We did it! Thanksgiving dinner for 43 people

Luke 8:39 "Return home and tell how much God has done for you."

So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.

We had a great time, and there was space enough and food enough for everyone. I have a lovely family that gets along and that is so nice.



We set up the 2nd floor sitting room for video games. Two tvs were used and it kept the boys happy all day. There was a small kerfuffle concerning what video games were acceptable for general use. I'm affraid I had to plead ignorance in the matter. I don't like video games.


And in the library we had games, where dominoes and the blocks tower game were favored.






It seems no matter where you went there were people comgragating happily, which is so nice to see. This is my niece Sophie, her mother Lauren, and her aunt Beth and the landing between the first and second floors.





But starting with the day before ... early in the morning my dear sweet husband mopped the kitchen floor (a daunting task) and when he put the two kitchen tables back he decided to open them up and place them end to end. This was a table measuring 42 by 96 and it was just what I needed. It was great for cooking on, and perfect as a table for the children. It solved all kinds of problems. But unfortunately I had the kids for the day, and because of all the cleaning I had been doing, and still had to do, my left hip was killing me. I decided to take two asperin and see if I couldn't get in to see the chairopractor. Riley and Emily and I went downtown, and he just kept her in the car while I went to see the doctor. We left Christian at home with Corey. Heidi got off work a little early, got Christian, then we dropped off Emily. Then it was home to start cleaning and cooking. I felt that because we were having so many children to dinner the next day it was imperative that we get the second floor in really good shape, but I have to say ... the task looked impossible. I had to be in my "just do the next thing" mode. You just pray and keep going.

My first cooking task was to make a lot of pie crusts. I decided that I would make two batches of three discs each.

Thanksgiving 

Pie Dough

1 pound flour
1/2 pound butter, chilled and diced
2 Tbls shortening
1 scant tsp salt
1/2 cup ice water

Put the flour and salt into the food processor and give it a whirl. Add the shortening and give it a whirl. Then add the diced chilled butter and mix with pulses until the consistency of course cornmeal. Drizzle the cold water over the mixture and mix with only a few pulse.


Then dump out into a large bowl, remove the blade and squish the dough into a large singular mass. Take as little effort as possible doing this, you don't want to warm up the butter.



At this point I weigh the dough and divide into three equal portions, which was about 8 ounces each. Wrap each lump into plastic wrap and form into a disc. Refrigerate.

By now I had two daughters in the kitchen helping. Annie was making the stuffing for the roasted bird, and Corey was all set to help make pies. They are both excellent sou chefs. I decided to start with a pie that needed no crust. One that I had had often as a young person - fruit cocktail pie. Now I know this is sixties sounding, but I was in the mood for it. Finding the recipe was not easy, and I wasn't sure I had located the right one, but I was done looking and we were going to do it. I was at the computer simply telling Corey what to do. She had not remembered this pie, though I know she has eaten it. We got it into the oven, and after a little while Corey points out that it was bubbling quite actively. I didn't remember it ever doing that, but I just decided I'd keep an eye one it. When the time was up it seemed quite unsettled, so we cooked it for at least 10 more minutes. By then the pie plate was a mess, and I decided to just take it out. It was a bit like removing soup from the oven. I continued to ponder the problem, and it finally struck me ... she had omitted the flour!! She asked me to just forget all about that pie, but I hated to see all those ingredients go to waste. When it had cooled some I put a cup of flour and some baking powder into a bowl, dumped in the soupie pie and gave it a real good stir, and them put it into a deeper pie dish and put it back to bake. It turned into a really lovely friut cake. I've got myself a new recipe -

Boiled Fruit Cake

16 oz. can fruit cocktail, drained
1 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. nuts, chopped
1/4 brown sugar
1 egg
1 c. flour
1 tsp. soda


Combine the fruit cocktail, sugar, salt, nuts and brown sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil for several minutes. Remove from heat, let cool some in a bowl, then stir in the egg, flour and soda, mixing well. Put into a buttered souffle dish and bake at 350 for about 25 to 30 minutes.

