it's that day again

Last year there was much build up for today, this year I feel ill prepared.  I got up early to run this morning, I have to work all day, and I have not made a single list yet!! (well, ok, there was a list of recipe ingredients that was then made into a grocery store list - ordered by store aisle of course!)

I did my grocery shopping on Monday night, turns out I didn't need too much.  And I only have 3 items left to get*.  I was having trouble finding vegetable boullion - but Melanie assured me it exists.  I found mushroom based "Better than Boullion", but blech I don't like mushrooms.  She said also Knorr's makes a vegetable one.  Now, the Knorr's at my HEB was way up high, and I saw chicken, and beef, and tomato chicken, and an empty space in between.  I decided to scale the shelf and start digging.  I was perched on the end of my shopping cart, clutching tightly to the shelf with one hand, and digging with the other.  It was about this time that the shoppping cart slipped out from under my feet, and I was literaly dangling from the shelf.  So I decided that I could stand on the second to the bottom shelf and it might be easier.  I planted my feet, pulled myself up a little higher, and continued the search.  Only to find out that the empty space wasn't even where the vegetable boullion belonged.  Turns out that HEB didn't have any in stock.  Tonight, to Randall's.

I'm only making "half" of a Thanksgiving dinner this year - since a SchoolFriend of mine and I are splitting the job.  We're having it at her house (it's bigger), which also means I don't have to clean, or prepare for the onslaught of guests.  That's the best part.  I'll be making some breads, stuffing, cream of broccoli soup, and a dessert.  I'll start in on most of it later today - but I've already made my pumpkin ice cream for the dessert.  Feel free to follow my adventures photographically!

*I had 2 quarts of organic vegetable broth in my cart, for $2.73 each when I passed a display of regular HEB vegetable broth for $1.99.  At that time I couldn't remember the price of the organic broth, so I doubled back to check, realized it was more expensive and put it back on the shelf.  Then I began the climb up Mt. We-Don't-Have-Vegetable-Boullion, and forgot to triple back for the cheaper vegetable broth.

T-giving

it's a week since then, and all the leftovers are gone. That's a lie. I've got pumpkin bread and zucchini bread in the freezer, and I've got cranberry sauce and apple sauce still. But, that's it.

All I have the energy to write about it is:
It was good, and yummy, and over!

a thanksgiving nightmare

It's the week I've been waiting for - this year I'm cooking Thanksgiving dinner (for somewhere between 5 and 7 people). And while this poses a few logistical problems (I've only got place settings for 4, my table only seats 2, and I'm not sure there is enough counter space to even spread out all the food) I couldn't be more excited. In fact, I've already baked the pumpkin bread and the zucchini bread - they are in the freezer now. I bought the turkey a week ago, and I had a practice run roasting a chicken. So, we're set to go.

Until my nightmare on Saturday night.

It just so happened that I acquired two turkeys. The one I bought and the one my advisor had given to me. They were both in my freezer, and on defrosting day I decided to pull one out and save one for later. On Thanksgiving, with dinner set at 2pm, I was a little stressed and running late, preparing to put the bird in the oven at 1:30pm. I was a thoughtful hostess and sent out a widespread text message to my guests, 'Running a little late over here...' I tore the packaging off of the bird, only to find that the turkey was not actually a turkey. It was, in fact, a bunch of shrimp constructed to look like a turkey. I freaked out. I couldn't serve a shrimp-turkey. So I quickly pulled out the "spare" turkey to check it out. It did not appear to be a shrimp-turkey, so I grabbed the phone and quickly called the Turkey Hotline.

'Turkey Hotline, what is your emergency?'
'HELP! I need to defrost and cook a 12 pound turkey in under 30 minutes!'
'Ok ma'am, calm down. We're sending help immediately.'

Help never came, Thanksgiving was ruined, and I was running around doing that weird dream crying thing where there were no actual tears falling...

And then I woke up. Panicked. I was fully aware it was Sunday, and I was fully aware of what Sunday meant:
This is the note that has been hanging on my fridge basically since I bought the turkey. I had to write it down, because I was stuck in this perpetual loop. Every three hours or so I would recalculating when to thaw the turkey, scared that I would forget. I needed a break from that, hence - the note. I jumped out of bed at 6am, and ran to the freezer. I looked all over the packaging, and I didn't see any indication that it was a shrimp-turkey and not a real turkey, none. So I transferred it to the fridge to begin the thaw.

Turkey update: As of today, Monday morning. It still seems very, VERY frozen. Not 1/3 less frozen than it was. Not 4lbs less frozen than it was. Maybe it's not a shrimp-turkey, but maybe it's a super-unthawable-turkey.

Fridge update: