![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Well, for another 17 minutes anyway. This is the first time in years we're having the Family Do at our house, so I've spent the last 24 hours cleaning house. We even got the housemate to get rid of about half the boxes she had stacked in her living room and excavate her couch! You can see the cushions for the first time in about three years, I think. Maybe longer. No, I am not joking. It looks great! Well, for OUR house, anyway. Our poor cats are traumatized. Sora wouldn't even come downstairs. He's terrified of the vacuum cleaner and we ran it several times today. Riku hates it when anything changes, and since we put away a lot of things he keeps walking around the house craning his neck trying to figure out why everything looks WRONG!
Also did a bit of pre-cooking today-- made a jalapeno cranberry sauce loosely based on one they made on Iron Chef America: Battle Thanksgiving a few nights ago. It's actually quite delicious, and you don't really taste the jalapenos, they just give it a slight warmth on the tongue. Also taught the kidunit how to make pumpkin pie. My usual recipe uses cinnamon, ginger, allspice and nutmeg, but we were out of allspice so we used a little cardamon and cloves instead and if the little bit we accidentally got on the side of the crust protector and tasted is anything to go by, it worked really well. Also made a pan of roasted harvest vegetables-- cut up rutabagas, parsnips, golden beets, purple carrots, sweet potatoes, leeks, brussels sprouts and red boiling onions, tossed with olive oil, sea salt, thyme and rosemary. The house smelled wonderful while they were cooking and the bite I snuck after I took it out of the oven was really delicious. The kidunit tasted it and even he said it was good, which shocked me because he usually dislikes nearly everything in it.
Tomorrow all I'll hve to do is cook the turkey (using the pancetta herb butter recipe from last year), make the dressing and the gravy. Mom's bringing the traditional green bean casserole, the housemate is supplying the mashed potatoes, and my brother is bringing pretty much everything else.
Also did a bit of pre-cooking today-- made a jalapeno cranberry sauce loosely based on one they made on Iron Chef America: Battle Thanksgiving a few nights ago. It's actually quite delicious, and you don't really taste the jalapenos, they just give it a slight warmth on the tongue. Also taught the kidunit how to make pumpkin pie. My usual recipe uses cinnamon, ginger, allspice and nutmeg, but we were out of allspice so we used a little cardamon and cloves instead and if the little bit we accidentally got on the side of the crust protector and tasted is anything to go by, it worked really well. Also made a pan of roasted harvest vegetables-- cut up rutabagas, parsnips, golden beets, purple carrots, sweet potatoes, leeks, brussels sprouts and red boiling onions, tossed with olive oil, sea salt, thyme and rosemary. The house smelled wonderful while they were cooking and the bite I snuck after I took it out of the oven was really delicious. The kidunit tasted it and even he said it was good, which shocked me because he usually dislikes nearly everything in it.
Tomorrow all I'll hve to do is cook the turkey (using the pancetta herb butter recipe from last year), make the dressing and the gravy. Mom's bringing the traditional green bean casserole, the housemate is supplying the mashed potatoes, and my brother is bringing pretty much everything else.