Well I need to test this recipe some more. So don't try it yet.

Corey moved on to making pies she felt more comfortable doing. I rolled out the crusts for her, and she made all the fillings and watched the baking.

Pumpkin Pecan Pie

1 unbaked pie crust

Pumpkin Layer
1 egg
1 cup pumpkin
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Pecan Layer
2/3 cups corn syrup
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
3 Tbls butter, melted
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup pecan halves

Preheat over to 350 degrees.
Mix up the pumpkin layer and place in shell.
Combine pecan layer, stirring in the pecans last.
Spoon over the pumpkin layer.
Bake for about 50 minutes.

Pecan Pie

1 unbaked pie crust

3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup dark corn syrup
2 tbls butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups pecans
1 Tbls bourbon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl.
Pour into the pie shell and bake for about 50 minutes.

And finally, Tyler Florence's Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie. This was a huge hit. The best loved pie of the dinner. Corey made it again later, and took it to work, where it was again a huge hit.

People tend to ask "why pecan pies?" and then they get all eaten. We had one incident that was quite irksome. One "guest" asked if she could take home a piece of the pecan pie (a pie I hadn't yet had a piece of and was wanting one), and she proceeded to take all of the remaining pecan pie. I had been watching as she went for the pie, but I was then distracted. Both Corey and I was quite upset about that. That person filled an entire pie plate with "pieces" of pie, after having asked if she could have a "piece." Like the poor, the rude are always with us.

The stuffing was made by this point, and the ingredients for the French Bean Casserole were ready. Corey went off to bed and Annie went to work on her pumpkin pies. We use the Libby's recipe, but she likes to add a good amount of rum to one of them. So I rolled out the crusts as she assembled the fillings. One thing to note here - we put all the pies into different looking pie plates so that we can later tell the pies apart.  A regular pumpkin pie and a rum pumpkin pie look just the same. We put the rum pumpkin into a bright red pie plate. I think that by the time Annie had the pies in the oven she was looking very tired and she needed to be at work very early the next morning, so I told her to go to bed. As I was tidying up I saw that there was still pumpkin in an open can, so I decided to make another pie. I still had some discs of dough. I weighed the pumpkin and adjusted the main recipe accordingly. It seemed that I'd have enough for a pie and then some, so I put the pie crusts into one regular size and one shallow pie plate. I added bourbon to the pumpkin mix.

It took a while to get all the pies cooked, and while I was waiting I assembled the French Bean Casserole. It really was rather labor intensive. I used frozen French green beans, which made it a little easier, but in hind sight I would use fresh green beans if I do the dish again. The frozen green beans are lacking.

When it was all finish I went to bed and it was 2:00 am. I was a bit worried about how well I would do the next day, but in the end it all went well.



Luckily I slept in until 8. I woke up thinking about all the things that needed doing, and I went into "just do the next think" mode. My biggest worry was the two rooms on the second floor. By a normal human understanding the task of getting them all cleaned up seem absolutely impossible, but I just kept at it. Another person who just kept at it was Corey. After I do not know how long that I have been after her to clean her room, she finally got it all cleaned up and it looked terrific. She was rather exhausted, but I'm sure she's glad she did it. She's been really enjoying it ever since. Another issue that I needed to solve was getting the tables set and figuring out how many people at each table. I finally settled on 8 in the back room, 10 in the kitchen, 12 in the dining room, and 8 in the front hall. That makes 38 and unexpected people could squeeze in somewhere, which they did.

Front Hall -









- Back Room










Kitchen - that's my 6' tall sister-in-law standing next to my 5' tall daughter.








- DIning Room, I do not know how I missed the plate of toast on the corner!







Finally dinner was ready - at 4:45 I think. And we all gathered in the dining room, as just about anyway, and gave thanks and it was off to the back room to fill up the plates. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves very much.










At the end it was discovered that I had left the green bean casserole in the warming cupboard. So I invited my brother Bill and his family to come over on Friday to help us eat the left overs. They accepted the invitation.



