This is probably one of my favorite days of the year. I get to do all kinds of cooking on a grand scale. There's all kinds of foods to be prepared - the yams and sweet potatoes steamed - the carrots julienned and steamed - the cranberry sauce - just making sure that all the necessary food items are in the house - the grateful putting in its steamer - the lemon sauce - and pies pies pies. 
Yesterday we were working along on the cleaning projects, when I got the bright idea to wash the curtains on the landing, in the front hall and in the living room. I figured that they would come out of the dryer all nice and ready to be hung - NOT! Because of my cold I didn't hear the dryer buzz and when Corey wanted to use the dryer there there they were - a mass of wrinkles. Well despite how behind I felt about things, I then had to spend 3 plus hours ironing those curtains. But somehow, as I was ironing, I felt that the Lord was telling me that if I just relaxed and relied on Him then everything would turn out alright. So that's what I'm doing. And at this point on Wednesday afternoon I've gotten many things accomplished because Emily has been asleep for 2 hours. Never mind that it took me an hour to get her to sleep. I've even gone up to make sure she is still alive. She is. It is such a pleasure to be able to cook many things in a tidy kitchen on a sunny afternoon all by myself!
By 4:30 Emily woke up, and she was soon in a pleasant mood. She also likes it when we are all by ourselves. It was getting a bit dark by then. I got her a juice baba, turned on Toot and Puddle, and she climbed up into the Danish chair to watch the show. When Heidi showed up at 5:30 Emily did not want to go home. I felt bad. I knew that she would love to hang out and cook with me, but I also knew that eventually she'd be into everything. Maybe next year she can help me with Thanksgiving dinner - when she's three and potty trained and can talk in understandable sentences.
Immediately after Emily and Heidi left, Ken and Marilyn showed up all ready to help. It was at least a half hour later that Riley showed up, and somewhere in there Annie showed up. Things began to get rather lively.
"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'"
Matthew 25:34-40
And I have the world's worst cold!!! I've had lots of colds in my day, but this one is at the top of the bad list. I went through 3 boxes of Klenex in less than 2 days. I knew I was getting this cold on Wednesday. We were to have our church group over, but Riley managed to cancel at the last minute. Then on Thursday he asked Heidi not to bring the kids until 10. He was hoping I could manage to get in some sleep, as I hardly slept at all in the night. Not a chance. Heidi wasn't too happy with me, but anyone else with a regular job would have called in sick with this cold. By about 11 I knew that I couldn't handle Emily, so I called Riley, who came home as soon as he could. He such a wonderful husband!!!!!
Then on Friday I could see that Christian also had a cold, so I told him he could stay home. I explained to him that I had an ulterior motive, that I needed help with Emily. He was cool with that. He was such a good boy. And I'm sure I would not have been able to handle Emily. She looks like such a sweet little thing - not! When she's not the center of attention she can be horrid. She can get into trouble faster than any kid I've ever known. Her little mind is going all the time, thinking about mischief she can get into. I e-mail Christian's teacher to let her know that I was keeping him home, and she e-mailed me back and said that she had noticed that he had a cold and she felt concerned. There were five other kids out that day. She told me what the work assignment was for the day, and he did it. Emily's worst feat of the day was taking off all of her clothes, diaper included, hopping into the bath tub, which is filled with her clothes and towels, then squatting down and peeing. I was soo mad at her. She avoided me for the rest of the day.
Now it's Saturday. I'm in bed, and Riley's outside raking leaves - one of his favorite tasks. And when he's done with that he gets to hose down the side walk, which I'm convinced is his ultimativo favorite task. If I don't keep an eye on him he will hose down the neighbor's sidewalks. It's okay as long as he doesn't wear himself out, as I've got lots of things that need doing before Thanksgiving, and I surely can't do it all myself. My cold has gotten to the stage where I have a huge red nose and I'm stuffed up, but at least my nose is finally not setting records for how fast it can run.
But now I've stayed in bed most of the morning, accomplishing little. My dear husband has brought me a cup of coffee, a cup of hot water, two satsumas, a piece of raisin toast and a crumpet with butter and honey. So now it's time to get going and get ready for Thanksgiving.
As usual it is planned that we shall have two turkeys, one barbecued and one stuffed and roasted. This seems crazy, and you know it just might be, be we seem to have done this for quite a while. But anyway, the two turkeys seem to dictate two different sets of accompaniments. The barbecued turkey has no stuffing and produces no gravy, hence the sweet yellow rice and sweet spicy carrots.
carrots and celery sticks for appetizers - I don't think such a big meal should have much more
There's a lesson to be learned here. I've had this lesson many times before, and don't seem to have learned it. The lesson is: don't procrastinate, because you have no idea what might happen in the end when you think you are going to get something done. Get things done at the first opportunity.
Emily helped of course, though she was a bit on the wild side this morning. First I set her on the task of putting the raisins into a dish, which she did. But then she spotted the dried cherries - her favorite - and she threw those in also. Then I put her in charge of buttering the cake mold. She buttered both the inside and the outside of the pan. Then she put raisins down the hole.
So for the filling for the pies I got a large saucier, melted the stick of butter and added the onions. I cooked those for a while, until the onions seemed tender, and then I added the flour, and cooked that for about 2 minutes. Then I quickly whisked in the chicken broths, stirring vigorously to make sure there were no lumps. I then added the carrots. With hind sight, I think that I would have put the carrots in a bowl with a bit of water, cover them with plastic wrap, and cooked them for a couple minutes in the microwave, as it took them a while before they were cooked. So when the carrots seemed well on their way to being cooked, I added the potatoes. These I then cooked for about 10 minutes. then I added the chicken, mushrooms and peas and simmer the whole thing for about 5 minutes.
I used 10 oz. soufflé dishes. These are big enough for a dinner for a man. I did not eat all of mine, and I think maybe a 6 oz dish would have been enough. But anyway, I filled the dishes. Got my puff pastry squares cut to size and brushed then with egg wash, and press them down onto the dishes. Then I baked them for 20 minutes.
It seems to have risen. I know that there were extra futsy things to do with the recipe, but I just put the dough into the well buttered pan and put it into the warming cupboard to rise. Then, when I thought it had been in there long enough, I heated up the oven to 375 and stuck it in. I looked at a lot of recipes for guglehopf on the internet and they didn't seem as complicated as Dorie's, though I'm sure hers will get wonderfully perfect results.
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