Making slow progress, or a fantastically dull blog post
There are some days when things all seem to take five more steps to accomplish than they actually should or that you planned for. Yesterday was such a day. I got my to-do list done, but my goodness, it took longer than I expected it to.
All I had planned to do was to cook one turkey (to have extra and to make the gravy ahead of time) and make some pies for Thanksgiving. In the time I wasn't doing, that, I was going to finish finding homes for the last few items still decorating my coffee table.
Well, that and drive P. to her riding lesson, pick-up a shelf unit I had found for A.'s room on a garage sale list, referee children, read at tea time, and throw dinner in the crock pot. All of that always takes a bit more time than I plan on it taking.
Problem #1 yesterday morning was realizing that when I thought I had turned our extra refrigerator warmer, so the frozen chicken and turkeys would thaw by when we needed them, I hadn't. I had actually made it colder. The poultry supposedly thawing was just as frozen as ever. In a repeat of last week, I worked on the frozen chicken to be able to put it in the crock pot for dinner, and then turned my attention to the turkey. It was really, really frozen. There was nothing for it, but to clean my sink, fill it with water, and let it sit there for most of the day.
In the meantime, I decided to make the pies I was planning on making. I head to the freezer to look for my frozen wheat pastry flour. It wasn't there. I looked in another freezer, It wasn't there, either. Nor was it in either refrigerator. This meant that I didn't have any. All was not lost, but it meant that I needed to grind some more. My grain buckets are stored in the closet in the utility room. This is nice, but they are pretty well stacked, and take some effort to move them around looking for the one I want. So I did that. Then, my counters with outlets being filled with turkey roaster and crock pot, I needed another one. The counter by the coffee maker had our circles for people's glasses during the day, but they were all looking seedy and I had been meaning to redo them. This meant taking them all off and then working on the tape and sticker residue that was left behind. It was a job I needed to get done, but perhaps hadn't been planning on doing right then. With a clean counter, I plugged in the wheat grinder, and ground my wheat.
Now, I have learned the hard way that if one tried to make pie crust with freshly ground wheat, all one ends up with is a gloppy mess. The wheat is too warm from going through the grinder. To be at all useful, I needed to put it in the freezer for a few hours. So I did that. In the meantime, I peeled and cored some apples, much to my children's delight, because they love to eat the long peels.
By this time, what with one thing and another, it was tea time. We rarely skip tea time, and the groanings from when we do are not worth doing it often. Children made tea, and then we read our story. (The Return of the Twelves. You need to read it if you haven't.)
After tea time, it was time to take a look at the turkey swimming in my sink. Hallelujah! the turkey was thawed enough to work with. I stuffed it with vegetables, seasoned and oiled it, and put it in the roaster. This was also a trial run of the turkey roaster, to see what we need to do when we cook the actual, bigger Thanksgiving turkey.
After this, the wheat was cool, so I could make pie crust and got the pies in the oven right before dinner. After dinner, we were pretty close to the recommended cooking time, so I decided to peek at the turkey. It was done, too. A little too done, actually, but it will be fine for extras and gravy. Now I know to start checking it earlier.
After the children were read to and put to bed, gravy was made.
And now you get pictures from wading through all that.
All I had planned to do was to cook one turkey (to have extra and to make the gravy ahead of time) and make some pies for Thanksgiving. In the time I wasn't doing, that, I was going to finish finding homes for the last few items still decorating my coffee table.
Well, that and drive P. to her riding lesson, pick-up a shelf unit I had found for A.'s room on a garage sale list, referee children, read at tea time, and throw dinner in the crock pot. All of that always takes a bit more time than I plan on it taking.
Problem #1 yesterday morning was realizing that when I thought I had turned our extra refrigerator warmer, so the frozen chicken and turkeys would thaw by when we needed them, I hadn't. I had actually made it colder. The poultry supposedly thawing was just as frozen as ever. In a repeat of last week, I worked on the frozen chicken to be able to put it in the crock pot for dinner, and then turned my attention to the turkey. It was really, really frozen. There was nothing for it, but to clean my sink, fill it with water, and let it sit there for most of the day.
In the meantime, I decided to make the pies I was planning on making. I head to the freezer to look for my frozen wheat pastry flour. It wasn't there. I looked in another freezer, It wasn't there, either. Nor was it in either refrigerator. This meant that I didn't have any. All was not lost, but it meant that I needed to grind some more. My grain buckets are stored in the closet in the utility room. This is nice, but they are pretty well stacked, and take some effort to move them around looking for the one I want. So I did that. Then, my counters with outlets being filled with turkey roaster and crock pot, I needed another one. The counter by the coffee maker had our circles for people's glasses during the day, but they were all looking seedy and I had been meaning to redo them. This meant taking them all off and then working on the tape and sticker residue that was left behind. It was a job I needed to get done, but perhaps hadn't been planning on doing right then. With a clean counter, I plugged in the wheat grinder, and ground my wheat.
Now, I have learned the hard way that if one tried to make pie crust with freshly ground wheat, all one ends up with is a gloppy mess. The wheat is too warm from going through the grinder. To be at all useful, I needed to put it in the freezer for a few hours. So I did that. In the meantime, I peeled and cored some apples, much to my children's delight, because they love to eat the long peels.
By this time, what with one thing and another, it was tea time. We rarely skip tea time, and the groanings from when we do are not worth doing it often. Children made tea, and then we read our story. (The Return of the Twelves. You need to read it if you haven't.)
After tea time, it was time to take a look at the turkey swimming in my sink. Hallelujah! the turkey was thawed enough to work with. I stuffed it with vegetables, seasoned and oiled it, and put it in the roaster. This was also a trial run of the turkey roaster, to see what we need to do when we cook the actual, bigger Thanksgiving turkey.
After this, the wheat was cool, so I could make pie crust and got the pies in the oven right before dinner. After dinner, we were pretty close to the recommended cooking time, so I decided to peek at the turkey. It was done, too. A little too done, actually, but it will be fine for extras and gravy. Now I know to start checking it earlier.
After the children were read to and put to bed, gravy was made.
And now you get pictures from wading through all that.
Two pecan pies and an apple-cranberry pie
I got fancy, and cut out leaves for the top crust.
The turkey, take one
And for those who will ask, the apple-cranberry pie recipe is from Fannie Farmer. It's the apple-cranberry-raisin pie recipe, except I substituted dried cranberries for the raisins. It's a cookbook I use a lot. See?
I got this when I went with a friend to a luncheon/book signing with Marion Cunningham, the author. I have to just make due with the falling apart copy because mine is signed.
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