Bill and Jill and Ian, Austen, and Britany came for dinner on Friday. At the last minute Sarah and Zac asked if they could come over to help us eat left-overs. I put chopped up turkey into the left over gravy, adding some white wine and sage to perk it up. This was to be served over the left over mashed potatoes. Then I made a turkey curry which turned out fantastically. My brother said that it was definitely the best curry he had ever eaten. I made it using a generic jar of Trader Joes curry sauce plus the left-over carrots, some cranberry sauce, and some coconut milk. I'm sure there was more, but that's all I can remember. We all agreed that Thanksgiving dinner the next day is even better than the first. The table was absolutely choc-a-clock with left-over foods.

My brother Bill seems a bit sad of late, but that is to be expected when one of your children has died at a early age recently. His oldest son died at the age of 36 from cancer caused by chewing tobacco. Britany and Austen are two of his three children. But at about 9:30 or so I suggested that we all play a game. We played Sequence, and a good time was had by all, and our guests left around midnight.



On Saturday we had 13 for dinner. Our oldest daughter Heidi has a new "friend" and Riley invited him and his three children to come for dinner. In the end we were all there: Molly, Riley, Heidi, Annie, Corey, Sarah, Zac, Christian, Emily, Christopher, Jessie, Clarissa, and Lauren. I don't know where this is all going, but Christopher's children seemed quite interested in making us part of their family.

We had an Italian dinner, as Heidi said that was Christopher's favorite. I made my spice meatballs and spaghetti, French bread, green salad with a thanksgiving vinaigrette (I added some cranberry sauce), and of course we had left-over thanksgiving desserts.

The little girls were really interested in the piano and I taught them both a tune on the piano. The youngest, Lauren, learned Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and Clarissa (I could have this name wrong) learned Joy to the World. They both showed talent. Lauren wanted to have three lesson from me each week this summer. This is a bit difficult as she lives in Eugene. Clarrisa wanted to call me Gramma. I told her I was Nana, but whatever they call me it's a little early to think I might be their grandmother. I wonder what has them so keen to have a new grandmother. Well one thing - they only have one grandmother, as their father's mother abandoned him at the age of four, which is very sad.

We ended the evening by playing Sequence and a good time was had by all. Christopher took pictures and I hope he sends me some and I will post them here. On Thanksgiving I misplaced my camera.




And now for Christmas and rain. The weather has really gone bad, but that's winter

Making Thanksgiving Dinner for 35 People

Luke 12:40 "You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him."


First there's the planning. Who's coming, what's to eat, where to seat. Then there's what ingredients are needed and buying them. Last week I bought 2 turkeys, chicken stock, pecans, punpkin puree, heavy cream, yams, sweet potatoes, yukon golds, sweet onion, peas, eggs, sugar, brandy, bourbon, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cranberries, apples, green beans, golden raisins, firm white bread ..... I'm sure I'll need to go to the store again. For example, I can't remember where the orzo is. But anyway, now I'm ready to get started cooking.

note: above picture is a painting called 'Copper Pots" Deborah Chabrian



Cranberries and Apple Sauce

Sauce à la canneberge maison.

It's based on a French recipe I read.

2 apples, peeled, cored, and diced.
12 oz. cranberries
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/8 tsp cinnamon

Put it all in a saucepan, bring to a boil. Stir occasionally, and turn down to a low simmer. Cook until all of the berried are popped. The berries are burst, and most of the apples are mushy.



Grateful Pudding with Lemon Sauce

Next I got started on the Grateful Pudding. I sent Christian to the basement to find the pudding mold. He found it!!! Then I buttered and sugared the insides. Next I'll soak the golden raisins for a few hours, and then put the raisins and cubed bread into the mold with the lid on. On Thanksgiving I'll pour the custard mixture into the mold and steam it for an hour or so. This evening I'll make the lemon sauce.

1/2 cup sultanas
1/4 cup brandy
12 ounces white bread, bottom crusts removed, cut into 1/2 inch squares
2 cups light cream
1 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Soak the raisins in the brandy with the lemon zest overnight.

