recipes.

Made my list and headed to the store.

So in middle of afternoon, I was in checkout line with loaded cart.

FYI, you early birds. It wasn’t terribly crowded. I guess for once it pays to be a tad off schedule.

That’s when it started dawning on me I’ve got lots to do between now and decent bedtime — for a 3:45 wake-up time.

Make sweet potatoes.

Make pecan pies.

Make corn casserole. (No, I’ll do that tomorrow.)

Go into garden and pick collards. Prepare collards.

Collard greens from the garden.

No one will eat these but my daughter, teenager and me. (And my father-in-law because he’s kind and feels obligated.)

Had friends stop by and pick greens and lettuce. That made it very fun and holiday. Nothing makes me feel more holiday than giving things away and getting a hug in return.

Here’s a picture of a head of Romaine that I will pick tomorrow for a fabulous new salad I’ve learned about. It’s his last night in the garden.

How beautiful is he? Tomorrow your mine, pretty.

Then I made pimento cheese with this new recipe I found for garden club. It was so fab, I’m making it to bring as appetizer with crackers just because I’ve been dreaming about it.

Saved last of the sweet potatoes from my summer garden for the casserole.

A little tradition I started last year.