The morning began with Justin busy in the kitchen making his dinner rolls for our feast. When I ventured out to see how he was doing, I had the privilege of cleaning up the mess left behind. I am all about it, enjoy the task of putting everything back to right in my kitchen. Justin came up with the idea of using the little tool from Pampered Chef for cleaning the stone baking sheets to remove the residue on the counter from rolling out his dough. It worked to get the big stuff off but the somewhat gummy feeling the counter was going to take some work. I wiped it several times in the course of the day to try to get it smooth again.
The fresh baked rolls didn't turn out quite the way Justin wanted them to but I liked them. He is going to keep trying recipes until he finds one the fits the bill.
Much of the prep was done the day before for my foods and I spent the time before worship to dish up my cranberries and relishes, etc. and get them ready for the table. Justin and I sort of waited until the last minute to start getting ourselves ready and we both got showered and ready for church in less than 20 minutes. Time in the kitchen flies by! We looked nice for church, not the least bit rushed.
Dee had offered to pick up the turkey for us. Justin and I were responsible for some of the foods. I had mixed up the green beans casserole, mixed up a corn souffle using a new recipe, prepped the ham for cooking, brushing a brown sugar glaze over it, plus mashed the potatoes. They gave me a terrible time----wanting to climb up the beaters and out of the top of the bowl. As my niece once described my mashed potatoes: "sticky, but good!" All things were ready!
When we got home after church I got everything out (forgot to mention my cranberry Jell-O made yesterday) and what needed to be baked went into the oven. Justin had done his rolls ready but needed to prep his mini-apple pies. There was no room in the oven for them until all was on the table so he got them ready and popped the pans in when we sat at the table. When the folks started arriving, it was a flurry of food and folks, pies and wine and gifts!
Justin took this photo of us at the table, minus Donald who was in the kitchen carving the bird. From left are Martha, Dee, Helen, Matthew (married to Martha), Michael, Donald's chair, me, Justin's chair, Julia (married to Michael), Jacko (Martha's son), Nadia, and Lorese. The three younger ladies are sisters. There mom and other sister cancelled due to the youngest sister being ill. Our number went from 14 to 12 to 13 and then to 12. This way all the plates were the same which for some reason meant a lot to me!
We enjoyed our feast, with me being thanked for hosting about a dozen times. Part way through the meal my corn souffle finally set up enough to serve and we made a dent in it. We also had sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top and a squash casserole which Dee made, and Michael made two types of stuffing, one with oysters in it. We had three types of pie plus Justin's hot- from-the-oven individual apple pies made with crescent rolls. I think that's enough food, right?
We sat around the table until about 4:30, so for 3 hours we enjoyed each other's company. In between Justin and I cleared away dishes and our guests followed my request to remain seated while we did so. My kitchen is too small to accommodate many people and I wanted them to just enjoy their time together. Dee was impressed with how neat everything was in the kitchen. That's the way I like it!
We sat around the table until about 4:30, so for 3 hours we enjoyed each other's company. In between Justin and I cleared away dishes and our guests followed my request to remain seated while we did so. My kitchen is too small to accommodate many people and I wanted them to just enjoy their time together. Dee was impressed with how neat everything was in the kitchen. That's the way I like it!