Butter and sprinkle with sugar a 2 quart covered metal pudding mold, including the inside of the lid. Layer the bread alternately with the plumped sultanas in the mold, ending with the bread.

Beat the eggs with the sugar until light. Gradually pour in the cream. Add the nutmeg. Pour over the bread.

Secure the lid and place the mold on a rack in a covered kettle with enough water to come two thirds up the side of the mold. Steam the pudding for 1 hour over gently simmering water.

Lemon Sauce

3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 Tbl cornflour
1 cups hot water
1/4 cup butter
juice and zest of two tiny lemons

Combine the sugar and cornflour in a saucepan. Add the hot water and bring slowly to a boil. Add the butter, lemon juice, and zest and continue cooking until smooth, just a bit longer.

To serve, unmold the warm pudding onto a serving plate and serve with a bowl of lemon sauce.



Next I steamed the sweet potatoes and roasted the yams. They both turned out great. As soon as I could handle them I peeled them. Again, they both turned out great. The sweet potatoes (that's the pale yellow ones) were huge, while the yams (that's the orange ones) were all the same size and smallish. For steaming I used Nigella's big all-purpose pot, putting some water in the bottom, and the sweet potatoes in the top. For the roasting I pre-heated the gas over to 400 degrees and baked them for maybe 45 minutes. I'm not sure because I went to the grocery store, taking Emily with me and leaving Christian at home. I told him about the yams in the gas oven and the sweet potatoes in the steaming pot and that if anything seemed fishy he was to turn the stove off.

But on our way there I spotted and open house sign in front of an amazing house that I have wanted to see since I was in grade school. I think maybe Emily and I were in the house for at least 20 minutes or more. It was even nicer than I had imagined. There was a very large living room with a grand piano at one end that didn't detracted from the size of the room. The dining room was grand in size without being grandiose - just what I would like to have. Beyond the dining room, heading towards the kitchen, was a delightful breakfast room. The kitchen, which was remodeled in the seventies, was very yellow and measure about 12 by 20 feet. Off the kitchen was a spacious area that I think was meant for the housekeeper, but instead there was a man in the house who couldn't walk, and this was his area. Emily and I found him in a room off the living room, and he was quite eager to talk. this is why we were delayed. Upon seeing Emily he quickly turned his huge tv to a kid's cartoon chanel. The house sits on a HUGE lot, with a tennis court in one corner, and atleast four separate garden areas. I would love to live there, but not at 1.5 million.

When we arrived back home, Riley was there. I told him about the house and he wanted to see it, so off we went. Unfortunately it wasn't open anymore, so we (Riley, Emily, and I) went for coffee and a walk. Later I peeled and julianed about 12 carrots, then I steamed them in Nigella's pot to au dent, then I put them in cold water, drained them, and put them in the refrigerator. At the same time I made ordinary cranberry sauce. Which reminds me - I keep forgetting to get the canned jellied cranberry sauce for the brothers.


note: It turn out that there were 43 of us.  Here's the outcome.

Rescuing Bananas

Deuteronomy 8:3 "He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD."

The other day I noticed that some bananas had been brought in from the grocery store and were misplaced. So by the time I spotted them they were quite ripe. Friday I peeled them and smashed them and them put them covered into the refrigerator. By Sunday I got around to them. Getting on the internet in search for a recipe (which is crazy for a person with as many baking books as I have!) and found a lovely recipe for Banana Bread on Nigella Lawson's site. It is from How To Be A Domestic Goddess, a book I own.

But just as I was starting the baking process, daughter #4 called up and said she'd like to stop by. I was delighted to see her, but I don't follow directions as well when I'm visiting. So it didn't take long before I made a mistake, but I'm quite sure that my mistake will not be thought bad by anyone. Instead of having banana bread, as the recipe calls it, I have banana cake. The first part of the recipe called for soaking the sultanas for an hour in the rum. Completely missed that part. Not wanting to waste the fair bit of rum I had already measured out, I just poured it into the batter, thus producing a nice light cake-like banana bread.

BANANA RUM CAKE

100g sultanas
75ml dark rum
175g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
half teaspoon baking soda
half teaspoon salt
125g unsalted butter, melted
150g sugar
2 large eggs
4 small, very ripe bananas (about 340g weighed without skin), mashed
60g chopped pecans

2 small bundt pans, buttered and floured

Preheat the oven to 350ºF and get started on the rest, getting the pans ready first.

Put the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium-sized bowl and, using your hands or a wooden spoon, combine well. In a large bowl, mix the melted butter and sugar and beat until blended.

Beat in the smashed bananas, then the eggs one at a time. Then, with your wooden spoon, stir in the pecans, sultanas and rum. Add the flour mixture and stir well, but not furiously.

Spoon into the bundt pans and bake in the middle of the oven for 45 minutes. When they're ready, an inserted toothpick or fine skewer should come out cleanish.

Yield: 2 small bundt cakes, or 1 large bundt cake

The cakes turned out great. They really did become cakes instead of a bread. I added more banana than the bread called for (40 grams more), I think my eggs were bigger, and then there's the quarter cup of rum. I always use a scale when baking, so that made following the British directions easy.

Thanksgiving is coming any day now!!!!

Psalm 107:1 "Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His love endures forever."

We are having a fairly large family gathering at our house this year. At least I think that's what's happening. I sent out e-mail invitations, but the response back was not as complete as I would have hoped for. I know that for my family we will have about 13 of us. And for Brother #1's family there will be four, that's not so many from that section. Brother #2 never never gives and answer, but this time he did. He sent me a somewhat cryptic e-mail that seems to say they will be here. Brother #3 said they can make it for dessert. Brother #4's little family thought they had e-mailed me to say they are coming, and then they realized they hadn't and quickly remedied the overshite. Brother #5 has just adopted two young boys and at first they were 85% sure of coming, but now it's for sure. Brother #6 will most likely be there, at least for most of the event. And my sister lives in LA and will not be here. And of course Mom and Dad are coming. I finally contacted brother #7, and he and his two daughters are coming. Brither #8 has eluded me so far, and I really hope they can make it, but we'll see. If they come it's nine in all there. So let's see .... I have been getting answers, so the the for sure number is 38. So even though I wrote several days ago that I had heard from many, I have now heard from them all and they are all coming!

The maximum that can be considered is as follows:
Molly and Riley - yes
Corey and Annie and Heidi, and Christian and Emily - yes
Kirstin and Kyle - yes
Sarah and Zac, and Laura and Ken Enoch - yes
Bill and Jill, and Ian - yes
Mom and Dad - yes
George and Ariel, and Tachu and Tatsu - yes
David and Lauren, and Sophie - yes
Craig and Beth, and Jonathan and Justin - yes
Michael - probably
Hian, and Jane and Erica - all but Tran
Peter and Debbie, and Jennifer and Tristan - dessert only
Quah and Mimmi, and three children - yes

15 over 36
11 young people, out of high school
7 older children, over 8
5 younger children, under 8

I can seat 10 in the back room, 6 in the kitchen, 12 in the dining room, 6 in the front hall, 4 in the upstairs hall, 6 in the library, and Bob's your uncle. But maybe people will find it very strange to have dinner on the second floor. The young people might do that best. The tricky bit with the kitchen table is that it is needed for prep. But it could maybe be set in a hurry after things are ready. Or what if I made place cards and randomly set them about. That would probably cause a terrible uproar. There does need to be some directives, or something will surely go wrong.

Well enough fretting about who's coming and where will I put them. I need to think about the menu. Of course if you don't know how many people you are feeding it's a little difficult. Now I don't want to just about kill myself, but I usually do. It used to be that my daughters were a tremendous help, but since they grew up and they don't respond to my "commands" very well, they tend to not help as much. But they are always great pie makers. I feel really good about that, because most people can't make a decent pie. My daughters make wonderful pies.

A TENTATIVE MENU:

roasted turkey
turkey gravy
stuffing
barbecued turkey
fresh made French bread
my special from scratch British Green Bean Casserole
smashed potatoes
brown buttered orzo
sweet yellow rice
peas (a long standing tradition)
peppery glazed carrots
candied yams and sweet potatoes (not too sweet)
cranberry sauce from scratch
1 can of cranberry jelly for brothers who like this

DESSERT:

whipped cream to go on everything, some with brandy, some not
pumpkin pie
rum pumpkin pie (Annie)
pumpkin pecan pie
pecan pie
chocolate bourbon pecan pie
Chemeketan pies - Heidi
grateful pudding with lemon sauce for the pudding
tarte tatin (maybe)
apple pie (maybe)
Marlborough Pudding (maybe)

Becoming a Daring Seamstress

Matthew 9:16 "No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse."

Wednesday morning, the morning of Halloween, Corey, daughter number three, came downstairs to discuss with me the costume she might wear that evening. Daughters number one and two had had a party on Saturday to which costumes were worn and Corey had worn a beautiful black Renaissance like dress, and I had suggested that she wear that on Halloween. She said nothing, but I could see that she meant to come up with something new.

About a half hour later she came down in an absolutely adorable new costume. It was a black dress with a dirndle skirt, fitted waist, short puffed sleeves, and a fairly low scooped neckline. The front of the skirt had beautiful white embroidery on it, looking very Central European. On her legs were black and white striped stockings, and she had on her feet very cute black tee-strap flats. The the final touch was a pair of dainty black wings. After hearing my enthusiastic affirmation of the costume, she said that she needed to go take a shower.

Well about a half hour later she comes down with the dress in her hands. It seemed that in the process of getting undressed the zipper had broken, and she could not get it to budge. She wanted to know if I would sew her into the dress. Well that seemed like a terrible idea to me. The dress was tight fitting and I figured I would surely stab her multiple times in the process, and I wasn’t eve sure it would work. So quickly putting my thinking cap on I came up with the idea of attaching a button placket to the dress and sewing on buttons. The dress is black, and I was sure Corey would have some black material in her room.

I had a appointment and had to leave for an hour, so I told Corey to cut a strip of black material 2 inches by 22 inches, sew it up the long way and across the top at one end and turn and press it. She was to the turning part before I left, and I could see she hadn’st a clue. I told her to go get a knitting needle, and use the unpointed end. Eventually she and I quibbled a bit about the pressing, as I wanted it done dead on, so you couldn’t see the seam at all. And then I asked her to hand sew the other end closed. All in all she did a fine job. But all this fretting began to seem quite pointless when I couldn’t get my sewing machine to make a decent button hole. I’ve made dozens and dozens of buttonholes on that machine, a Husqvarna, so what was going on how. Eventually I had to almost literally bash on the buttonholes. Thank goodness I was working on black material.

I had Corey cut open the buttonholes for me. I forgot to mention that I was dealing with a very active 13 month old while this is all going on. But I sewed on the placket, and it turned out rather well. I hand the dress to Corey and go to try and get Emily to take a nap. By the time Corey had three of the 12 buttons sewed on I could see that she was getting quite worked up emotionally. Turns out she had wanted to go to her work place to show off the costume. So I told her to go upstairs and get ready and I’d sew on the rest. Sewing on 9 buttons to what is essentially the zipper placket is no easy task. My finger tips are still hurting. As soon as I was done, Corey put the dress on, and we buttoned it up. It was perfect.

That was my first time ever to changed a zipper placket into a button placket. You could not tell that the dress had a zipper in it. And Corey, by the way, was the cutest little fairy I’ve ever seen. I looked at fairy pictures on the internet, but for the most part they look like sluts. Corey didn’t look anything like that, she was simply an adorable fairy. And by the way, I dressed as a Audrey Hepburnesque witch. Black capris, black knit top with three quarter length sleeves, little black flats, and a little black witch hat. My daughters said I looked great.